ASEAN, Laos and Vietnam: no to human rights and religious freedom because they create "chaos"
A draft Declaration on Human Rights by the Association, which brings together the countries of South-East Asia is leaked. Vientiane, Hanoi and supported by Kuala Lumpur and Naypyidaw, indirectly, impose limits because the state is more important than the individual. Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines for a more progressive and modern version.
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.
Source: AsiaNews
Photo Credit: Live Trading News
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We, as leaders of faith communities, need to develop a more inclusive view of the religious other, to recognise the humanity of the religious other as a starting point. We need to recognise the essential equality of all human beings regardless of religious beliefs. We need to affirm the mutuality and interdependency of all people... We may need even to extend this and recognise that religious other may, just may, have at least some access to the Truth. We may need to accept that the religious others also adopts more or less the same set of essential universal ethical-moral principles we share; that the religious other has feelings of pain and pleasure just like us; that the religious other has similar expectations about their children and family and the preservation of life, property and security; and that the religious other has the same fears and anxieties about the world and the future, just like us.