The recently issued declaration on human rights by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, facing criticisms, includes a provision recognizing the right to receive information.
It states:
23. Every person has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, including freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information, whether orally, in writing or through any other medium of that person’s choice.
The declaration, issued at an ASEAN meeting in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, has been receiving critical reviews, including from 55 human rights groups in a Nov. 19 statement. The last-minute addition of a clause stating that the declaration would be implemented in accordance with international benchmarks was not considered adequate.
A Wall Street Journal story and a Guardian article summarize criticisms of declaration which center on provisions that seek to “balance” rights with individual duties.
Chun Han Wong for the Wall Street Journal wrote: “The Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ declaration—adopted at the 10-member group’s summit in Cambodia—isn’t legally binding, and officials described it as an initial step in improving civil liberties. Rights groups, including the United Nations rights watchdog, said the pledge contains language inconsistent with international law and allows governments to suppress rights by claiming the needs of security, public order or morality.
The United Nations human rights chief “expressed concern that the regional body’s recently-adopted human rights declaration, the region’s first, retains language that is not consistent with international standards,” according to a press release on her comments.
The U.S. State Department said it was “deeply concerned” the declaration could “weaken and erode” principles enshrined in the United Nations’s Universal Declaration on Human Rights. State spokesman Victoria Nuland decried the declaration’s use of “’cultural relativism’ to suggest that rights in the UDHR do not apply everywhere.”
“The ASEAN Declaration is a slap to the face, there is no other way to interpret it. With the Cambodian government cracking down on protestors and activists while it sells off the country’s resources; with Vietnam patrolling the Internet and locking up bloggers; with Thailand’s draconian lèse-majesté law and its devastating penalties; It is clear that the priority of the ASEAN governments is self-preservation above all else,” said Agnes Callamard, ARTICLE 19 Executive Director.
Regarding access to information in particular, a September statement by ARTICLE 19, Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), Media Defence-Southeast Asia and SAPA Task Force on ASEAN Freedom of Information, encouraged ASEAN to adopt a declaration that:
*Affirms that everyone has the right to seek, receive, access and impart information and that access to information is a requisite for good governance, transparency and public participation;
*Urges its member states to respect and promote access to public information and to promote the adoption of any necessary legislative or other types of provisions to ensure its recognition and effective application;
*Adopts a right to information policy to disclose public information proactively and upon requests from the public information held by all ASEAN-bodies.
Earlier this year there were persistent complaints about the transparency of the drafting process. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.)
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