Civil society groups who met in Jakarta were rejected by the newly
formed Asean Intergovernmental Commission for Human Rights.  They called
for the Draft Rules of Procedure to be made public and wider
consulation with various stakeholders be organised. Please read their
press statement below, issued on 29 March 2010.
Civil society groups who met in Jakarta were rejected by the newly formed Asean Intergovernmental Commission for Human Rights.  They called for the Draft Rules of Procedure to be made public and wider consulation with various stakeholders be organised. Please read their press statement below, issued on 29 March 2010.

Today at Jakarta, the ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission for Human Rights (AICHR) rejected the request of civil society organisations from the Solidarity for Asian Peoples Advocacies Taskforce on ASEAN Human Rights (SAPA TFAHR) to meet with them.  The purpose of the requested meeting was to present the civil society proposal for the AICHR Rules of Procedures (RoP) as AICHR meets to draft the RoP.

Representatives of civil society organizations from Cambodia, Indonesia, Burma, Malaysia and Thailand went to the ASEAN Secretariat to present the civil society proposal but were disappointed to be informed that the AICHR would not be meeting them.

The SAPA TFAHR sent a letter on 9 March 2010 to the Chair of AICHR, Mr. Do Ngoc Son from Vietnam, requesting for an official meeting with the AICHR during its first official meeting.  However, until yesterday, the Task Force had yet to receive any reply from the AICHR.

The decision was relayed by Dr. Anish Roy from the ASEAN Secretariat to the civil society representatives, who were waiting at the main entrance of the ASEAN Secretariat.   The Chair of AICHR conveyed that the Commission was not able to meet with civil society as there was still no clear mechanism developed on how to engage with external parties.

He said the Commission received many request for meeting, including from international organizations. The Commission did not respond to these requests and had not met with any groups.
He added the Commission will meet with civil society in due course once the mechanism of engagement has been clarified within the Commission.

The civil society delegation is extremely disappointed with the turn of events and views this as a beginning of a worrying sign of the rejection of civil society participation in the AICHR.

Please read rest of the statement here.