Presenting realities of conflict in seven Southeast Asian countries, the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict- Southeast Asia (GPPAC-SEA) called on ASEAN to "immediately establish a dispute prevention and settlement mechanism to address festering intra-state conflicts in the region". Here is an extract from their statement, issued on 19 February 2009.

Presenting realities of conflict in seven Southeast Asian countries, the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict- Southeast Asia (GPPAC-SEA) called on ASEAN to "immediately establish a dispute prevention and settlement mechanism to address festering intra-state conflicts in the region". Below is an extract from their statement, issued on 19 February 2009.
 
We, members of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict – Southeast Asia (GPPAC-SEA), call on members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to immediately establish a dispute prevention and settlement mechanism to address festering intra-state conflicts in the region.

While the newly-minted ASEAN charter calls for the creation of a Dispute Settlement Mechanism among the states, there is urgency in preventing, settling and transforming conflicts within the states in the region. This call is founded on an alarming trend where peoples of Southeast Asia are bearing the crunch brought about by the global economic meltdown, which will surely exacerbate poverty and impinge on already existing conflicts already suffered by millions of people in the region.

We call on ASEAN leaders who will be in Hua Hin Province this week for the 14th ASEAN Summit to go beyond their looking glass as the terrible human rights situation in Burma continue to worsen and violent conflicts have escalated in South Thailand, West Papua and Mindanao.

To read their complete statement, please click here.