Swiss Entrenched Right to Shop After Narrowly Won Referendum Vote

Switzerland — With a majority of just 23,000, or 50.6 per cent, the Swiss voted to legalise Sunday trading at airports and 25 large railway stations. Currently, Swiss trading laws say they can get their Sunday retail fix only in airports or one of seven railway stations, and are limited to travel-related goods such as books and food.

The law was well-backed in cities, with most rural areas voting against it.  

Limited shopping was previously allowed at a handful of railway stations and airports, and in tourist towns like Gstaad and St Moritz. The government had planned to relax and more clearly define its Sunday trading rules with the new law, but a referendum was called after trade unions opposed it.

Together with many church groups, they were worried that it would worsen working conditions for thousands of poorly paid retail workers and lead to many more stores calling for the right to open. (Source: www.bbc.co.uk)

Eminent Persons Group to Advise Leaders on the ASEAN Charter

Malaysia — An Eminent Persons Group (‘EPG’) comprising 10 highly distinguished and well respected citizens from ASEAN Member Countries will examine and provide recommendations on the direction of ASEAN and the nature of the ASEAN Charter. The EPG was established as ASEAN Leaders, meeting at the 11th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur on 12 December 2005, signed the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the Establishment of the ASEAN Charter.

 The Charter will serve as a legal and institutional framework of ASEAN. Essentially, it will confer a legal personality to ASEAN and determine the functions, develop areas of competence of key ASEAN bodies and their relationship with one another in the overall ASEAN structure. It will codify all ASEAN norms, rules, and values and reaffirm that ASEAN agreements signed and other instruments adopted before the establishment of the ASEAN Charter shall continue to apply and be legally binding where appropriate.

The ASEAN Charter will transform ASEAN from being a loosely-organised political association into a rules-based legal regime.

The Members of the EPG are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. (Source: www.aseansec.org)

Reveal SOP on Malaysia’s Lock-Up Rules

Malaysia — Police should reveal which section of its standard operation procedure (‘SOP’) on lock-up rules allows them to order a detainee to do ear squats in the nude, said Malaysian Chinese Association (‘MCA’) president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting.
 
If the police maintained that such a practice was common when detainees were taken into a lock-up, then they should disclose the SOP, he said.

 ‘They should do so in line with good governance and service to the public, and to maintain the image of the force, which has been marred by this incident,’ Ong told reporters after chairing the party’s presidential council meeting yesterday.

 ‘We acknowledge the good job done by the police force in maintaining law and order, but at the same time we do not condone the behaviour of a few black sheep who are getting away with abuse of power,’ he said.
 
‘This is especially so if the action humiliated someone, regardless of whether he is a local or foreigner.’
 
MCA, he said, welcomed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s decision to set up an independent body to investigate the case of a woman, believed to be a Chinese national, ordered to perform ear squats in the nude at a police station.
 
That episode had tainted the image of the country, he said. (www.thestar.com.my)

Global Child Labour Task Force Agreed

China — A global task force will be set up for the first time to deal with the issue of child labour in international efforts to promote universal education, according to a proposal unanimously adopted by participants at a meeting in Beijing on Achieving Education for All and Elimination of Child Labor.

 At the third roundtable of UNESCO’s 5th High Level Group 
Meeting on Education, ministers and senior officials from governments and international organisations agreed to immediately launch a task force after recognising key links between combating child labour and promoting 
universal education.

According to 2002 figures from the International Labor Organization, 246 million five- to 17-year-olds were engaged in child labour in the year 2000. Of them, 8.4 million were in forced and bonded labour, armed conflict, prostitution and pornography and other illicit activities.

 The Asia-Pacific region had the largest number of children aged five to 14 who were economically active – 127 million out of 211 million in the world. (Source: www.china.org.cn)