Southeast Asian officials yesterday praised the creation of a regional human rights body as a historic first step toward confronting abuses, but the body will lack the power to investigate or punish violators like military-ruled Myanmar.
A confidential document obtained by The Associated Press said the rights body, which the 10-nation ASEAN hopes to form later this year, would “promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms” in the region but would abide by the bloc’s bedrock policy of not interfering in members’ internal affairs.
The document, which outlines the proposed powers of the rights body, falls short of key demands voiced by international human rights groups, which say the body will have limited effectiveness unless it can impose sanctions or expel countries that violate the rights of their own citizens.
The document was presented behind closed-doors to ASEAN foreign ministers gathered at a coastal resort in Thailand ahead of an annual leaders’ summit this weekend. It is a first draft for the body’s proposed powers, with a final draft expected in July before the body is created.
The issues of democratic reform in Myanmar and human rights abuses will be discussed on the sidelines.
Rosario Manalo, a Philippine diplomat on the panel drafting the human rights body’s outline, said the plans mark efforts of the region to move toward democracy.
“It is a historic first for Southeast Asia,” he said.
Officials said the powers of the human rights body could evolve over time.
“Investigative powers should not be ruled out. We’ll take it step by step,” said Sihasak Phuangketkeow, Thailand’s chairman of the drafting committee. “We have to go as far as we can but at the same time we have to be realistic.”
The confidential document said the human rights body would follow the principles of “noninterference in the internal affairs of ASEAN member states” and any of the group’s decisions “shall be based on consultation and consensus,” giving Myanmar and other violators veto power to block decisions.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing