Poor rights record hampers ASEAN effort

MANILA (AFP) - Southeast Asian nations have struggled to find common ground on creating a new human rights body, and analysts say one reason is that many have poor rights records themselves.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) announced Monday it would form a rights body as part of its landmark charter, but the details were left vague and there was fierce disagreement from Myanmar and other member states.

"ASEAN is under a lot of pressure to improve its human rights record. And it knows that human rights has to be mentioned somewhere in its charter," said Basil Fernando of the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission.

"A charter without it will just be another piece of meaningless paper," he told AFP.

Diplomats had hoped to outline a full-fledged rights commission in the draft of the new ASEAN charter which was presented to the bloc's foreign ministers on Monday.

But opposition from Myanmar as well as from Laos and Vietnam resulted in a watering-down of the language, and ensured that the details were left unresolved -- and up for debate at future rounds of negotiations.

The ruling generals of Myanmar, who are most opposed to an ASEAN rights body according to diplomats, have repeatedly embarrassed the bloc and snubbed calls to restore democracy and free Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

"The prospect for genuine democracy in Burma (Myanmar) remains gloomy," the Free Burma Coalition said in a statement. "The junta simply flushed all these ASEAN efforts down the drain."

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar acknowledged the difficulties that lie ahead to create a viable rights commission with real enforcement power to stop abuses across the bloc.

"From the start we thought it was going to be a thorny issue," he told a news conference in Manila on the sidelines of the talks.

"The next difficult step is getting it really formed. Let us cross the bridge when we come to it," he said.

Myanmar is far from the only trouble spot, however, and across ASEAN -- from the democracy of the Philippines to autocratic states such as Vietnam and Laos -- almost all have some black marks in their books.

And while a handful of members can boast of having their own human rights commissions, those bodies tend to be toothless tigers with no real powers to bring rights abusers to justice.

In the Philippines, hundreds of activists, human rights workers, lawyers, trade unionists and journalists have been murdered since President Gloria Arroyo came to power in 2001.

Few prosecutions have taken place, and a UN investigation this year delivered a damning indictment of Arroyo's government and the military over the killings.

In Cambodia, perceived as having one of the region's worst records on human rights, opposition politicians and international watchdogs say abuses have worsened as Prime Minister Hun Sen has slowly tightened his grip on power.

"The problem is getting bigger and bigger but there is no effective solution," said Thun Saray, director of the Cambodian rights group Adhoc. "Also, corruption makes it more difficult for people to find justice."

Human rights groups say that in Thailand, where a military coup last year ousted elected prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, at least 2,500 people were killed in 2003 and 2004 during Thaksin's get-tough campaign against drugs.

"One of the most prominent human rights abuses in Thailand is the culture of impunity," said Sunai Phasuk, a Thai consultant for Human Rights Watch.

"It's a legacy from the Thaksin government, in which government officials, particularly security forces and police, violated human rights and walked away from legal and criminal accountability," Sunai said.

Rights experts say one bright spot is Indonesia, where they say abuses have greatly decreased since the downfall of strongman president Suharto in 1998.

"The main remaining human rights abuses are those left over from the past," said Asmara Nababan, executive director of the private Institute for Democracy and Human Rights Studies in that country.

"At present, human rights violations continue to occur, but not on the scale and intensity of the past," he said.

Even if fears that the eventual ASEAN rights body will turn out to be less effective than hoped, some analysts say, just the mention of a plan for one is a significant step.

"ASEAN's human rights record is not good but there are signs that countries within the bloc are pushing hard to clean up their image," Timothy Parritt of rights watchdog Amnesty International told AFP.

"It is a small step and an important step for ASEAN," he said.

As Tourists Flock to Cambodia's Angkor Temples, Preservations Fear for Its Survival

July 4, 2007 —

Source: ABC - http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=3345597&page=1

Photos: http://abcnews.go.com/International/popup?id=3250294

After years of neglect threatened to destroy the temples of Angkor during the brutal regime of the Khmer Rouge, this wonder of the world is now at threat for a different reason  too much interest.

The temples were built between the ninth and 15th centuries and now face the modern threat of tourism, as millions of visitors arrive to see the more than 100 Hindu and Buddhist monuments spread across 50 square miles in Cambodia.

"The ruins of Angkor are one of the marvels of the world," John Stubbs of the World Monument Fund told ABC's Mark Litke. "There's no doubt about that."

Stubbs is at the forefront of a global effort to preserve and restore Angkor, and has spent 15 years in Cambodia to help piece together a vast archaeological jigsaw puzzle.

Crowding the Ruins

While Stubbs' work has helped to save Angkor and turn it into one of the world's premiere destinations for cultural tourism, the location's salvation may ultimately turn out to be its curse.

There's literally been a tourist invasion. In the 1990s, Angkor attracted just a few thousand visitors a year; by the end of 2007, a total of 2 million are expected to climb up, down and through the ancient ruins.

They arrive by planeload, busload, on motorbikes and even on elephants.

Visitors once had to hack through jungles to reach Angkor. Now, the route to the temples is packed with traffic jams, especially by the end of the day when more than 3,000 people assault the highest temple in the complex to watch the sunset.

In the adjacent town of Siem Reap, there were just two hotels a decade ago  now, there are more than 102, along with shopping malls, pizza joints and massage parlors.

It's hardly the serene Angkor experience some tourists might expect, as one woman told ABC News, "I think it takes away from it, I do."

But, another visitor said, "I don't. I feel that the importance of this place deserves people to watch it, see it, witness it."

Balancing Preservation With Greed

Angkor tourism has brought jobs and millions of dollars to one of the world's poorest countries, but some Cambodians fear greed is now winning out over preservation.

The scenery was even used as an exotic location for Hollywood films including "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider"  not quite what the preservationists had in mind.

Stubbs said there was a need for constant vigilance as interest grew for Angkor. "There's not a minute to waste in looking after this precious place. & Because, without a doubt, it could be ruined by some wrong decisions."

But he's hopeful that Cambodians will eventually strike the right balance.

After all, they were the ones who created this magnificent, majestic site in the first place.

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