For Endorsement: GPPAC - ASEAN to immediately establish a dispute prevention and settelment mechanism‏

Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict- Southeast Asia (GPPAC-SEA)

We, members of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict- Southeast Asia (GPPAC-SEA), call on members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to immediately establish a dispute prevention and settlement mechanism to address festering intra- state conflicts in the region.

While the newly-minted ASEAN charter call for the creation of a Dispute Settlement Mechanism among the States, there is urgency in preventing, settling and transforming conflicts within the states in the region. This call is founded on an alarming trend where peoples of Southeast Asia are bearing the crunch brought about by the global economic meltdown that will surely exacerbate poverty and impinge on already existing conflicts already suffered by millions of people in the region.

We call on ASEAN leaders who will be in Hua Hin Province this week for the 14th ASEAN Summit to go beyond their looking glass as the terrible human rights situation in Burma continue to worsen and violent conflicts have escalated in South Thailand, West Papua and Mindanao.

We want to believe that this Summit is not just another talkshop. By this, we urge member-states to uphold and enrich the power of the words in the ASEAN Charter which significantly include the role of the state in dispute settlements as clearly mentioned in its Chapter 8 Article 22 which is the General Principles on Settlement of Disputes:

"Member states shall endeavor peacefully all disputes in a timely manner through dialogue, consultation and negotiation. ASEAN shall maintain and establish dispute settlement mechanisms in all fields of ASEAN cooperation."

To be more specific, we briefly elaborate below the current situation of countries in the region that urgently needs urgent action from ASEAN:

Burma

The democratization of Burma remains the single most urgent issue wanting of a resolute action from ASEAN. The military junta's human rights violations committed against the peoples of Burma is something that ASEAN leaders must respond to urgently.

ASEAN's stand on non-interference, non-intervention are obsolete principles in this situation.

The case of thousands of Rohingya boat people who arrived in the Thai border to evade abuse and hunger under the Burma military government only to be driven away by Thai authorities also need to be addressed.

ASEAN, in the name of social justice, has the responsibility to intervene on this ongoing hostilities that has already affected thousands if not millions of people that have rocked the international community which has loudly called for the restoration of democracy in Burma.