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Un articolo tratto da AKI ADNKRONOS INTERNATIONAL.

After months of squabbling, the leaders of the ten nations of ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, signed a landmark charter that commits the bloc to promoting democracy and human rights.It is the first legally binding document since the group was founded 40 years ago. However representatives of the region’s civil society have said that the document is “too weak.” In the documents, the member nations of ASEAN have resisted calls to impose expulsion or sanctions on its members. ASEAN has reiterated the group’s rules of governing by consent and non-interference in member states’ domestic politics.

This means that ASEAN will have no real leverage to impose respect for human rights on its members. In this sense, the charter makes it impossible to ‘coerce’ Burma, a member of ASEAN, to return to democracy. The military junta in Burma (also known as Myanmar), sparked international outrage when it violently suppressed anti-government protests in September - killing at least 15 people and imprisoning thousands more.
The controversy continued at the ASEAN summit, where host nation Singapore invited the UN’s special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, to make a speech. Burmese officials objected, and gained the support of the eight other member nations to block Gambari’s address. The Solidarity for Asian People’s Advocacies (SAPA) Working Group on ASEAN, a network of more than 100 national and regional organisations engaging on ASEAN issues, said that allowing the Burmese regime to sign the charter has undermined the legitimacy of the document.
In general, Rafendi Djamin, of the Indonesian Human Rights Group - a member of SAPA - noted that “no internationally recognised standards, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is mentioned in the document.” “The standard of the charter is much lower than the standards of other regional charters,” he added. Jeremy Sarkin, a professor of international human rights at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, told the media that “a paper charter and a toothless human rights institution will cause ASEAN to lose more credibility and legitimacy.” The weakness of the document creates problems on a different level as well, with some leaders voicing concerns over whether their national parliaments will ratify the document within the stipulated 12 months.

Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, for example, warned that her country would be hard-pressed to ratify the document within the one-year timetable if Burma refused to free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Despite this, Malaysian prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he rates the document in the context of its historical importance, not just with regard to Burma. The charter is also intended to pave the way for closer association among its member states, along the lines of the European Union. Jenina Joy Chavez, from the group Focus on Global South, said that the document lacks vision. However, she also stressed that it codifies ASEAN’s many previous agreements and declarations, and clarifies issues concerning membership of the organisation. The charter also delineates the functions and responsibilities of the different ASEAN organs, creates a new ASEAN bureaucracy and strengthens the roles of the secretary general and the ASEAN secretariat.
“And it gives a mandate to the much awaited ASEAN human rights body,” Chavez said. ASEAN (The Association of South East Asian Nations) is composed of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.