ASEAN, Laos and Vietnam: no to human rights and religious freedom because they create "chaos
Bangkok (AsiaNews) - The
recognition and protection of human rights can trigger "conflict and
division" that end up dragging a country "into chaos and
anarchy." Among
the limitations, there is also the control of the "practice of a cult or a
religion" that must comply with the laws of a nation in which "the
rights of the state 'outweigh' freedoms and rights of individuals." This
is what emerges from a draft of the ASEAN Declaration on Human Rights, drafted
in January during the first meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission and
published exclusively by a Burmese dissident website (based in India) Mizzima News. Among
the ASEAN countries - the association that brings together 10 nations of
South-east Asia, from Myanmar to Brunei - it reveals the attempt of Laos to
"water down" the Bill of Rights, invoking a number of limitations in
the underlying principles, in contrast, the governments of Thailand, Indonesia
and the Philippines want to promote a more progressive and modern version.
The
draft document testifies to the hard-line request from Vientiane, which intends to impose a series of
pre-conditions on the exercise of human rights and religious freedom. For
the Lao government, "the application of universal human rights" must
take account "of national and regional particularities" and the words
"regardless of the political, economic and cultural systems" should not be
inserted. Instead,
the delegates that "national security, public order and morality" is
specified as more important than the rights of individuals to avoid generating
"chaos and anarchy."
Laos also wants clear limits to religious freedom, which must be subservient
to the "national laws" of each State. A
position endorsed by Vietnam
(both pro-communist nations, leaders in cases of violations of the practice of
religion), which also supports the control of freedom of opinion and the right
to freedom of information. Among
the other ASEAN nations, Vientiane and Hanoi's positions are shared - albeit more discreetly -
even by Malaysia.
Myanmar,
however, would not comment directly but it seems close to the thesis of Laos and has expressed
reservations about the use of the term "ethnic minorities" or
"indigenous peoples".
In
principle, the document states that "everyone shall enjoy rights and
freedoms" without distinction of "race, color, sex, language,
religion, politics or other opinion, national or social origin, sexual
identity, property, birth, disability
or other status. " However,
the Sultanate of Brunei and Malaysia
are against the inclusion of the term "sexual identity" and Kuala Lumpur also places
conditions on the definitions of "sex" and "other status". Thailand,
however, wants to change the concept of "sexual identity" with the
more modern "sexual orientation". The
draft would further identify the extent to which the death penalty applies,
however, some Member States are against any reference to this.
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