Image worries pushed ASEAN on rights

MANILA (AFP) - Concern about their international image helped convince Southeast Asian nations to announce the creation of a new human rights body, diplomats who took part in the negotiations said Tuesday.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Monday said it had agreed on the formation of a human rights organ as part of a landmark charter that the 10-country bloc plans to adopt later this year.

But Myanmar fiercely opposed the move while some others -- notably Laos and Vietnam -- were also against it, diplomats said, and the details of how the body will work were left for later negotiations.

Diplomats had suggested that the lack of an agreement would scupper any mention of the rights body in the charter but some member states argued that would be too much of an embarrassment for ASEAN, sources at the talks said.

One of the foreign ministers held up a newspaper headline which said that the group had been unable to reach a deal on human rights.

This "will create a bad image" for ASEAN despite its accomplishments, one source quoted a minister as saying.

"ASEAN will be seen as a different regional organisation if it looks not to be in favour of the development of human rights," in comparison to the European Union and African Union, the diplomat was quoted as saying.

Myanmar in particular has cast a shadow over the 10-nation bloc, which has failed to get its fellow member to make good on pledges to start moving toward the restoration of democracy.

ASEAN has come under fire for what critics say is too soft an attitude toward Myanmar's generals, who have ruled the country for more than four decades and have kept democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.

But the group's foreign ministers said after their annual meeting on Monday that they "recognised the fact that Myanmar has tried to address the many and complex challenges she is facing."

Acknowledging it would still be difficult to work out the details of the rights body, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar also cited how the ASEAN bloc is perceived as a factor in the group's decision-making.

"We must be seen not to be allergic, or not supportive, of human rights," he told a news conference on Tuesday.

"If for any reason the human rights provision is not in the charter then people will think that ASEAN is not pro-human rights -- and that is nonsense," Syed Hamid said.