The team drafting the Asean Declaration on Human Rights will begin fleshing out the document when the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) meets in Vientiane, Laos, on Monday.

Sriprapha Petcharamesree, the Thai representative of the AICHRM, said the drafting team would have about three months to draw up a set of principles on human rights to propose to the Asean ministers.

Ms Sriprapha introduced the Thai member of the drafting team during meetings with government agencies and civil society organisations at the Foreign Ministry early this week.

Most of the drafters are Asean affairs officials, she said. Thailand is represented by an international law expert, Seree Nonthasoot.

Ms Sriprapha said the declaration would indicate a general vision about rights and responsibility and should be in a simple and clear language.

Mr Seree said he would be willing to hear the views of interested Thai parties during the drafting process.

Ms Sriprapha said the draft declaration on human rights would be scrutinised by the foreign ministers before being submitted to the Asean summit meeting later this year in Indonesia.

Since its establishment in October in 2008, the AICHR had been developing its task gradually, she said.

In February this year they adopted operational guidelines and agreed on two thematic study issues on corporate social responsibility and migration.

The Thai representative has pledged to also study the Asean political-security, economic and socio-cultural community blueprints and report back to colleagues.

She has also expressed disagreement with Asean health senior officials who sought AICHR views on mandatory HIV/Aids testing for migrant workers, saying that it was against human rights.

In the past year, Ms Sriprapha has been doing road shows in all regions in Thailand, introducing and explaining the work of the AICHR and how it differs from the National Human Rights Commission.

She said she had been receiving information about NGO concerns about two dams – the Xayaburi in Laos and Hatgyi in Burma – and on the impact of Thai investment in Cambodia.

Ms Sriprapha said she also informed members of Thai civil society that a number of AICHR members favour working with and communicating with human rights organisations in the region and were considering an accreditation system for NGOs.

Thai civil society was interested in how the accreditation system would work and had been actively engaged with the Thai representative in AICHR in putting forward their recommendations on guidelines to establish a practical and NGO-friendly accreditation system.

However, Ms Sriprapha said the accreditation system might not be discussed at the Monday meeting in Vientiane.

* Published: 23/06/2011 at 12:10 PM