Suu Kyi verdict tests ASEAN's resolve By Alistair D B Cook and Mely Caballero-Anthony
Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was found guilty on Tuesday by
a Yangon court of breaking the terms of her house arrest and sentenced to 18
more months house arrest for harboring an American man who swam to her house
uninvited.
This ruling is a signal to Southeast Asia and the international community that
little progress has been made internally in Myanmar. It also reflects the
limitations that the region has when trying to influence developments in the
country.
The long road toward human rights
Local and international outrage has done little to influence the outcome
against Suu Kyi. Once again it brings the focus of human rights back to
Southeast Asia, and what the region is
willing to do to resolve political questions surrounding Myanmar.
Against the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) [1] goal of
establishing an ASEAN security community, this ruling brings into question what
tangible role the grouping will play in upholding human rights. Significantly,
the ruling comes shortly after the signing on July 20 of the terms of reference
for the ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) at the 42nd
ASEAN ministerial meeting in Phuket, Thailand.
It has been a long road to agreement on the AICHR, and its establishment could
not come at a more crucial time for the people of Myanmar. The AICHR's terms of
reference were born in 1993 at the 26th ASEAN ministerial meeting in Singapore
and the 14th general assembly of the ASEAN inter-parliamentary organization in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The joint communique of the 26th ASEAN ministerial meeting stated that members
"agreed that ASEAN should also consider the establishment of an appropriate
regional mechanism on human rights". Subsequently, there were various track-two
(unofficial) discussions on the idea of a regional human-rights mechanism. The
ASEAN human rights working group was formally recognized as the region's
informal network on human rights.
In 2005, ASEAN's leaders reached an agreement to draft a charter for the
association. They later assigned an Eminent Persons Group (EPG) to make policy
recommendations. Human-rights advocates lobbied the EPG and a high-level task
force for inclusion of the mechanism. At the end of 2006, the EPG recommended
that a human-rights body be incorporated. This was subsequently included in the
final draft of the ASEAN charter, which was signed at the 40th ASEAN
ministerial meeting, in Manila, the Philippines in 2007.
The charter called for the establishment of a regional human-rights body but
fell short of defining its mandate. A high-level panel was convened to
formulate the terms of reference (TOR) of this body. The TOR was finally
accepted, in a much watered-down form, at this year's ministerial meeting in
Phuket.
UN response to ASEAN
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, said
on July 22 that the world body "strongly encourages ASEAN states to appoint
commission members who are independent and impartial, and have proven expertise
in human rights".
This appears a loud call for an effective body to respond to the Myanmar
challenge. Indeed, the verdict on Suu Kyi will put further pressure on ASEAN
member states to implement the AICHR without delay, as it should tackle
human-rights violations head-on when the world is watching.
A regional response to this verdict is necessary to signal to the people of
Myanmar and the international community that ASEAN is serious about promoting
the principles and values that it professes.
With the signing of the ASEAN charter, the association demonstrated that it was
ready and willing to take concrete steps in further integrating as a region.
More importantly, the signing of the ASEAN charter showed a regional normative
shift by the grouping towards commenting on the internal dynamics of members.
This was seen when ASEAN declared that it is committed "to strengthen
democracy, enhance good governance and the rule of law, to promote human rights
and fundamental freedoms". The events in Myanmar put ASEAN's credibility under
close scrutiny by its citizens and the international community.
If the ASEAN charter offers a reflection of how the region carries out its
business and its regional governance, then the ASEAN response to the guilty
verdict on Suu Kyi needs to show that the charter works - and works well. But
this trial has illustrated that the military regime in Myanmar is unable to
carry out its responsibilities as outlined in the ASEAN charter and the terms
of reference of the new AICHR.
The staging of this trial and the verdict that was passed are a clear signal to
ASEAN of the contempt with which Myanmar's military regime regards the
agreements to which it is party.
Suu Kyi's trial smacks of political expediency by a regime that fears
democratic change ahead of a proposed election in 2010. The fact that this
trial took place around the time that Suu Kyi's current house arrest was due to
expire illustrates this well.
A question of legitimacy
It is time for ASEAN to act decisively in accordance with principles of
regional peace and security enshrined in the ASEAN charter and the terms of
reference of the AICHR. This action will bolster the legitimacy of ASEAN as the
guardian of the personal security of its citizens.
It remains to be seen whether ASEAN will step up to this challenge and whether
its response will yield results. However, it is clear that if ASEAN does little
to improve this situation, then its credibility will be further undermined. It
will be difficult for the association to portray itself as providing regional
solutions to regional problems.
Notes
1. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations consists of Brunei, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam.
Alistair D B Cook is post-doctoral fellow and Mely Caballero-Anthony(ismcanthony@ntu.edu.sg) is associate professor and head at the Center for
Non-Traditional Security Studies, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies
(RSIS), Nanyang Technological University.
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