Let Suu Kyi join 2010 polls–Asean

http://businessmirror.com.ph/

Written by Estrella Torres / Reporter

Sunday, 25 October 2009 22:46

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

LEADERS of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) urged Burma’s military junta to include Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), in next year’s elections to make the exercise fair and credible for the international community.

An Asean chairman’s statement issued over the weekend in Hua Hin, Thailand, launched the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), which seeks to handle cases of atrocities committed against nationals of the 10 member- countries.

“We pledged to fully support the operation of the AICHR in accordance with its Terms of Reference prepared by the High Level Panel on an Asean Human Rights Body and approved by our Foreign Ministers,” said the Asean chairman’s statement.

The Asean leaders welcomed the Philippines’s offer to host the AICHR headquarters in Manila. President Arroyo named Ambassador Rosario Manalo to represent the country in the Asean rights body. Manalo led the high-level task force that drafted the landmark Asean charter adopted in December 2008; and the creation of a human-rights body was proposed by the Philippines to be a major part of the Asean charter.

The Asean leaders underscored the importance of the general elections in Burma as part of the junta’s fulfillment of the country’s roadmap to democracy, as proposed by Asean and accepted by the dictators.

The leaders were very clear on how the elections should be conducted—“in a fair, free, inclusive and transparent manner in order to be credible to the international community.”

In August, Suu Kyi was sentenced to another 18 months’ house arrest following the reported “illegal” visit of an American, John W.Yettaw.

The prodemocracy leader has been detained for almost 14 of the last 20 years, mostly under house arrest. Critics believe the latest verdict prolonging her house arrest is part of the junta’s plan to prevent her from participating in the 2010 elections.

Meanwhile, many civil society organizations believe the terms of reference for the AICHR is already a “watered down” version because the provision imposing “sanctions and expulsion” on atrocious leaders have been scrapped in a particular effort by Burma and Cambodia, the Asean members with long histories of atrocities and dictatorship.