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ASEAN gets pressured by Amnesty, pressures Myanmar |
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Posted 7/21/2010 at 2:34 PM by Bradlee A in Community Blog
Affiliate: PeaceJam HQ |
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Amnesty International recently called into question the credibility of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), saying it rides on the elections in Myanmar.
Inquirer Politics wrote:
"Southeast Asian nations should press the Myanmar government to protect the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association throughout the elections period and beyond," the London-based watchdog said in a statement.
Amnesty made the comment ahead of annual talks by foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), beginning in Vietnam on Monday.
Critics say the poll is a sham designed to legitimize the junta's half-century grip on power. |
Read it here.
It appears as if the pressure from the international organization may have made an impact:
Bloomberg wrote:
Southeast Asian nations offered to send observers to the first election in two decades in Myanmar, whose military rulers have come under fire in the U.S. for excluding detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The proposal was made during a meeting last night of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Hanoi. Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win responded positively, Singapore’s Foreign Minister George Yeo told reporters today.
“We suggested quite strongly to our Myanmar colleagues that they consider having Asean observers at elections, bringing in members of the family into what is really their own domestic affair,” Yeo said in Hanoi. “I think the foreign minister will put it back to his government.” |
[Emphasis added]
Read it here.
It has been reported that Aung San Suu Kyi will be allowed to run in the next election. On July 22, the Democratic Voice of Burma stated that: | Burma opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be free to run in elections this year once she is released from house arrest, Burma’s foreign minister has reportedly said. |
| Burma’s constitution does not bar Suu Kyi from competing in the polls, Nyan Win said. The comments appear to be at odds with recently unveiled election laws that bar former or serving prisoners and Burmese citizens who have been married to foreigners from running for office, as Suu Kyi falls into both categories. |
For more information on Aung San Suu Kyi, who won 1991 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and is currently under house arrest in Myanmar, click here. |
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