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Friday April 28 2:12
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U.N. Human Rights Meeting EndsBy CLARE NULLIS, Associated Press Writer GENEVA (AP) - After a six-week session which climaxed in surprisingly strong criticism of Russian violations in Chechnya, the U.N. Human Rights Commission ended Friday with a plea for the most basic right of all: that to life. ``We cannot allow human beings to die in large numbers before our very eyes,'' U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson said in an appeal for more international action against the drought in the Horn of Africa. ``The plight of millions of people at risk must impel the search for peace and security, for respect for human rights, and for the _expression_ of international solidarity,'' Robinson told the 53-nation commission's closing session. The commission is the top U.N. human rights watchdog. Its meetings often bog down in differences between developing countries wanting more emphasis on economic rights and the United States and Europe striving for better protection of civil and political liberties. This year was no different, and the commission extended its growing list of themes by appointing new investigators on the right to food and to adequate housing. Activists like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch took heart from a landmark decision to appoint a special U.N. envoy to monitor the treatment of human rights defenders - a move previously blocked by Cuba and some developing country allies. A report presented to the meeting said that human rights activists suffered repression in some 60 countries. ``It is shameful that those who seek to promote and to help protect human rights themselves so often become the victims,'' Robinson said. ``I have been deeply troubled by the fears expressed to me by some non-governmental representatives. As one woman put to me: 'Coming here may have made us targets at home,''' the former Irish president added. Russia became the first permanent member of the U.N. Security Council to suffer a formal rebuke. In a 25-7 vote, the commission criticized Moscow for ``disproportionate and indiscriminate use of Russian military force, including attacks against civilians'' in the breakaway republic of Chechnya. The resolution, put forward by the EU, urged Moscow to set up a commission of inquiry and allow in special U.N. investigators. There were 19 abstentions. ``Unless the Russian government moves swiftly on these proposals, the skepticism of the international community and supporters of human rights inside Russia can only mount,'' said U.S. delegation leaders Harold Hongju Koh and Nancy Rubin in a statement after the vote. Russian authorities - which snubbed Robinson during a recent visit to the region - denounced the U.N. move and said it wouldn't be bound by its decision. Moscow sent ground troops into Chechnya in September, following weeks of airstrikes, after Chechnya-based Islamic militants invaded neighboring Dagestan in August. For the 10th straight year at the commission, Beijing used its economic and political muscle among developing countries to block U.S.-led attempts to censure Chinese repression. Washington's campaign was also weakened by EU's refusal to co-sponsor the text, as France in particular was worried about future business deals. The commission reiterated its annual criticism of violations in Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Myanmar, Congo and Yugoslavia. Criticism of Cuba - also a yearly ritual - provoked the most forceful response outside the U.N. debating chambers. Up to 200,000 demonstrators joined government-sponsored protests in Cuba against the U.N. vote. The Havana government scrapped a planned visit by EU leaders to protest Europe's compliance with the perceived U.S. conspiracy and dropped plans to join an EU aid and trade pact. MALAYSIAN NEWS : BUSINESS
April 29 , 2000 13:37PM
RAFIDAH TO ATTEND AEM IN
YANGON
KUALA LUMPUR, April 29 (Bernama) -- Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz will be in Yangon, Myanmar to attend the 6th ASEAN Economic Ministers Retreat on May 1. She would also attend ASEAN's meeting with the economic ministers and
counterparts from China, Japan and Korea the next day, the ministry said in a
statement here Satursday.
It is the first time that the ASEAN Economic Ministers would hold a joint
meeting with their counterparts from the three countries under the
ASEAN-plus-three cooperation framework.
The meeting will cover issues related to enhancing cooperation on trade,
investment and transfer of technology.
The ASEAN Economic Ministers meeting would also focus its discusions on
issues related to regional economic cooperation activities.
Among the issues include the progress in the implementation of the (Common
Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) CEPT Scheme for the Asean Free Trade Area
(AFTA), impact of 1997 regional crisis and the preparedness of member countries.
The Ministers are also expected to consider the draft action plan pf the
e-Asean initiatives, which was earlier agreed at the 31st ASEAN Economic
Ministers Meeting in Singapore, September last year.
The plan would cover areas related to physical, legal, logistics, social
and economic infrastructure for the development of e-ASEAN iniatives.
The meeting will also look into the possibility of developing technical
cooperation in information technology and e-commerce.
Besides this, the meeting would discuss project implementation in the
growth areas in Asean and the Mekong Basin which was hampered by the 1997
regional crisis.
The Ministers are expected to exchange views with counterparts from China,
Japan and Korea on the World Trade Organization (WTO), APEC development and
investment activities under Asia-Europe Forum.--BERNAMA
Bangkok Post - April 29, 2000.Forgery chargesMae Hong Son-Three men have been arrested on charges of possessing fake Burmese banknotes with a face value of 2.2 million kyat. The men were charged after the notes were found in their pick-up truck at a checkpoint on the Mae Sariang-Mae Sot highway,. They told police the notes had been made in Bangkok for a local politician in Mae Sot who told them to use them to buy livestock and drugs at the Ban Sao Hin pass. The Nation - April 29, 2000. Generals urged to free jailed journalists
TWELVE journalists locked up in Burma must be freed, the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers (Reporters Without Borders) said yesterday. The human rights organisation's call comes on the eve of next week's Asean finance ministers meeting in Rangoon. In a statement released yesterday the group asked Asean secretary-general Rodolfo Severino "to intervene, in his talks with the Burmese authorities, on behalf of the 12 journalists still in prison". The group expressed indignation at the fact that the inter-ministerial meeting was being held in the country with the highest number of jailed journalists in the world. The meeting takes place just days after the United Nations Human Rights Commission condemned Burma for massive violations of fundamental rights. Reporters Without Borders general secretary Robert Menard said he was concerned about "the conditions of detention of Burmese journalists and, in some cases, the state of their health, especially U Win Tin and Daw San San Nweh, detained at Insein prison". The Burmese junta bans all criticism of itself. The country's laws set a 20-year jail sentence for publishing articles that "disrupt and sabotage the stability of the state". Foreign journalists are not permitted to work freely in the country. It is illegal to read publications of the exiled opposition or to listen to international radio stations.On January 19 this year, 70-year-old U Than Chaum was sentenced to two years' imprisonment by virtue of article 505(b) of the penal code, for listening to the international radio station Voice of America in the tea-room he owns. The Nation Channel NewsAsia-April 29, 2000. Saturday, April 29 4:00 PM SGT BG Yeo to attend ASEAN AEM retreat in MyanmarTrade and Industry Minister George Yeo will attend the 6th ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) retreat in Myanmar from Monday. The retreat aims to give the Ministers the chance to meet in an informal setting to exchange ideas. In addition, a high-level task force will present a report on the feasibility of an ASEAN free trade area with Australia and New Zealand. The ASEAN Economic Ministers will also hold their first meeting with their counterparts from China, Japan and Korea and will discuss cooperation in areas like agriculture, science and technology. The AEM will be followed by a separate meeting with the Japanese MITI Minister to discuss the ASEAN-Japan Joint Action Plan. Brigadier General Yeo will be accompanied by senior officials from the Trade
and Industry, Foreign Affairs Ministries and other government departments. |