Southeast Asian diplomats have dropped a provision creating a human rights body from the first draft of a new charter for the 10-nation Asean bloc.

 

Diplomats began a week of talks on Sunday, hoping to approve the new charter which will turn Asean into a rules-based organisation with norms that all members adhere to.

But despite two years of work, the 10-nation Asean bloc failed to hammer out an agreement on a proposed human rights commission as part of the agreement.

 

Diplomats said strong opposition from military-ruled Myanmar had helped scupper the commission.

Alberto Romulo, the Philippines' foreign secretary, said: "There is a universal declaration of human rights in the charter of the United Nations."

 

"It's a universal desire that there must be a human rights commission, and I believe that Asean can do no less," he said.

 

Asean members has traditionally stuck to a policy of non-interference in each other's affairs and negotiators have not agreed on how to punish members which violate the new charter.

 

 

Tint Swe, a member of Myanmar's National League for Democracy who lives in exile, said: "Non-interference in internal affairs may have been the factor that has kept socially responsible Asean members silent over human rights violations in the past."

 

"The time has come to change that attitude," he said.

 

But sanctions for punishment have been ruled out of the charter, and Sunday's failure to establish the human rights commission means the bloc effectively has only a matter of weeks to try again before the document is adopted at a Singapore summit in November.

 

Diplomats said that 90 per cent of the charter was on track, hoping to pave the way for a possible regional free-trade zone and better co-operation on terrorism and nuclear power.

 

Until now, Asean, which celebrates its 40th anniversary next month, has operated without a constitution, relying instead on informal diplomacy and decision-making by consensus.