Indonesia pledges support for AICHR
Hua Hin (ANTARA News) - Indonesia has pledged its support to the development of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) so that it could fully function to protect human rights in the region.
The country`s foreign ministry`s secretary general, Imron Cotan, said here on Friday Indonesia fully trusted its representative in the AICHR, Rafendi Djamin, to carry out his task in the next three years.
"We will fulfill the TOR (terms of reference) and certainly we also have a representative there namely Rafendi Djamin. He is known to be vocal, young and dynamic. I believe with him the commission would work well," he said.
Rafendi has been chosen to represent Indonesia along with his counterparts from the ten member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and would immediately work to make the AICHR effective after its establishment at the 15th ASEAN Summit here.
Imron admitted that time was still needed to assure the AICHR`s effectiveness because the Indonesian proposal to strengthen the commission was still hindered.
He said he was however optimistic the AICHR could increase its function in stages in line with the commitment of the ASEAN heads of state/government to review it every five years.
"This is the maximum achievement made for the time being. It is not yet ideal because it provides no verification or supervision provisions. However there have been efforts to improve it with regard to the decision that a review would be done every five years by heads of state," he said.
Imron said it was not easy to set a common parameter for protecting human rights among the ten members of the grouping which were different in terms of economic development, system of government and political system.
However, the commitment to review the AICHR framework every five years is a step towards forming an established and solid commission, he said.
"Let us just see. Let us give an opportunity for the baby to live. How it will work later we will control it based on developments," he said.
Indonesia, he said, will continue to support AICHR as part of its efforts to share its past experience.
"Indeed this is part of our efforts to share our experience. We are now aware we have made a mistake and wish other countries could learn from what we have done to become a democracy now," he said.
Although Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has offered to host the AICHR, Imron said, Indonesia hopes the AICHR office will be located in the country.
"This will be an eternal agency and therefore it would be better if it is headquartered in Indonesia. The issue is now still under discussion," he said.
The ASEAN leaders have agreed to extend US$200,000 from contributions from the ten ASEAN members for the first year operation of the agency.
The funds may be increased in stages. "Slowly we will increase it. This is a field in which all countries are interested. We believe there will also be aid from countries whose democracy has already been established. May be it will not be in the form of money but training or human resource developemnt," he said.
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PubDate: 10/24/09 03:31
