Lost Opportunity on Human Rights

Posted by AsiaViews | Nov 20, 2017 | 0 |

Bangkok Post

Nov 12, 2017

Once US President Donald Trump lands in Manila to attend the East Asia Summit on Sunday, national leaders from half the ASEAN member states can be at ease without worrying about being chided by the US leadership over human rights abuses and waning democracy in their countries. During the 31st ASEAN Summit and related meetings that end on Tuesday, leaders from Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines are unlikely to be pressed on issues that have traditionally concerned the US.

With Mr Trump’s strategic interests in trade, investment and security, the gathering of regional and world leaders is a lost opportunity for improvement of human rights in the region.

The alleged ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people in Myanmar, extrajudicial killings in the war on drugs in the Philippines and widespread suppression of political dissidents and opponents in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam should have made ASEAN a region that demands the American leadership to exert its influence to call for improvements in human rights and democracy.

Unlike his predecessor Barack Obama, who asked regional leaders to uphold human rights during the ASEAN-US Summit last year in Laos, Mr Trump will pursue his “America first” trade agenda during the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN-US Summit. With security threats from North Korea, he will seek stronger commitments from ASEAN leaders to restrict trade and impose sanctions with the rogue regime.

True, yelling about human rights violations at ASEAN meetings may not be fruitful and effective given that ASEAN nations have strictly followed their principle of non-interference in the domestic matters of their members. The deteriorating human rights situations in the five countries will thus not be on the agenda at the meetings of the 10-member grouping.

But the US leader’s addressing of the unprecedented level of human right abuses in the region can, at a minimum and remind ASEAN and world leaders that the very concerning trend needs to be improved.

With a lack of American leadership, it is important that other world leaders, such as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres, take a lead in pressing the five ASEAN nations to uphold human rights principles.

The growing trend of rights abuses and waning democratic values in the region is a dire situation, with half of ASEAN members having spearheaded campaigns against their own people.

More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh, escaping a military crackdown in Rakhine state that included massacres, rape, looting and mass burnings of homes. Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental organization, recently called for leaders at the ASEAN summits to pressure the Myanmar government to allow access to the troubled state by a UN fact-finding mission and other UN human rights and humanitarian staff.

Here in Thailand, the military government has continued its ban of political gatherings and imposed criminal charges against political dissidents and critics. Many are behind bars and many more are awaiting military court trials.

Cambodia has seen a similar trend. Prime Minister Hun Sen has conducted a political purge against his political opposition ahead of general elections next year. He is alleged to have arranged the arrest of the leader of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, Kem Sokha, and pulled the strings behind the baseless legislative attacks against Mr Sokha and his party, which faces the prospect of being dissolved.

In Vietnam, more than 100 human rights activists and dissidents have been put in prison, while the government has continued to crack down on those criticizing the state.

At Mr Trump’s final destination of his longest trip abroad in Asia, the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-narcotics campaign has resulted in extrajudicial killings of thousands of suspected drug users and small-time dealers.

Sadly, Mr Trump will not ask them to improve their human rights records in exchange for better relations with the US. He will offer cooperation in areas of trade and security.

It remains to be seen how leaders such as Canada’s Mr Trudeau, Japan’s Mr Abe and the UN secretary-general will approach leaders at the summits over this worrying trend in the region and drum up support from them for better rights protection in those countries.

With ASEAN’s non-interference principle, we cannot expect the region’s leaders to pressure their peers to end human rights violations or crackdowns on political dissents.

But world leaders can elevate the issue to the international level and exert a certain level of pressure on the region’s authoritarian leaders. Disappointingly, Mr Trump chooses to opt out of that role.

(source:https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1358935/lost-opportunity-on-human-rights)

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EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD

Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.

“It’s important that the government see these children as victims” says Dyah. “They deserve a chance to be children again.”

Lost Opportunity on Human Rights