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CNN  July 24, 2000 BANGKOK, Thailand -- Foreign ministers attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' annual meeting have been urged by a London-based group to declare Southeast Asia a "child-soldier-free zone." The group, called the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, said Monday, the opening of ASEAN's meetings, that children are increasingly being used in armed conflicts in the Philippines, Laos and Indonesia. The non-governmental group also said in a report that military-ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma, has one of the highest numbers of child soldiers of any country in the world, both within the army and in the ethnic and other armed groups pitted against it. "ASEAN and its dialogue partners have come to recognize that these armed conflicts have an impact on the security of the entire region and require a concerted response," the group said. Crime, cooperation on agenda ASEAN was formed in 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, but has since grown to include Laos, Vietnam, Brunei, Cambodia, and Myanmar, also known as Burma. The grouping meets annually to discuss regional issues. Among the issues on this year's agenda are transnational crimes, including smuggling of drugs and people, enhanced regional cooperation and increased openness between member nations. North Korea is attending the ASEAN forum, Asia's biggest security conference, for the first time. The move comes weeks after the recent historic summit between North and South Korea, in which the nations agreed to work towards their eventually reunification. The United States, Japan, China and South Korea regularly attend the forum. The ASEAN forum will be followed by an ASEAN-plus- three meeting that will also include China, Japan and South Korea. The London-based group told ASEAN that approximately 300,000 children are fighting as soldiers in more than 30 countries. The group said tens of thousands of children have been recruited as soldiers in recent years in the Asia-Pacific region. Problem escalating The problem, the coalition said, is most serious in Cambodia and Myanmar, but that "there are clear signs of escalating problems in Indonesia, the Philippines and Laos." In Myanmar, the group said, children often under age 15 are sometimes attracted by the prestige and power of becoming soldiers, but many -- especially orphans and street children -- are forced to join. Myanmar's military government has denied such practices exist. Meanwhile, the group said there have been alarming signs in Indonesia of armed groups, both aligned with and against the government, recruiting children, especially in restive regions such as Aceh, West Papua and Muluku. During the remainder of the forum, ASEAN's members are expected to focus on various regional issues -- including terrorism, the hostage crisis in the Philippines, sectarian violence in Indonesia and drug trafficking. Also, they are to discuss measures that could open for the first time the problems of each member-state to the scrutiny of the others. "The time has come for us to enhance our interaction to make ASEAN relevant for the new globalized world," Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said last week. However, ASEAN's closed nations were expected to oppose the idea. Myanmar, for example, was not expected to welcome a discussion about drugs: The military-run nation is the world's second-largest producer of heroin and a big supplier of methamphetamine tablets to Thailand, although it says it is doing all it can to combat the drug menace. Ministers ponder panel creation ASEAN's ministers have agreed, however, to consider Thailand's idea of creating a three-nation panel to address regional crises -- such as forest fires that spread haze over frontiers and last year's violence in East Timor. Thailand, ASEAN's outgoing chair, has called for the group's revamping since ASEAN failed to adequately respond to Asia's 1997 economic crisis and the subsequent social upheaval. But some believed the panel proposal, modeled on the European Union's three- nation ad hoc group for urgent issues, could be shot down. "Personally, I think that the troika is a good idea but don't think it will go through easily," said Eric Teo, honorary secretary of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs Council, an independent think- tank. "Unlike the EU, ASEAN may not be quite ready for it," he said. Meanwhile, several bilateral meetings were expected to be held on the forum's sidelines, including possible talks between U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun. ASEAN welcomes North Korea While U.S. officials said Albright would like to meet Paek, they said the ongoing Mideast peace talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at Camp David could prevent Albright from attending the ASEAN meetings. Paek, meanwhile, had a busy itinerary planned. He was to participate in back-to-back meetings Wednesday with South Korean Foreign Minister Lee Jong-binn and Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono. Paek was due to arrive in Bangkok on Tuesday. Paek was also scheduled to meet with the foreign ministers of Canada and Thailand. North Korean officials were reportedly trying to arrange meetings for Paek with China, France, Australia and New Zealand. North Korea is joining the ASEAN Regional Forum this year, the first international group it has joined since being admitted to the United Nations in 1991. "We welcome North Korea into the (ASEAN Regional Forum), with the hope that it will serve to reinforce the progress and relevance of the ARF and its process," said Pitsuwan. CNN Bangkok Bureau Chief John Raedler, CNN Correspondent Suzanna Anderson, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. URL: story url
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