ASEAN braces for hurdles in formation of human rights body

MANILA (AP) - After agreeing to set up a regional human rights body, Southeast Asian nations now face greater difficulties in reaching consensus on the details of the commission, Malaysia's foreign minister said Tuesday.

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International applauded the foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Nations for agreeing to set up the rights group, but urged them to move beyond words in ensuring protection in a region rife with abuses.

The details, or terms of reference, for the human rights body, which was fiercely resisted by military-ruled Myanmar, will be discussed and presented to the ministers by a high-level task force drafting a landmark ASEAN charter, officials said.

The ministers are hoping the charter can be signed by their leaders at a November summit in Singapore.

Myanmar had blocked creation of the rights body on Sunday, but in their meetings Monday the foreign ministers agreed to include a provision for its formation in the draft charter.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the issue was discussed frankly by the ministers, who agreed that "we must be seen not to be allergic, or not supportive of human rights."

"If for any reason, the human rights provision is not in the charter, then people will think ASEAN is not pro-human rights and that is nonsense," he told reporters Tuesday. "We are for human rights, we are for civil liberties, we are for rule of law, we want to see good governments."

But he acknowledged that including the provision for the human rights body was just a first step.

"The terms of reference is the more difficult part of it," he said. "It will take a long time. I will not underestimate the difficulty."

Many human rights violations still take place in the region, Amnesty International said.

"The resistance, or reluctance, of some of the members of the ASEAN states to establish or join such a body, is living proof of this, as understandably there will be fear by such governments that they will be called to task and pressured to take positive action to prevent these violations from occurring," it said in a statement.

The Philippines had pressed strongly for an ASEAN rights body, with Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo saying it would give the bloc "more credibility in the international community." He cited frustrations over Myanmar's slow implementation of its pledge to introduce democracy.

Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam suggested earlier that they were not ready for the immediate establishment of such a body, and ASEAN members might be allowed to join the commission at a later date.

Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam _ ASEAN's most recent members _ all have authoritarian or single-party governments.

ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.