Rights activists concerned about status of human rights under AEC
Despite so much excitement in the run-up to the inception of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, experts and activists on human rights and democracy are ambivalent about what AEC’s repercussions will be on human rights and democracy. They have expressed concerns about AEC’s negative impact on unskilled labour, the environment, community rights, income disparity and more. Sriprapha Petcharamesree, Thailand’s representative to the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (ACHR), said there is no mention of issues like human rights or democracy in the AEC blueprint, not even issues like corporate social responsibility or good governance. Originally, the plan was to achieve an Asean Community but it has now been reduced to an Asean Economic Community, said Sriprapha… …Yap, meanwhile, is worried that AEC will mean doing away with legal safeguards on the environment and pollution, particularly in countries like Burma and Cambodia…
