ASEAN Secretariat
30 August 2010

The ASEAN Charter is now available in all the major languages spoken in the ASEAN Member States, with the Philippines introducing the ASEAN Charter in Filipino. The introduction was made during the ASEAN’s 43rd anniversary celebrations at the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines in Manila on 9 August 2010.

The Filipino version of the ASEAN Charter is now available for download from the official website of ASEAN. Visit: http://www.asean.org/AC-Philippines.pdf

The ASEAN Charter entered into force on 15 December 2008 and had previously been translated into other various ASEAN languages.

Jakarta, 26 August 2010

Economic Ministers Urge Closer Coordination with Sectoral Bodies

Da Nang, Viet Nam,25 August 2010

The 4th ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Council Meeting concluded today with the ASEAN Economic Ministers calling for closer coordination with and between the Sectoral Bodies dealing with the different economics-based issues in ASEAN. Dr Vu Huy Hoang, Minister of Industry and Trade of Viet Nam, who chaired the Meeting, said as many areas within the AEC are cross-cutting, it is important to have a greater engagement with and between Sectoral Bodies to facilitate the exchange views and a better understanding of the issues and challenges.

25 August 2010

Da Nang, Viet Nam,

The 42nd ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) Meeting, which began yesterday in Da Nang, under the theme “ASEAN Economic Community: A Community for Dynamic and Sustainable Growth”, concluded today with the resonance of a sound economic recovery in ASEAN. The ASEAN Member States also expressed their commitment to support ASEAN’s efforts to accelerate the region’s economic recovery.

Minister of Industry and Trade of Viet Nam, Dr Vu Huy Hoang, who chaired the plenary and press conference, reiterated the confidence of Member States that the improving global economic environment, among other factors, will further improve the economic conditions of the region.

13 August 2010

‘Surprising’ Chinese purchases fuel food shortage fears in Vietnam.

Unseasonal and unexpectedly large purchases of Vietnamese rice by Chinese importers have sparked national food security concerns among industry insiders as well as local experts.

Local rice companies said Chinese importers increased buying of Vietnamese rice at the end of June. They noticed that many ships had docked in the Mekong Delta to collect the rice.

Cao Minh Lam, director of the An Giang Import Export Company, said Chinese importers were even offering high prices for low quality rice; and they transport the rice both by sea and via border gates between the two countries.

Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Food Association, Pham Van Bay, said he knew that China was buying rice, but he could not imagine that the purchases would be so sizeable.

10 August 2010 15:02
by May Titthara

POLICE and military police used guns and electric batons to drive roughly 100 villagers in Kampong Cham province from 41 hectares of disputed rice fields yesterday, injuring three in the process, villagers and rights workers said.

Chear Thearith, deputy police chief in Stung Trang district, where the altercation occurred, said the police and military police had been hired by the Long Sreng Company, a firm that has been trying to develop the site into a rubber plantation since April.

“The police were hired by the company,” Chear Thearith said. He had not arrived at the site in time to witness the altercation himself, he said.
“When I reached there, everything was finished already, so I don’t know much about this case,” Chear Thearith said.

"We were working on our farmland, but [police and military police] did not allow us to do this."

17 August 2010

The government expects Thailand to export nine million tonnes of rice this year due mainly to lower rice yield in Vietnam, a major competitor in the rice market.

Thai Rice Exporters Association president Chukiat Opaswong said on Tuesday Vietnam planned to export 3.2 million tonnes of rice in the second half of 2010, lower than the first half of the year at four million tonnes. The neighbouring country's rice export target for this year was 6.5 million tonnes.

Mr Chukiat called on the Thai government to release more rice from its six-million-tonne stock.

Department of Foreign Trade director-general Manat Soiploy said Vietnam's rice output for export had stalled.

"This is an opportunity for Thailand to export more rice and the Foreign Trade Department has determined different ways to increase rice exports," Mr Manat said.

Thailand's rice exports should reach nine million tonnes this year, he said.

Source: Bangkok Post

By Julio Godoy

Aug 10, 2010

PARIS - Subsidies for agriculture in industrialized countries grew in 2009, benefiting the largest companies and land owners, despite repeated and consistent evidence that such subsidies contribute to the destruction of the livelihoods of poor farmers in developing countries, especially in Africa, and that they distort international trade.

UN resolution on right to water passes overwhelmingly.

124 yes, 42 abstentions, 0 no!

On July 28, 2010, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly agreed to a resolution declaring the human right to “safe and clean drinking water and sanitation.” The resolution, presented by the Bolivian government, had 124 countries vote in its favour, while 42 countries – including Canada – abstained.

For more than a decade the water justice movement, including the Council of Canadians' Blue Planet Project, has been calling for UN leadership on this critical issue. Right now nearly 2billion people live in water-stressed areas of the world and 3 billion have no running water within a kilometre of their homes. Every eight seconds, a child dies of water-borne disease – deaths that would be easily preventable with access to clean, safe water.

“This is truly an historic day,” said Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and IFG Board Member, who was at the UN meeting for the vote. ”When the 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights was written, no one could foresee a day when water would be a contested area. But in 2010, it is not an exaggeration to say that the lack of access to clean water is the greatest human rights violation in the world.” Barlow was joined for the important vote by the Council of Canadians’ National Water Campaigner Meera Karunananthan and Blue Planet Project Organizer Anil Naidoo.

To read more about the urgent need for the human right to water and the Canadian government’s shameful position against it go here.

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• For additional resources visit our Blue Planet project website.

• UN to vote on right to water, Toronto Star, July 27, 2010

• Canada must support the right to water, Embassy, Maude Barlow, Meera Karunananthan, and Anil Naidoo, July 21, 2010

• Access to clean water is most violated human right, The Guardian UK, Maude Barlow, July 21, 2010

• A human right Canada rejects: Access to clean water, The Toronto Star, Maude Barlow and Anil Naidoo, June 13, 2010

Call for Applications--Capacity Building Program on Human Rights and Migrant Workers in the Asia-Pacific