The Minister for Law and Foreign Affairs, Professor S

The Minister for Law and Foreign Affairs, Professor S. Jayakumar, said that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) needed to respond to international pressures regarding human rights questions. "ASEAN will have to come to terms that there is this trend in international law where countries have to observe human rights. There is no escaping that," he said. He said that while countries must have accountability in respect of basic human rights, one major issue that had not been resolved was the debate about which rights come under international law, and which do not. He cited as an example the use of capital punishment, a practice abolished in Europe, but still used in Singapore. "We have the death penalty, but we don't say that other countries must have it. Likewise, if European countries have abolished the death penalty, we respect their view, but they cannot impose it on other countries.