ASEAN Leaders Approve Landmark Charter
Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on November 20 approved the ASEAN Charter at a plenary session of the 13th ASEAN Summit in Singapore.
Addressing at the summit, the Vietnamese Premier Nguyen Tan Dung said Vietnam welcomed the signing of ASEAN Charter and committed his country would complete necessary procedures of ratification soon.
The charter was considered a landmark in the bloc's development, creating a legal and institutional framework for ASEAN to promote unity and accelerate integration toward the formation of an ASEAN community by 2015.
International experts said the landmark charter would help it become a legal organization bound by one set of rules, but didn't include a mechanism for enforcing human rights.
Jenina Joy Chavez, member of the Solidarity for Asian People's Advocacies (SAPA) told the Bangkok Post's reporter that the Charter in fact systemizes deals and declarations signed by ASEAN members at a higher legal level, but have no new breakthrough.
However, an analyst wrote in Thailand's Nation newspaper that the Charter was an acceptable method in the context of occurring political changes in the region. (The People)
Vietnamese
