ASEAN LEADERS - REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS BODIES

BANGKOK, Sept 17 (Bernama) -- Asean leaders should take a closer look at
other regional human rights bodies, particularly Africa's, to learn how to
balance meaningful protection of human rights with national sovereignty, an
academician said.

Dominic J Nardi, Jr, a visiting research fellow with the US-based Governance
Institute, said that in the longer run, doing so would help create a stronger
Asean Community and give both Asean and its member governments more legitimacy
in the eyes of their citizens.

"In fact, given Africa's relative experience with human rights, perhaps we
will soon see African Union legal advisors sent to Southeast Asia in order to
help the Asean Human Rights Body (AHRB) comply with international human rights
standards," he wrote in the Myanmar-related Mizzima Online news portal.

Nardi said such approach was necessary as Asean prepares to appoint its
first set of human rights commissioners to the new AHRB at the 15th Asean Summit
in Hua Hin next month, but which cannot hear individual complaints from abused
citizens.

"The commission itself faces skepticism and uncertainty about its future.
Human rights activists alleged that Asean stripped the commission of any teeth
in order to appease perennial human rights violators such as Burma," he said.

"Rather than trying to find a similar compromise, the 10-member Asean seems
to have simply hidden behind the mantra of the "Asean Way," said Nardi, who had
worked with human rights organisations in the region and advised women's' rights
NGOs in East Africa.

Indeed, comparing the AHRB with the European Court of Human Rights would
seem unfair, given that Europe consisted exclusively of liberal democracies, he
said.

"However, even if we look to the rest of the developing world, Asean still
has much to learn about establishing an effective human rights body from, of all
places, Africa," he said, while admitting that it was far from perfect.

According to Nardi, historically Africa had had more petty dictators, more
xenophobic governments, more genocides, and more overall human rights problems
than Asean.

Despite these challenges, the African Union had developed a fairly advanced
human rights system, he said, adding that it existed not only on paper, but also
had
teeth in the 11-member African Commission on Human and People's Rights.

"Moreover, the African Union is currently establishing a stronger African
Court of Justice and Human Rights to hear human rights cases. As a result,
according to the U.S. think-tank Freedom House, Africans on the whole currently
enjoy more civil and political freedom than Southeast Asians," Nardi wrote.

-- BERNAMA