By Xinhua
Singapore : Countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) agreed to establish a human rights body of the bloc as they signed the Asean Charter here on Tuesday.
“In conformity with the purpose and principles of the Asean Charter relating to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedom, Asean shall establish an Asean human rights body,” the charter says.
The charter stipulates that the rights body, which has to be given a name, will operate in accordance with the terms of reference to be determined by the Asean foreign ministers’ meeting.
As for other issues of Asean organs, the charter stipulates that the Asean summit is the supreme policy-making body of the bloc, which was established in 1967 and now groups Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.
The Asean summit meetings will be held twice annually, hosted by the member state holding the grouping’s chairmanship, the charter says.
The secretary general of Asean, who will be the chief administrative officer, will be appointed by the Asean summit for a rotational non-renewable term of office for five years, selected from among the nationals of the Asean member states based on alphabetical order, with due consideration to integrity, capability and professional experience, and gender equality, the charter says.
According to the charter, Asean’s organs include the Asean Coordinating Council, Asean community councils (the Asean Political-Security Community Council, Asean Economic Community Council, and Asean Socio-Cultural Community Council) and Asean sectoral ministerial bodies.
The Asean region has a population of about 500 million, a total area of 4.5 million square kilometres, a combined gross domestic product of almost $700 billion and a total trade volume of about $850 billion.