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ASEAN pressed on Myanmar's abuses(Associated Press WorldStream Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) CHA-AM, Thailand_International human rights groups urged leaders of Southeast Asia gathering for their annual summit Thursday to press military-ruled Myanmar to end its gross human rights abuses. The United States also blasted Myanmar's junta for having "brutally suppressed dissent" through a campaign of extrajudicial killings, disappearances, and torture. The criticism comes as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a 10-member bloc that includes Myanmar, prepares for a three-day summit at this beachside resort. Preliminary meetings began Thursday. "Violations in this ASEAN member state have been going on for decades, and include crimes against humanity. To be worthy of its name, the body must be empowered to effectively address human rights in Myanmar," the London-based Amnesty International said Thursday. Although reform in Myanmar, also known as Burma, may be discussed on the sidelines of the conference, ASEAN traditionally shies away from all criticism of its members. Instead the delegates will devote most of their time grappling with how the region can best cope with the global economic crisis. Thailand, which currently holds ASEAN's rotating chairmanship and is hosting the summit, bills the meeting as a turning point for the bloc that has long been criticized as a talk shop that forges agreements by consensus and steers away from confrontation. It is the first time leaders will meet since the group signed a landmark charter in December. The document made ASEAN a legal entity and moves it a step closer toward the goal of establishing a single market by 2015 and becoming a European Union-like community. The charter includes several provisions addressing human rights, including one that calls for the establishment of a human rights body. The New York-based Human Rights Watch, in a letter to ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan, urged the summit Wednesday to address "the dire human rights situation in Burma" and also improve treatment of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in the region. Thailand has come in for international criticism for its treatment of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. Hundreds of the Muslim asylum seekers went missing, feared drowned, as the Thai military forcibly expelled approximately 1,000 who had arrived in southwest Thailand. The plight of the stateless Rohingya boat people who have recently also washed up on the shores of Malaysia and Indonesia will be another issue discussed on the sidelines but not as part of the summit's formal agenda. "If you ask the officials to put it on the agenda, officials wouldn't dare," Surin said in explaining why the Rohingya problem would not be officially discussed. "If they are talking informally over dinner, don't underestimate it, and don't just deny the possibility that it could become a decision by the ministers and by the leaders ... give the group dynamics a chance." "The tragedy surrounding the Rohingyas' perilous exodus reveals glaring failures of ASEAN in dealing with Burma," Human Rights Watch said. "ASEAN's continuing failure to hold the Burmese military government accountable for abuses and ASEAN's unwillingness to provide refuge for those fleeing oppression in Burma are two sides of the same coin." ASEAN's 10 members include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. In its annual report on the state of human rights around the world, the U.S. State Department on Wednesday criticized the Myanmar regime for a range of abuses including the holding of more than 2,100 political prisoners, the continued detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and a brutal military campaign against ethnic minority groups. The report covers 2008 and was largely drafted during President George W. Bush's administration, but U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton signed off on the findings. Copyright ? 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |