THAILAND LEADS ASEAN
VITIT MUNTARBHORN
In late July of this year, Thailand took over the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) from Singapore. During the next year, it will also host a number of key summits between Asean member countries as well as between Asean and its various partners, where Thailand's mastery of the chairmanship will be tested to the extreme.
The scenario is all the more daunting because of the country's own internal political situation, which remains almost intractable and highly volatile. Will the leadership at the top prove its mettle by artfully steering the course and ensuring substantive results of a sustainable nature?
A key challenge is not simply to produce more declarations and agreements, but rather to ensure implementation of whatever has already been agreed on throughout the years, as well as to focus well on the path to the future.
There are now three Asean communities which are shaping the region - the Asean Economic Community, the Asean Security Community and the Asean Socio-Cultural Community. All of them are accompanied by various blueprints as targeted actions to be accomplished in a specific timeframe, and an ambitious range of measures are already listed for implementation.
Yet it is well known that in the past, the various plans and programmes of action from Asean were only implemented partially. The region has thus been heavy on process and light on outcome.
A new feature of Asean is the advent of the Asean Charter which has been ratified (to date) by all Asean countries except Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Is the charter a genuine Asean Constitution?
On the one hand, it is a binding agreement which advocates the legal personality of Asean and puts under one umbrella all the main institutions of Asean, including those Councils attached to the three communities noted, as well as the role of the Asean Summit of heads of government and other entities affiliated with Asean.
On the other hand, if the term "Constitution" is used to mean a social contract between the ruling powers and those who are governed by them, in terms of rights and responsibilities, the Asean Charter leaves much to be desired and can only be seen as a nascent document which needs further evolution progressively.
To the credit of the charter, in its preamble, purposes and principles, there are references to democracy, development and human rights. But in future, the substance of what these notions entail needs to be spelt out in concrete terms, with effective implementation at the ground level.
There are perhaps four levels where Thailand's chairmanship will be critically important during the next year: the national level, the bilateral level, the regional and inter-regional level, and the multilateral level.
With regard to the national level, an issue for all countries is how Asean is understood (or misunderstood) by the people of the land. How do the latter perceive the Asean Charter and what does it/should it mean to their livelihood?
This is a somewhat uphill struggle since the charter itself is more about Asean institutions/mechanisms than daily life activities which resonate with the ordinary citizen. If Asean is to be truly meaningful, it is the people-people angle which matters most.
There is a close linkage with people's participation in Asean, and an entry point which needs concretisation is how Asean will engage well with civil society. The Asean Charter opens the door on this front to some extent by listing under its umbrella various "Entities associated with Asean," several of which are civil society groups with which it hopes to partner during the next phase.
Yet, what is missing from the charter is the need to establish a People's Parliament or Assembly, preferably directly elected, to bring Asean truly closer to its people.
At the bilateral level, it is clear that Asean regionally does not necessarily have to supersede or override bilateral dialogues or engagements; the one does not exclude the other and they should be seen as complementary.
For example, many territorial disputes are better left to be dealt with at the bilateral level. Various border commissions exist which are better placed than Asean to enter into delicate negotiations on territorial overlaps and resource conflicts.
Interestingly, where such bilateralism has failed to yield fruit to date, various countries have bypassed Asean itself to resort to dispute settlement at the multilateral level, such as under aegis of the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea.
Asean should also take stock of and reform various bilateral agreements which are sub-standard. Various Memoranda of Understanding exist on the flow of migrant workers which need to be improved. For instance, in some countries migrant workers are discriminated against if they try to marry with the destination country's nationals or have a child with the latter. Corporal punishment and other sanctions are also used which contravene the internationally recognised rights of migrant labour.
At the regional level, on Thailand's plate will be a host of issues during the next year in the political, economic, social and cultural fields.
In regard to the security angle linked with the politics of the region, there is the question of how to implement well the Asean Security Community's blueprint for action, especially on dispute prevention, containment and settlement, and to maximise the impact of the Asean Regional Forum.
The notion of security must also reflect the "human security" dimension supported by the 2005 World Outcome Document under the United Nations (UN).
With reference to the Asean Economic Community, inevitably the region will have to deal with the issue of regional integration in regard to the Asean Free Trade Area and more. While a freer flow of goods, services, investment, communications and capital are increasingly covered by Asean, the organisation has not yet tackled effectively the issue of free flow of workers ("blue collar" rather than "while collar").
With regard to the Asean Socio-Cultural Community, there is the question of social justice and "equity" which is at stake. How can Asean help to reduce poverty and ensure greater distribution of income and resources, with due regard to accessing marginalised groups and protecting the environment?
Much in the news under the Asean Charter is the intention to establish an Asean Human Rights Body. The drafting of the "Terms of Reference" has been entrusted to a High Level Panel which completed its second meeting in Bangkok last week. While it would be premature to indicate the shape and substance of the so-called Body at this stage, it is worth recalling that various civil society-backed conferences have called for the setting up of an Asean Commission on Human Rights, with effective powers to promote and protect human rights. This will be linked pivotally with the issue of mandate and functions, and accessibility to the various target groups affected negatively by human rights situations.
The Body will also need to be anchored on the bedrock of international law and universal human rights standards, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the various treaties to which Asean countries are parties.
At the inter-regional level, there is the challenge of interlinking with other regional processes such as the East Asian Summit (EAS) and transcontinental links with the European Union and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) grouping. This is paralleled by the emergence of more free trade areas between Asean and other key Asian countries and the need to ensure that they are well aligned with the World Trade Organisation.
Finally, the multilateral level. Thailand's chairmanship should be fully supportive of multilateralism, particularly through the UN, especially when unilateralism still rears it unwelcome head in various parts of the world.
While Asean, of course, wishes to have a strong profile at the UN, it needs to project a more people-centric approach in its relations with the latter. How will it access the UN Security Council to promote human development, human security, democracy, peace and human rights? How will it engage with the UN General Assembly to find a convincing raison d'etre for Asean regionalism, especially having learned that after Asean's success in dealing with the Cambodian issue in the 1980s, it now has to re-invent itself as a key catalyst on some other pressing matter? How will it contribute to the new UN Peace-building Commission by providing resources and know how, just as some Asean countries have done so commendably on various UN peace-keeping operations?
How will Asean support the new UN Human Rights Council to promote and protect human rights, including by complying with the new universal periodic review process whereby each country will be vetted by the Council in regard to its implementation of human rights?
The region should also open the door to the range of human rights Special Procedures, such as Special Rapporteurs of the UN by inviting them to visit the region to assess the ground situation and to provide advice on needed improvements, as well as to join more human rights treaties and implement them effectively.
From a people-based perspective, there is the recurrent wish that Thailand should convey - through the seasoned art of diplomacy - the message that Asean should be less mechanistic and more humanistic in its approach and actions.
Despite all the declarations and treaties emanating from the region and the hundreds of Asean meetings annually, Asean still has to convince its peoples that it provides a proven value-added for their daily lives. This challenge can and should be mastered by an Asean that acts "by example and in an exemplary manner," by abiding by international law and upholding universal standards, reinforced by the tapestry of regional wisdom.
Vitit Muntarbhorn is Professor of Law at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. He has helped the UN in a variety of capacities, including as expert, consultant and Special Rapporteur. This article is derived largely from his presentation at a recent seminar of Thailand's Institute of Security and International Studies (ISIS), on Thailand's Chairmanship of Asean.
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