ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meet in Phuket

Thailand’s Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had inaugurated the ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Phuket with strong and determined words: “ASEAN must be able to act decisively and in a timely manner, to address both external and internal threats and challenges to the security and welfare of its member states and peoples.”

“Effective action must replace extended deliberation,” he said. “We must show to the world that ASEAN is ready to meet any challenge and is well prepared to act decisively.”

However, by the end of the meeting that took place amid extremely high security there was still not much evidence to show that ASEAN’s role was going to change significantly in the future.

Human rights body with few teeth

Efforts to create a powerful human rights body had also failed. Although the bloc, which has included regional pariah Myanmar since 1997, endorsed the terms of reference for an ASEAN Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights, it is already clear that it will have a weak mandate.

This will be limited to promoting the concept of human rights and engaging with civil society in a region where human rights have often enjoyed very little protection.

The commission is supposed to be launched in October at the ASEAN summit but critics, such as Tithinan Pongsutirak from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, are not impressed.

"They must have a body that has teeth, that has the autonomy, the independence, the ability to do the work if they fall short of that then the human rights body will be ineffective and meaningless and if that’s the case then it’s going to be another setback for ASEAN.”

Indonesia had pushed hard for the body to develop a more active role in creating protection mechanisms but, in the end, it was only able to get ASEAN to issue a Political Declaration in October that would allow for amendments to the commission every five years.

The Thai prime minister suggested at the meeting that these amendments would allow the body to grow more “teeth” with time.

Strongly-worded final statement but little action

In their final statement, the foreign ministers called for Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to be released from jail.

They also strongly condemned the twin bombings at two luxury five-star hotels in Jakarta last Friday and repeated their commitment to strengthening “all efforts to combat terrorism/extremism in the region.”

They criticised North Korea’s recent nuclear test and called on Pyongyang to come back to the Six Party negotiating table to discuss nuclear disarmament.

Other regional challenges discussed included the current economic crisis, climate change and the spread of swine flu.

On Tuesday, the foreign ministers are due to meet partners from China, Japan and South Korea. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is also expected for talks later on this week.

Author: Anne Thomas
Editor: Thomas Bärthlein