Jul 20, 2009, 12:26 GMT
Phuket, Thailand - The 42nd annual meeting of the foreign ministers of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) wound up Monday with a strongly worded joint statement on regional security issues but little action.
The ASEAN foreign ministers' final joint statement condemned last week's Jakarta bombings and North Korea's recent underground nuclear test while calling for the freedom of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The ministers also endorsed the terms of reference for an ASEAN Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights that will be launched at the upcoming 15th ASEAN Summit in October, also to be held in Phuket.
ASEAN, which includes the pariah state Myanmar, has had a poor record in enforcing human rights protection in its region and the planned commission has already been labelled a 'toothless tiger.'
The commission will have a very weak mandate, limited at first to promoting the concept of human rights and engaging with civil society, but will be subject to amendments every five years.
'It is better to make a start than to leave this hanging with no progress at all,' Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told a press conference after addressing the meeting.
The human rights commission will be subject to significant amendments every five years, giving some hope that it will grow teeth with age.
'We want to establish a body that begins with the issue of promotion (of human rights), and once that is put in place then there will be more teeth in the body for protection,' Abhisit said.
Indonesia, the largest and arguably most democratic country in ASEAN, on Sunday pushed hard for the human rights commission to take on a more active role in protection mechanisms, but failed.
Instead, Indonesia persuaded the grouping to issue a Political Declaration at the upcoming 15th ASEAN Summit that would allow for amendments to the commission in the future.
'Indonesia proposed that the Political Declaration should make a clear balance between promotion and protection (of human rights) to give the body a more protective role,' ASEAN General Secretary Surin Pitsuwan said.
The foreign ministers also discussed a host of regional challenges including the economic crisis, global warming and the new threat of the H1N1 swine-flu virus, the North Korean peninsula and terrorism.
'We strongly condemned the bombing in Jakarta on July 17, 2009,' the final statement said, reiterating the group's commitment to 'strengthen all efforts to combat terrorism/extremism in the region.'
It condemned North Korea's recent nuclear test and urged Pyongyang to return to the Six-Party talks.
On Tuesday, the ministers are to meet with their Asian dialogue partners from China, Japan and South Korea, with energy and food security likely to be the main topics of discussion.
On Wednesday, there will be more bilateral talks with the members of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Asia's main security event.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is scheduled to sign the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in South-East Asia (TAC), making the US one of the last ASEAN allies to do so.
Under the presidency of George W Bush Washington refused to sign the TAC, a loose treaty defining the terms of conduct on diplomacy and security issues in Asia.
President Barack Obama has indicated a change in the US approach in Asia, attaching more importance to multilateral groupings such as ASEAN rather than pursuing Bush's bilateral diplomacy.
'We are pleased with the US foreign policy which clearly attaches more importance to this region as a whole,' Abhisit said. 'I think this accession to the TAC is a reflection of that.'
The European Union is expected to join TAC at the October summit.
The ARF is to meet Thursday to discuss regional security threats such as North Korea's nuclear weapons programme and Myanmar's ongoing political stalemate.
The ARF includes the 10 ASEAN members as well as Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, India, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Russia, Sri Lanka, the US and the EU, with Papua New Guinea and East Timor as observers.
The North Korean foreign minister is not expected to attend the meeting. Phuket has been chosen for this week's meetings and the summit because the island is deemed easier to provide security for than Bangkok or other cities.
Anti-government protestors invaded the venue of a summit between ASEAN and China, Japan and South Korea in the beach resort town Pattaya on April 11-12, scuttling the event much to Thailand's embarrassment.
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