Asean Summit Starts with With Half of State Heads in Attendance

The on-going summit of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) started with only half of the Asean heads of States in attendance due to unforeseen events in their countries including typhoons and other calamities.

Tha Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is holding its annual summit in Thailand with only half of the heads of the member States in actual attendance. The 42 year old Asian bloc is holding this year's meeting of heads of state of the 10 -member Asian regional body. All members of heads of State were scheduled to attend the annual affair but due to unavoidable circumstances, some heads of State could not attend the inaugural due to varying reasons ranging from typhoon devastation, political events in their home country, illness and State visits by heads of other countries outside of Asean region. The Asean summit started with the important subject of human rights which drew protests from human rights activists who claimed that Asean has failed miserably especially in enforcement by some members. The human rights group walked out of the meeting in protest of being snubbed by some of the Asean members. "It is a big shame to our dreams for genuine democracy in the region. It's like all of the human rights of the people in this region have been violated," said Sister Crescenia L. Lucero, a leading rights advocate and Roman Catholic nun. Phistar.com reports:

The exclusion of activists from the summit — held under the motto of "Empowering the Peoples" — also drew fire from a leading international human rights group.

"This confirms our worst fears, because an intergovernmental body has always been second best, but an intergovernmental body that won't even talk to its own citizens is a joke, is worthless," said Brad Adams, Asia director of the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

One of the popular issues on human rights violations within the Asean region is the case of Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who was elected as Prime Minister of Myanmar but was not allowed by the military regime of Burma (now Myanmar) to hold office but was instead arrested and put to prison. Suu Kyi is still languishing in jail after almost 20 years in confinement. Many cases of human rights violations are happening in most member countries of the Asean including the killing of journalists in the Philippines and in some Asean member nations. Human rights activists are complaining about the helplessness of the Asean in dealing with the recurring issue of human rights violations. In the 3-day meeting, Asean is expected to address the human rights issue by launching the Asean Human Rights Commission to address the problem but human rights activists say that it will do little to deter human rights violators because it imposes no punishment.