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HUMAN RIGHTS CARAVAN TO CHALLENGE A



Subject: HUMAN RIGHTS CARAVAN TO CHALLENGE ASEAN LEADERS

MEDIA ADVISORY: BANGKOK, DECEMBER 9, 1998
HUMAN RIGHTS CARAVAN TO CHALLENGE ASEAN LEADERS

This morning, a caravan of local and regional human rights organisations
will visit several Asean diplomatic missions in Bangkok to deliver an open
letter to leaders attending the 1998 Asean Informal Summit. The action is
part of a range of activities organised in the region to commemorate the
50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The caravan has been organised to challenge Asean and its member states to
make a public commitment to the spirit and content of the Declaration at
the Asean Informal Summit.

Programme as follows:

0830	Assembly at Thanon Pan, near Burmese Embassy

0900-0930	Burmese Embassy (including street theatre)

0945-1000	Malaysian Embassy

1025-1040	Cambodian Embassy

1110-1130	Indonesian Embassy

1330	Meeting with Khun Kobsak Chutikul, Thai Foreign Affairs Ministry

A street theatre will take place outside the Burmese Embassy.

Participants will deliver an open letter to the embassies visited and a
wreath will be offered to honour human rights defenders and those who have
suffered from human rights violations.

Those Asean embassies not visited by the human rights caravan will be faxed
a copy of the open letter.

Text of open letter follows:

[EMBARGOED UNTIL 12 NOON, DECEMBER 9, 1998, BANGKOK TIME]

Dear Sirs,

It is undeniable that Southeast Asia is being gripped by a crisis - a human
rights crisis - which is affecting the lives of millions of citizens of
Asean member states.

>From Burma to Malaysia, Indonesia to Cambodia, millions of people have been
forced to endure on a daily basis, violations of their civil, political,
economic, social and cultural rights.

The experience of the current economic crisis has destroyed the myth that
economic development can be used as an alibi for repression.

Economic management and development is meant to benefit people. People are
an integral part of the economy. Economies are not able to operate without
people, therefore economic structures and mechanisms which exclude
participation of the public are unsustainable and impractical.

In the past 18 months we have directly experienced the severe consequences
of economic decision-making which has prized profit above people and
deliberately denied the public their right to information. Many of those
who have attempted to exercise their civil and political rights to speak
out against the implementation and results of such violations of economic,
social and cultural rights have been targeted for abuse.

We reject the type of "Asian Values" promoted by some Asean leaders because
it is an insult to our cultures - it implies that our cultures endorse
oppression and authoritarianism, that we are so unenlightened that we
cannot cope with democratic processes. 

This brand of "Asian Values" promotes the idea that Asians are greedy,
uncaring and brutal, that we prize short term wealth over long term
security and the well-being of our communities and regional neighbourhood.

Saying that Asian people somehow deserve fewer human rights is demeaning
and degrading to us because it implies that we are less than human.

Therefore, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, we challenge Asean and its member states to
make a public commitment to the spirit and content of the Declaration at
the Asean Informal Summit.

We challenge Asean leaders to amend the Asean Vision 2020 statement to
acknowledge the universality and indivisibility of human rights AND to
integrate their legislation within the guidelines of the Declaration.

Further, we challenge all Asean member states to ratify both the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

We salute the human rights defenders of the region, particularly those who
have been deprived of their lives, their liberty and their freedom of
movement because of their efforts to improve the situation of their
communities and their countries.

On this occasion, we also re-assert the universality and indivisibility of
human rights, condemn all unjust laws exercised by the governments of Asean
and re-commit ourselves to the cause of human rights in the region.

Yours in solidarity with the peoples of Asean,
(signed)
on behalf of the coalition of local and regional non-governmental
organisations represented in the Asean Human Rights Caravan, Bangkok.

-----------------------------------
A L T S E A N - B U R M A
Alternative Asean Network on Burma
Tel: 66 2 275 1811 * Fax: 66 2 693 4515
<altsean@xxxxxxxxxx>