Civil rights activists walk out of meeting with ASEAN leaders in protest

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

http://www.chinaview.cn/

2009-10-23

HUA HIN, Thailand, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of a civil rights group walked out of an informal meeting with ASEAN leaders in protest Friday as five of the group's members were barred from the meeting, the Thailand News Agency reported.

An informal meeting with representatives from ASEAN civil society was arranged at noon on Friday before the adoption by the participating leaders of the Cha-am Hua Hin Declaration on the Inauguration of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR).

However, five representatives of the civil rights group ASEAN People's Forum, respectively from Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines and Singapore, were not allowed to participate in the informal meeting, as the leaders of these five countries rejected the arrangement, according to the Thailand News Agency.

The group's other representatives walked out of the informal meeting in protest of their colleagues being turned down by the leaders.

The ASEAN summit will last from Oct. 23 to Oct. 25.

Editor: Mo Hong'e