Asean Charter lacks credibility

In a press statement received by The Nation today, the regional network of the Solidarity for Asian People's Advocacy (SAPA) Working Group on ASEAN singled out the situation in Burma.

Rafendi Djamin of the Indonesian Human Rights Group said the standard of the present Charter is much lower than the standards of other regional charters, such as the European Union Constitution.

The group also called for the postponement of the signing of the Charter until political transformation can be realised in Burma.

Charm Tong, representing the Shan Women's Action Network, said the legitimacy of the document would be further undermined if Burma was permitted to sign it.

 "ASEAN can do much more to put pressure on the Burmese military junta, but the final draft of the Charter lacks the mechanisms to do so", Cham Tong said.

The demands of the group was also in line with the earlier call made by about 200 Southeast Asian civil society groups that gathered at the Third ASEAN+ Civil Society Conference (ACSCIII) recently held during 24 November 2007 in Singapore.

In Bangkok, Thai human rights groups staged a protest at the Stock

Exchange of Thailand (SET), urging companies and investors to be aware of

human rights violations in Burma affected by their investments.

"At the moment, Thai companies are subsidizing the junta's rule. By

providing them the generals with so much of their foreign exchange, money from the PTT and MDX allows the junta to buy the weapons they need to stay in power," said Pipob Udomittipong, who led "Peace for Burma", a coalition of Thai and Burmese non-governmental organizations.

About 20 activists held banners such as "Stop investing in Burma"

and "Investment in Burma as Human Rights violations"  in front of the SET

Building and submitted a letter to its president, urging the SET to reconsider any investment plan in Burma.

The group cited names of the two Thai companies - the Petroleum

Authority of Thailand and the MDX Plc. as major investors in Burma that led to

increasing numbers of human rights violations while increasing income to the

Burmese junta to suppress the ethnic groups in area of the two companies'

projects.

The Petroleum Authority of Thailand is planning to develop the M9 gas field in the Gulf of Martaban while the MDX is preparing to build a hydropower dam on the Salaween River in Burma.

The group also met with Nopporn Prapaitrakul, MDX's project manager of Thasang Dam in Burma's Shan State. The group urged the MDX to stop its project in Burma as the Burmese junta has forced ten of thousands villagers to leave the site and lot of them became forced labours.

"But he [Nopporn] said that his company received good corporation from villagers and he hadn't heard about human rights violations and forced labours," said Shan activist Sai Sai who is coordinator of Salween Watch.