After the refusal of Myanmar to release Aung San Suu Kyi, ASEAN foreign ministers are writing up a declaration of human rights that could lead to sanctions against the junta, or even its expulsion from the group, one minister said yesterday.
Delegates attending the ASEAN meetings in Phnom Penh this week were "disappointed" in Myanmar's refusal to announce a time line for the release of the pro-democracy activist, and plan to send a high-level mission to the country, the Philippines foreign minister said.
PHOTO: AP
"If bound by an ASEAN declaration of human rights, then ASEAN can properly sanction violations," Blas Ople, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines, told reporters. "In extreme form, this means expulsion from the organization.
"I even suggested that they set some time lines for the completion of their constitutional process because this reflects the seriousness of their purpose."
"But he's unable to give any time lines. He [Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Win Aung] couldn't even tell us when Suu Kyi would be released, except in sweeping terms."
Incoming ASEAN chair, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda, has proposed ASEAN send a high-level mission to Myanmar after Suu Kyi is released to meet with her, members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the junta, Ople said.
"The purpose will be to establish direct contacts with Suu Kyi, the NLD and other parties in the country, and at the same time hold a dialogue with the junta," Ople said.
During discussions with Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Win Aung, Ople said ASEAN members asked him about the progress in the drafting and adoption of the new democratic constitution, and suggested member states might help move things along.
"The minister said there are groups of experts working on this draft constitution, but they always get bogged down when it comes to the most crucial part," Ople said.
"In my opinion we can help them, if there is a desire, to speed up the tempo of the constitutional reforms, with the light of the experience of the other ASEAN countries that have gone through this sort of a struggle successfully," he added.
The Philippines foreign minister said representatives from his country and Malaysia would take part in the proposed mission to Myanmar, and possibly delegates from Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Ople said the mission would likely be after Suu Kyi's release, but before the next ASEAN meeting in October.
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