HELSINKI-The human rights record of President Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration will be in the spotlight when she meets her European counterparts during a two-day summit of Asian and European leaders which opens here today.

Ms Arroyo is expected to be quizzed about her administration’s appalling human rights record as documented by international human rights advocacy groups, notably the London-based Amnesty International.

The President arrived here yesterday in the first leg of a five-nation swing. She will be proceeding to Belgium, the United Kingdom, Cuba and Hawaii in the US.

In a speech during the opening of the Asia-Europe People’s Forum (AEPF) on Sept. 6, Finland Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said that while the EU “warmly welcomed the abolition of the death penalty in the Philippines in June 2006, let me add, however, that we also want to see an end to the political killings which still form a harsh reality of that country.”

President Arroyo is one of 38 leaders attending the 6^th Asian-Europe Meeting (Asem) at the Helsinki Fair Centre where one of the topics on the agenda is human rights violations in Southeast Asia, specifically Burma (Myanmar), Thailand and the Philippines.

“Open and informal dialogue is one of Asem’s prime aims. From the EU’s perspective it is furthermore very important that the meeting provides for an opportunity to have a frank and direct exchange also about sensitive and difficult issues, such as human rights and democracy in some Asem partner-states,” Tuomioja said.

A rally by a counter-Asem group of nongovernmental organizations is expected to be held at the opening of the Helsinki Summit today to denounce human rights atrocities in the Philippines, Thailand and Myanmar, according to Teresita Zurbano Ruutu, a Filipino pianist who has been residing in Finland for 33 years.

“They (the Europeans) are very sensitive to the reports of Amnesty International and the United Nations. They take these reports (of human rights violations) very seriously,” said Philippine Ambassador to Nordic countries Victoria S. Bataclan.

Reports of thousands of unresolved killings of militants and journalists were topical discussions in the European parliament, according to Bataclan who expected this topic to be taken up during the free-wheeling discussions at the Asem “where anything can be discussed.”

With Tuomioja calling attention to the wave of political killings in the Philippines, Asian and European civil society groups were hopeful the issue would also be raised at the Asem.

The AEPF is a gathering of NGOs and civil society groups from Asia and Europe that meets every two years at almost the same time as the Asem. The first meeting was held in Bangkok 10 years ago. The AEPF hopes to hold the 2008 assembly in Beijing where the next Asem will be held.

Ms Arroyo, the first Philippine president to visit Northern Europe, was scheduled to meet Finland President Tarja Halonen at 6:15 p.m. (11:15 p.m. Manila time) yesterday at her official residence, Mantyniemi.

Bataclan said the two women world leaders will discuss ways to improve trade relations between the two countries. The Philippines imports more than it exports to Finland, which has led to a trade deficit of $42.877 million last year.