SINGAPORE LOWERS HOPES FOR ASEAN HUMAN RIGHTS BODY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SINGAPORE 000237 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MTS - M. COPPOLA NEW DELHI FOR J. EHRENDREICH E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/17/2019 TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV SN SUBJECT: SINGAPORE LOWERS HOPES FOR ASEAN HUMAN RIGHTS BODY REF: A. SINGAPORE 158 ¶B. SINGAPORE 236 Classified By: CDA Daniel Shields for reasons 1.4(b),(d) ¶1. (C) Summary: The planned Human Rights Body (HRB) of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will remain a "work in progress" for several years, Singapore's MFA and two former ASEAN Secretaries-General said March 11. ASEAN has not publicly released the draft terms of reference (TOR) for the HRB, which are undergoing further revision and are now expected to be completed by July. Briefing foreign diplomats on the recent ASEAN Summit, MFA's ASEAN director said the HRB will develop slowly, focusing initially on raising awareness. Meanwhile, two senior Singapore officials separately suggested recently that the process of creating the HRB remains "tenuous" and difficult. ¶2. (U) Summary continued: At a civil society-sponsored public consultation, the former ASEAN Secretaries-General recommended modest expectations, conceding that the HRB will be a lowest-common-denominator entity acceptable to all ASEAN member states. However, they argued the HRB will still mark an important step forward for human rights in ASEAN. Acknowledging criticism of the secrecy surrounding the TOR, Singaporean former ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yang said a single, unspecified ASEAN country -- not Burma -- blocked public release of the draft TOR. Ong said Singapore itself has no need for a national human rights body but would prefer an ASEAN body that has "teeth." End summary. Terms of Reference Now to Be Finished by July -------------- ¶3. (U) The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers received the draft terms of reference (TOR) for a new ASEAN Human Rights Body (HRB) at their meeting in Cha-am, Thailand, on February 27. The foreign ministers did not release the draft to the public and did not refer it to the 14th Annual ASEAN Summit that began the following day. Instead, a February 27 official press release states, the ministers "made a number of comments for the Panel (appointed to draft the TOR) to use in further revising" the draft. The final draft TOR are now supposed to be ready for the next foreign ministers' meeting in July. Human Rights Body to Be a Long-Term Work in Progress -------------- -------------- ¶4. (U) Singapore MFA's ASEAN Director Kwok Fook Seng initially glossed over the HRB at a March 11 briefing for the diplomatic corps on the 14th ASEAN Summit, noting only that the drafting panel's work is ongoing. When an audience member asked for more detail, Kwok said there was a wide range of aspirations for the HRB's scope and mission but that ASEAN countries have a common understanding that the HRB will be "a work in progress for many, many years to come." Referencing criticisms that the TOR reportedly emphasize "promoting" human rights over "protecting" them, Kwok said it is important for ASEAN to start by building public and political support for "new" human rights concepts. Official Sources Warn Privately of "Tenuous" Process -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) Singapore Ambassador-at-Large Tommy Koh acknowledged (Ref A) that negotiation of the TOR had become more complicated as divergent views and interests emerged among member countries, and not just those thought to be resistant to tackling human rights. For example, he confided that Indonesia's foreign minister had intervened in the TOR drafting process at the last minute to try to strengthen some part of the document. Koh worried that this would encourage other countries to try to renegotiate other previously settled language. At the same time, Koh said the TOR were "almost done" and hoped to see the draft completed in time for the ASEAN Summit. As noted above, on February 27 the ASEAN foreign ministers sent the draft back to its authors for further revision. ¶6. (C) MFA Second PermSec Bilahari Kausikan called the Charge d'Affaires on March 14 (Ref B) to express concern that a resolution then under consideration by the Human Rights Council in Geneva would complicate matters by calling on Burma to cooperate with the ASEAN HRB. (Note: Post understands that this issue has since been resolved. End note.) Kausikan, who is Singapore's representative on the High-Level Panel drafting the TOR, told the Charge some ASEAN countries are already experiencing "buyer's remorse" over the SINGAPORE 00000237 002 OF 003 HRB and the status of the HRB remains "tenuous." He said he feared that outside attempts to leverage the HRB in this manner could harm efforts within ASEAN to strengthen the body. Civil Society Group Hosts Public Consultation -------------- ¶7. (U) Former ASEAN Secretaries-General Ong Keng Yong and Rodolfo Severino shared their views on the HRB at an event sponsored by Singapore civil society group MARUAH on March ¶11. A recent entrant to Singapore's limited civil society scene, MARUAH is dedicated exclusively to promoting a meaningful ASEAN human rights body. Although billed as a public consultation to enable Singaporeans to provide input on the draft TOR, few ordinary citizens seemed to be in attendance, and the crowd of 50 to 60 people included a large contingent of foreign diplomats and well-known Singaporean political activists. Nevertheless, audience questions to Ong and Severino continued for over an hour after the speakers finished their prepared remarks. Former ASEAN Officials Debate HRB Weaknesses and Merits -------------- -------------- ¶8. (U) At the MARUAH event, Severino emphasized the diversity among ASEAN members and said that meant the TOR would inevitably represent a negotiated compromise; thus, it is prudent "not to raise our expectations too high." Ong characterized ASEAN as split approximately 50/50 on whether the HRB should be a "teacher" or a "policeman": to obtain consensus, ASEAN had to emphasize the evolutionary nature of the HRB and treat its formation as a first step, postponing many specific decisions. Even the use of the vague name "Human Rights Body" reflected a deliberate decision to leave the HRB's form and function free to evolve, Ong said. ¶9. (U) Ong and Severino argued, however, that the creation of the HRB is a significant step that brings the possibility of far-reaching change. Severino pointed out that the 2008 ASEAN Charter recognizes norms pertaining to the internal behavior of member states for the first time in ASEAN history. Even if the HRB is unable to impose sanctions on violators, the Charter and HRB still give people something to invoke and serve to project ASEAN as "an association with a modicum of standards." Severino also suggested that the HRB will initially perform a consciousness-raising function, perhaps by providing practical human rights training to law enforcement personnel, prosecutors, and judges. Why Not Let the Public See the Draft TOR? -------------- ¶10. (U) The MARUAH panelists noted the controversy over ASEAN's refusal to release the draft TOR to the public. (Note: MARUAH's public consultation relied on leaked draft versions that appear on the Internet; their authenticity and accuracy cannot be confirmed. End note.) According to Ong, only one country objected to the release of a draft, and the objector was neither Burma nor Singapore; Burma has been "quite clever" in its approach to the ASEAN Charter, he said, by declaring itself in favor of democracy and human rights. In response to the unspecified objector, the other ASEAN foreign ministers agreed to withhold the current draft in exchange for a July deadline for a final, releasable draft, Ong said. Ong: "We Are Overwhelmed by Politics" -------------- ¶11. (U) Non-elected Member of Parliament and MARUAH member Siew Kum Hong, speaking from the audience, noted that leaked versions of the TOR reveal an internal contradiction in their simultaneous affirmation of the principle of non-interference and the need to protect human rights. This contradiction undermines the HRB's credibility, Siew said, adding that some of ASEAN's most notable recent failures to reach consensus involved human rights issues: Burma, the Rohingya, and the publication of the TOR themselves. Ong agreed, saying the HRB process is "overwhelmed by politics" and has become a drafting exercise focused on getting an acceptable document, with governments losing sight of the original goal. The presence of the non-interference principle and human rights norms in the same document is "illogical," Ong conceded. No Need for a Singapore Human Rights Body -------------- ¶12. (SBU) Another audience member asked Ong why Singapore does not have a national human rights body, as most of the SINGAPORE 00000237 003 OF 003 other developed ASEAN countries do. He responded that Singapore has an open society and legal system, the government takes care of everything from cradle to grave, there are effective mechanisms in place for citizens to convey concerns to the authorities, and so far there has been little demand from the citizenry for such a body. Ong argued that the GOS is non-ideological, so that if someone were to make a good case for a national human rights body, the answer would not be a categorical "no." His remarks prompted scattered laughter from Singaporeans in the audience. Comment -------------- ¶13. (C) Signals from official and unofficial Singapore sources point to an ongoing struggle within ASEAN to define a Human Rights Body acceptable to all member states. Initially at least, it appears increasingly likely to be a lowest-common-denominator institution constrained by ASEAN's non-interference principle. Perhaps more surprisingly, given Singapore's historical attitude toward human rights promotion, contacts here seem genuinely disappointed. Ong, Severino, and Kwok conveyed a sense of resignation, while Koh and Kausikan both separately raised an alarm that internal disagreements could yet derail the HRB process. Meanwhile, MARUAH's founding is striking in itself, suggesting, as Ong claimed, that there is no official resistance to the idea of an HRB with "teeth." Singapore officials likely calculate that a meaningful HRB would enhance ASEAN's credibility, promote basic norms among its more retrograde neighbors, and be useful in fending off outside pressure over their more egregious excesses. Presumably, the GOS is confident that, regardless of the outcome in July, Singapore will be able to manage the resulting HRB rather than become a target of its censure. Visit Embassy Singapore's Classified website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/singapore/ind ex.cfm SHIELDS