Amnesty International’s 2008 report on Singapore

Amnesty International, in the section on Singapore, part of its worldwide review for 2008, highlighted “heavy penalties and restrictive measures imposed on opposition activists, journalists and human rights defenders”. It also noted Singapore’s formal dissociation from the UN General Assembly’s resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on the use of the death penalty

Tex of report follows: 

ASEAN Charter enters into force December 2008

ASEAN Charter enters into force next month

Jakarta (18 November) — Thailand delivered the tenth and final instrument of ratification of the ASEAN Charter when Ambassador Don Pramudwinai, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Thailand to the United Nations, deposited the document with Dr Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary-General of ASEAN, at the Thai Mission here on early Friday, 14 November.

“This is certainly an occasion to celebrate for the 570 million people of ASEAN,” said a beaming Secretary-General, upon receiving the Thai document.

“This means that when the ASEAN Leaders gather at their annual Summit in mid December, the ASEAN Charter will have come into force,” Dr Surin told reporters.

Two days earlier, on 12 November, Philippines deposited its instrument of ratification of the ASEAN Charter and a day later on 13 November, Indonesia deposited its instrument of ratification.

The ASEAN Leaders signed the ASEAN Charter last November at the 13th ASEAN Summit. They urged their member states to fully ratify it by the end of 2008. All member states have now responded to their call.

When they meet again in Chiang Mai, Thailand for their 14th ASEAN Summit on 15-18 December, they will celebrate not only the full ratification of the ASEAN Charter but also the entering into force of the new basic law of ASEAN. It will be a rules-based and people-oriented organisation with its own legal personality.

Source: Philippine Information Agency press release, 18 Nov 2008.

Go for gold – ratify UN treaty

A commentary piece in the Straits Times, calling for more countries to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which is one of the newest international UN conventions.

For more details on the convention, visit the sites below.
Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Sep 12, 2008
RIGHTS OF THE HANDICAPPED
Go for gold – ratify UN treaty
By Khalid Malik
EVEN as we celebrate the remarkable athletes who are participating at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, we should reflect on the rights of all people with disabilities. We should hail the 192 United Nations member-states who approved the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities two years ago, but keep in mind that only 36 of them have ratified the Convention thus far.

People with disabilities are the world’s largest minority. There are more than 650 million of them in the world. China alone, which signed the Convention in June, has 83 million people living with disabilities, of whom 20,000 are newly disabled as a result of the Sichuan earthquake.

If ratified by all nations, the Convention would create a better world for everyone. It aims to ensure that handicapped people enjoy the same rights and basic freedom as all others. If implemented, it could help fulfil the potential of roughly 10 per cent of the world’s population.

Countries that sign it are required to protect the rights of their handicapped in economic, social and cultural fields. It calls for equal access to primary and secondary education, the right to the highest attainable standard of health without discrimination, equal rights to work and equal participation in political and public life.

Unemployment among the disabled is as high as 80 per cent in some countries. Employers often assume that persons with disabilities are unable to work. Up to 90 per cent of children with disabilities in developing countries do not attend school.

The Paralympic Village, transformed from the Olympic Village, offers special facilities to meet the needs of physically challenged athletes. This includes access to apartments, a hospital, a bank, places of worship and shops. If only the world at large so complied with one part of the Convention, which requires countries to identify and eliminate obstacles and barriers, and calls for access to transportation, public facilities and services for people with disabilities.

We have witnessed remarkable achievements during these competitions that were once considered unattainable. These special Games exemplify the best of the human spirit. We have seen many firsts at the Paralympics. Rowing was added to the programme. More than 4,000 athletes from 148 countries joined to break barriers and attain dreams.

The International Labour Organisation is helping China to develop equal opportunity legislation for people with disabilities in the workplace. It has supported training for employment opportunities, including start-up businesses for entrepreneurs who are disabled. The United Nations Development Programme works closely with the China Disabled Persons’ Federation to promote rights protection for persons with disabilities. More than 500 social workers have been trained in promoting rights protection through better understanding of the law and international norms and services for disabled people. Unicef helped revise the Chinese law on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities, which entered into force in July, with a special provision on disabled children.

Everybody counts. And everybody has rights that must be upheld. Like the striving of a Paralympic champion, ratifying the Convention and safeguarding the rights of the handicapped are attainable, but would require hard work and determination.

We urge those countries which have not signed and ratified the Convention to do so. We urge the involvement of disabled persons organisations in incorporating the articles of the Convention into national legislations. We recommend developing national action plans, with concrete activities, projects and established timelines.

Why not go for the gold?

The writer is the United Nations’ resident coordinator in China

High-Level Panel meeting on Terms of Reference of ASEAN human rights body

The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs has issued a press release, providing details of an upcoming meeting of the High-Level Panel (HLP) on the Drafting of the Terms of Reference (TOR) of the ASEAN Human Rights Body. The meeting, the third of its kind, will be held on 10 – 12 September 2008 in Manila.

The HLP consists of the following:

BRUNEI DARUSSALAM
H.E. Dato Paduka Haji Shofry Abdul Ghafor
Permanent Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Brunei Darussalam

CAMBODIA
H.E. Om Yentieng
Advisor to the Royal Government of Cambodia
President of the Human Rights Committee of Cambodia

INDONESIA
Mrs Wiwiek Setyawati Firman
Director for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs
Department of Foreign Affairs

HLP Alternate:
Mr Arief Havas Oegroseno
Director for Political Security and International Treaties
Department of Foreign Affairs

LAOS
H.E. Bounkeut Sangsomsak
Vice Foreign Minister
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

MALAYSIA
H.E. Tan Sri Ahmad Fuzi Abdul Razak
Ambassador with Special Functions
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

MYANMAR
H.E. U Myat Ko
Secretary of Myanmar Human Rights Group
Director-General, General Administration Department
Ministry of Home Affairs

PHILIPPINES
H.E. Amb Rosario G Manalo

SINGAPORE
H.E. Bilahari Kausikan
2nd Permanent Secretary
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Department of Foreign Affairs

THAILAND
H.E. Sihasak Phuangketkeow
Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Thailand to the UN Office and Other IOs in Geneva

HLP Alternate:
Prof Vitit Muntarbhorn
Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University
Thailand

VIETNAM
H.E. Pham Quang Vinh
SOM Leader of ASEAN-Vietnam
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

According to ASEAN, the first draft of the TOR of the ASEAN human rights body will be submitted at the 14th ASEAN Summit in December 2008.

Myanmar opposes investigative powers

The Associated Press (AP) reveals a worrying signal from Myanmar on the issue of the ASEAN human rights body.

Myanmar opposes investigative powers
By JIM GOMEZ – Jul 22, 2008

SINGAPORE (AP) — Myanmar’s junta has indicated it will oppose any effort to give a Southeast Asian human rights body the power to monitor or investigate rights violations in the region, diplomats said Tuesday.

A high-level panel of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations started work Monday to set up the rights body. The panel will lay down the body’s future makeup, role and powers, which will be presented to a summit of ASEAN leaders in December.

But in a closed-door session with the panel Monday, Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win said the human rights body should uphold ASEAN’s bedrock policy of noninterference in each other’s affairs, a diplomat present at the meeting told The Associated Press.

The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak to the media.

Another diplomat who attended a separate meeting between all 10 ASEAN ministers and the panel also said Nyan Win made clear his opposition to the rights body having any monitoring authority.

Myanmar’s military government, which has been strongly criticized by Western governments and even fellow ASEAN members for its dismal human rights record, has used the bloc’s policy to parry any attempt by outsiders to intervene on behalf of human rights victims in the military-ruled nation.

It has already been decided that the rights body will not have the power to impose sanctions or seek prosecution of violators. But Myanmar’s objections, if honored, will make the body even less effective.

A majority of other ASEAN foreign ministers, led by Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, separately told the panel that the human rights body should at least be empowered to monitor violations and offer advice to prevent such problems, said the first diplomat.

Myanmar officials were not immediately available for comment but in the past they have said the human rights body should only serve as a “consultative mechanism” and that it should not “shame and blame” any ASEAN nation.

The rights body is being set up as part of ASEAN’s proposed new charter, which seeks to make the organization rule-based.

ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said the charter will serve as a guide to the panel drafting the terms of reference for the rights body.

“They’re going to follow the charter very, very closely — its principle of promoting, upholding and protecting human rights,” Surin said.

The international community has condemned Myanmar’s junta for its refusal to restore democracy and release pro-democracy leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other political detainees. ASEAN has also been criticized for not doing enough to pressure Myanmar’s military leaders.

ASEAN foreign ministers, disappointed with the Myanmar junta’s foot-dragging on democracy, expressed “deep disappointment” in a statement Sunday at the junta’s May decision to extend Suu Kyi’s detention.

ASEAN’s members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

SE Asia begins negotiations to set up rights body

Reuters reports on the different views expressed by the 10 member countries of ASEAN, with regards to the proposed human rights body under the ASEAN Charter.

21st July 2008
SE Asia begins negotiations to set up rights body
By Manny Mogato

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has begun negotiations for the creation of a human rights body, a senior Philippine official said on Monday, with hopes of concluding talks in Bangkok next July.

Rosario Manalo, Manila’s representative on a high-level panel drafting the framework, said they expected to show ASEAN foreign ministers a draft of the terms of reference of the rights body by December 2008.

“I am very positive we can finish our job by the time ASEAN foreign ministers meet next July in Bangkok,” Manalo told reporters, adding that more member states had recently expressed willingness to set up an independent body with broader powers.

Last year, Southeast Asian leaders agreed in Singapore to set up a rules-based organization. Among key institutions they agreed to establish was a human rights body.

In a communique, ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Singapore on Monday “reaffirmed the commitment by all member countries to ratify the ASEAN Charter by the 14th ASEAN summit in Bangkok” in December.

Only Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand have yet to approve the charter after Myanmar formally informed the bloc of its ratification this week.

Manalo said some member states which had been initially reluctant to form even a local human rights body had become supportive after the 10-member task force met the ASEAN foreign ministers on Monday.

“The minister of Laos was supportive of the human rights body and was doing more positive things,” said Manalo, a former diplomat.

“The minister of Vietnam was very conciliatory and very positive. He said we can find common grounds to agree and only one or two states were holding on to their positions to keep the status quo.”

DIVIDED BLOC

The Philippines has urged the bloc to work on the universal standard of human rights as adopted by the United Nations because all 10 members were signatories to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand wanted a strong, independent body that would not only protect and promote human rights, but also compel members to make periodic reports on progress, an official said.

Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam wanted only an advisory or consultative body, while Singapore and Brunei preferred to define human rights in the context of ASEAN.

“In short, these countries wanted a watered-down human rights body, where state interests prevail over the rights of individuals,” the official said.

The task force was beginning its work on Monday and hoped to conclude negotiations by the next ASEAN ministerial meeting in Bangkok in a year’s time, he said.

Manalo said some initially reluctant states had become more positive, believing that ASEAN must create a rights body that was “more realistic and credible — not just to the people of the region, but for the rest of the world”.

Last month, Singapore’s Tommy Koh, head of the task force drafting an ASEAN charter calling for protection of human rights, said there was no consensus on the body having the power to monitor or investigate rights situation in the 10 member states.

“We do not want the ASEAN human rights body to be accusatory, a finger-pointing body,” said Koh.

ASEAN, a bloc encompassing half a billion people, groups Brunei, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

(Reporting by Manny Mogato; Editing by Roger Crabb)

ASEAN human rights body to rely on ‘peer pressure’

Agence France-Presse (AFP) has a news report, providing details of the proposed ASEAN human rights body

22nd July 2008
ASEAN human rights body to rely on ‘peer pressure’
A South-East Asian human rights body expected to come into force next year will have no power to impose sanctions and will rely on ‘peer pressure’ to bring members into line, officials said on Monday.

A panel drafting the terms of reference for the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) human rights body is to submit its first report to foreign ministers at the bloc’s 2008 summit in Bangkok, a statement said.

A final draft could be in place in 2009, paving the way for the human rights organisation to begin its work.

‘We aim to achieve a result that is realistic, balanced and credible, and which would be in the best collective interest of ASEAN,’ the panel’s chairman, Bilahari Kausikan, said after it met foreign ministers on Monday.

Mr Kausikan said the panel would convene monthly before meeting ASEAN ministers again in December. An interim report is to be completed in September.

One South-east Asian official privy to the negotiations said however that the body would likely end up powerless to punish rights violators, including Myanmar which has ignored international calls to institute democratic reforms.

‘The body will not be empowered to have sanctions,’ the official said. ‘It will work on peer pressure, will measure progress and will seek periodic explanations for non-progress.’ A database on human rights violations will also be created, the official said.

The Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand want the rights body to have a monitoring and enforcement capacity modelled on the United Nations, the official said.

Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam are pressing to water down the terms of reference to ensure the human rights body is largely an advisory panel. Brunei has not stated its position, the official said.

ASEAN leaders, during a summit in Singapore last year, signed a charter which committed member states to notions of democracy and human rights and for the first time set out principles and rules for the group.

Under the charter, a human rights body would be established in a region that includes countries with poor human rights records, such as military-run Myanmar, which is subject to international sanctions.

Activists fear that ASEAN, which cherishes a policy of non-interference in members’ internal affairs, will establish a rights mechanism that is toothless and ineffective.

Singapore falls short on rights: lawyers’ group

Agence France-Presse (AFP) has highlighted a report(PDF) by the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI).

IBAHRI’s press release “expressed concern about limitations on the freedoms of expression, assembly, and the press, and of the independence of the judiciary in Singapore.”

18 recommendations are made in the report, which are reproduced below.

1. Singapore should ratify the ICCPR without reservations and implement its provisions at the earliest opportunity.
2. Singapore should immediately bring its restrictions on free expression in line with recognised international customary law.
3. Singapore should immediately abolish defamation as a criminal offence, or in the alternative and should abolish heavy sanctions for defamation offences; prohibit public officials from instituting criminal defamation; and review the existing defences to ensure they are in line with international standards.
4. The Singapore Government should pass legislative limits on civil defamation pay-outs, and certainly on cases initiated by government officials.
5. A defence of qualified privilege for comments made about government officials should be made available and enforced by the courts in appropriate cases.
6. The Singapore Government should take steps to encourage, not discourage, opposition participation and debate.
7. Singapore Government officials should stop initiating defamation claims for criticisms made in the course of political debate.
8. The Singapore Government should increase the freedom of the press – both domestic and foreign – to report on political issues impacting on the people of Singapore.
9. The Newspaper and Printing Presses Act should be amended so as to ensure that there are checks and balances on the decision to restrict the circulation of publications under the Act.
10. The Newspaper and Printing Presses Act should be amended to allow reasonable comment on the domestic politics of Singapore by foreign publications.
11. Singapore should remove personal responsibility for internet hosts for information published on their hosted sites or should clarify the limitations on material that may not be posted.
12. Steps should be taken to ensure that internet bloggers are free to make reasonable statements in the public interest.
13. Security of tenure should be granted to all judges.
14. Transfer of judges between executive and judicial roles should be abolished.
15. The situations in which demonstrations may take place should be expanded to include all peaceful assemblies.
16. Limitations on penalties for peaceful assembly should be introduced as a matter of urgency.
17. The Singapore Government should respect the right of the Singapore Law Society to engage in debate on law reform and should immediately repeal the prohibition on the Singapore Law Society commenting on legislation.
18. The Singapore Law Society should ensure that it is actively participating in law reform debates on a wide range of issues, as that is its responsibility as a law society.

UPDATE: The Ministry of Law has issued a response. Both the Straits Times and TODAY have reported on the response.

Singapore’s draft report on the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

Several newspapers have reported on the 2nd report to be submitted to the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Rights of the Child. Regular submissions are one of the obligations of countries who are a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Singapore ratified the CRC in 1995, together with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

The Straits Times report (”S’pore kids better off now than in 2002: MCYS report”) mentions

Improvements seen in schooling, health and crime rates; but STD, abuse cases up

The TODAY report (”Kids’ rights: Plan of action”) highlighted discussions at a closed-door forum, specifically

Educating youth workers on children’s rights and developing a national plan of action for children

The newspaper report also spelled out some of the government’s reservations to the CRC, namely on free primary education, corporal punishment, and special protection of refugee children.

The Zaobao report (”少儿权利草拟报告书：本地青少年自杀率上升”, translated as “Draft report for CRC: Rise in adolescent suicide rate in Singapore”) focused on the issue of teenage suicides, with the rate climbing from 2.7 per 10,000 youths in 2004, to the current rate of 4.6. The newspaper report also informed of a MCYS public consultation which will close by the end of this month.

The official press release provided (among other items) a list stating the key areas of progress in the area of child rights, like changes to legislation, providing more choices in education, and help for dysfunctional families, etc.

Do access the draft report and provide your feedback and comments.

Singapore Hosts 7th Workshop on ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism

The Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism has put up a report of the 7th workshop on the ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism.

From the Working Group website, a short explanation of what the Workshop is about.

The Workshop is the seventh in a series that is annually organized by the Working Group. Co-organized by the ministry of foreign affairs and the national human rights institution (if any) of a host ASEAN member-state, it has become a platform for stakeholders to dialogue on the establishment of a regional human rights mechanism.

Scroll down to the end of that webpage for the summary of proceedings.