Exile Groups to be Present at Asean Meet

Burmese exile Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) will have their own representative at the 15th Asean Summit to be held at Hua Hin this weekend after pro Burmese government NGOs said they did not wish their representative to discuss human rights issues, according to participants at the final day of the Asean People’s Forum in Cha-am on Tuesday.

Debbie Stothard, the coordinator of the Alternative Asean Network on Burma (Altsean), said Burmese exile CSOs nominated their own representative because the groups from inside Burma would not dare discuss human rights issues and would withdraw their representative from such meetings.

Thailand will lead the inauguration of the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) and representatives from all participating countries are expected to discuss the human rights situations in their countries, she said.

Khin Ohmar, the exile Burmese chairwoman of the Network for Democracy and Development, confirmed that she has been chosen to represent the exile CSOs at the summit.

The Burmese’s junta sponsored 15 members of NGOs, including the Union Solidarity and Development Association, the Anti-Narcotics Association and the Federation of Women’s Affairs at the nominating meeting yesterday.
 
The junta intends to nominate their personal representative at the Asean meeting.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy, Kyaw Lin Oo, an exile CSO activist and participant at the Asean People’s Forum said: “The Burmese government wants to show the US and EU that it has its own representative for all the people of Burma. But, they are afraid of being questioned by the US and EU about whether their NGOs truly represent all the people in Burma.

“Thailand encouraged Burma to nominate a representative who can discuss the field of human rights and help bring the Asean human rights charter [AICHR] alive,” he said.

The Asean summit will be the first occasion the Burmese junta’s Prime Minister, Thein Sein, can meet exile Burmese CSOs. Thein Sein will meet with nine other Asean leaders on October 23.

Thein Sein threatened to boycott the last Asean meeting if Thailand proposed Burmese exile groups have a representative at the Asean summit in February.

Two exile Burmese representative organizations and Khin Ohmar were barred from attending the February meeting.

Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia have nominated delegates who work in the field of human rights to be their representatives at the Hua Hin summit. The seven other countries including Burma have refused to nominate delegates from the field of human rights, according to Kyaw Lin Oo.

Meanwhile, 10 CSOs have criticized Asean members for their lack of transparency in nominating national representatives to the AICHR.

“While Asean may try to move ahead, Burma remains the elephant in the room. It absolutely undermines the spirit of what Asean could ever do,” Stothard told the Associated Press (AP) on Tuesday.

AP also quoted Nyan Win, spokesman for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party in Rangoon, who said: “It is obvious that Asean is incapable of making any political change in the country. I don’t have any high hopes.”