"During the past few months we have witnessed an important development in Myanmar namely the general election and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. Those two changing conditions must be digested and absorbed in a proper way so that we will be able to think of what to be done next to ensure that the issue of human rights in Myanmar can have a sense of closure in 2011," minister said.
The minister also hoped to see the ASEAN Human Rights Commission to be more effective in fulfilling its mandate of reflecting the commitment of ASEAN countries to respect human rights.
Earlier, the Deputy Director of a non-governmental institution Human Rights Working Group, Choirul Anam, said during its term as ASEAN chair in 2011, Indonesia should be giving high priority to human rights issues.
"The momentum of Indonesia`s ASEAN chairmanship in 2011 should be used to give special attention to human right issues in the ASEAN region," Choirul said.
Indonesia as a democratic country was highly expected to use its term as ASEAN chair to promote respect for human rights within the national and international communities, he said.
There were several ways for Indonesia to put human rights on top of its priorities as the ASEAN chair and to maximize its role in advancing human rights in ASEAN.
"The first way is by providing support for the institutional building of the ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR)," Anam said.
It had been more than one year since the establishment of the AICHR but until today this human rights body could not operate effectively due to lack of resources, including the non-existence of a regional secretariat and staff to support its work, he said.
A similar problem was handicapping the ASEAN commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC), he added.
"We hope that during its chairmanship, Indonesia can ensure that these human rights bodies will be equipped with sufficient resources to support their missions," Anam said.
As stated in the ASEAN Charter, ASEAN was a `people oriented` organization. Therefore, it was also important for Indonesia to show its willingness to broaden people`s participation in ASEAN policy making especially those which would have a direct impact on people`s welfare such as the Instruments on Migrant Workers, the ASEAN Disability Forum, and the work of the ASEAN Community Councils, he said.
"By providing institutional framework for the engagement of civil society, the Indonesian government can ensure that there will be ample room for civil society to follow and be engage in ASEAN meetings," Anam said.
Indonesia is also known for good image at international level on human rights and democracy. "We hope that Indonesia can also show its leadership in ASEAN in promoting and responding to human rights in this region," Anam said.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
