ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

A HUMAN rights body for ASEAN should go ahead with all 10 members of the group, including Myanmar, experts who ended a meeting in Singapore on Friday said.

More than 60 delegates held talks before a panel begins drafting terms of reference for the Association of Southeast Asian human rights body next month, said Mr Simon Tay, chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. 'I think most people felt that it's better if all countries' can be part of the body, said Mr Tay.

His institute organised the two-day workshop along with the Working Group for an Asean Human Rights Mechanism, a coalition of experts, non-governmental representatives, officials and human rights commissioners. While most participants favoured the inclusion of all Asean members, some felt a rights body should proceed only with 'a coalition of the willing,' Tay said.

At its annual summit last year in Singapore, Asean leaders signed a charter which committed member states to notions of democracy and human rights and for the first time set out principles and rules for the group.

Under the charter, a human rights body would be established in a region that includes countries, such as Myanmar, with poor human rights records. Prof Tommy Koh, of Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the meeting there was a division within Asean between Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, which have national rights commissions, and Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Mr Tay told reporters that establishing a human rights body would be difficult but not impossible.
Some participants advocated a body with strong powers including investigation, but 'everyone agrees that there must be both promotion and protection of human rights,' he said.

Activists fear Asean, which cherishes a policy of non-interference in domestic affairs of members, could establish a toothless rights mechanism.
The outcome of the Singapore discussions will be handed to the panel drafting terms of reference for the rights body, Mr Tay said. -- AFP