Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - Leaders and high-level officials of Southeast Asian countries gathered on Thursday at Thailand’s beach resort of Hua Hin, for the 14th ASEAN Summit, amidst human rights groups urging the regional bloc to highlight Burma’s poor human rights conditions during the summit.
The meeting of Defense Ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was held in Pattaya district, in Chonburi province of Thailand, on Thursday, ahead of the main summit, which is scheduled to begin on February 27.
Meanwhile, New York-based Human Rights Watch in an open letter, has urged ASEAN Secretary-General Dr. Surin Pitsuwan to use the meeting to address three crucial human rights concerning the region.
The letter, in its first point, said, ASEAN should use the meeting to set a new standard to address the human rights situation in Burma.
Secondly, the letter said, the recent tragedy surrounding the perilous exodus of Burma's Rohingya minority reveals glaring failures of ASEAN and its member countries on the treatment of refugees and asylum-seekers.
In its final point, the letter said, the global economic slowdown and the resulting impact on migrants' rights, highlights how gaps in current labour and policy frameworks across the region, have left millions of workers at a high risk of ill-treatment.
Similarly, London-based Amnesty International also called on the regional bloc on Thursday, to include human rights as a significant agenda in the meeting, to demonstrate its commitment to the newly drafted ASEAN Charter.
Foreign Ministers of the ASEAN countries, during the summit, are scheduled to endorse a report prepared by the High Level Panel on the ASEAN Human Rights Body, which is expected to turn into a mechanism to improve the human rights situation in the region.
"The treatment of the Rohingya refugees has highlighted the urgent need for regional action on human rights," Donna Guest, Amnesty International's Asia Pacific Deputy Director said.
"ASEAN must act now to address human rights concerns in Southeast Asia, many of which are having a negative impact regionally and even globally," Guest added.
On Thursday, Thailand's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kasit Piromya said at a press conference that the agenda would include human rights issues and the Rohingya case would also be part of the informal discussion.
Vitavas Srivihok, Director-General of Thailand’s Department of ASEAN Affairs, added that the high level officials were working on the establishment of a human rights body, which was expected to be the solution to the problems.
The Thai official said that the Rohingya case would be raised at the “Bali Process”, a ministerial level meeting co-hosted by Indonesia and Australia.
