Indonesia will highlight the progress made in Myanmar’s reforms and the implementation of ASEAN blueprints on economic, political, security and sociocultural issues at the 16th ASEAN Summit in Vietnam this week, the Foreign Ministry says.
“Indonesia will address the issue of Myanmar at the summit and voice concerns over the urgency to ensure that the upcoming elections in Myanmar will be inclusive,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said Monday.
Leaders of 10 member states of ASEAN will convene from April 8-9 in Hanoi, while the senior official- and ministerial-level meetings will run from April 5-7.
Faizasyah said the ASEAN Summit in Vietnam would also see the inauguration of the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC), as well as guidelines for the accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation and the signing of a Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM).
“The inauguration of the ACWC will take place during the summit,” he said.
“After the inauguration they will convene to work out issues relating to women and children in the
region.”
Jakarta has appointed Rita Serena from the Mitra Perempuan Women Crisis Center and Ahmad Taufan Damanik from the Medan-based Children’s Rights Coalition as its two commissioners to the ACWC.
Rita said the ACWC would strengthen the work of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission for Human Rights (AICHR), adding both would work closely on key issues despite being separate bodies.
The ACWC is expected to have the same mandate as the AICHR on the promotion and protection of human rights, although its establishment is not governed by the ASEAN Charter.
The ASEAN Charter only rules on the establishment of the AICHR, which will act as an overarching body supported by separate bodies such as the ACWC.
Asia Forum activist Yuyun Wahyuningrum said Indonesia had to bring the Myanmar elections to the fore as the junta had tried to ban the participation of Aung San Suu Kyi in the first elections there in two decades.
“This is a landmark election that can change the ASEAN image in the international world,” she said.
“Indonesia has to take the lead in pushing for reform in Myanmar. We should not spoil the chance to bring about change in Myanmar.”
Ade Padmo Sarwono, the Foreign Ministry’s director for ASEAN political and security affairs, said the signing of the dispute settlement mechanism was aimed at supporting the implementation of the ASEAN Charter.
“We are a rules-based organization now and there should be a guideline on how we settle disputes arising from the implementation of the ASEAN Charter,” he said.
Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said he would discuss the expansion of East Asian Summit to include the United States and Russia during the ASEAN Summit.
The East Asian Summit includes the 10 ASEAN member states plus China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India and New Zealand.
Source :http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/04/06/ri-focus-myanmar-elections-summit.html
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