ASEAN says new charter to put pressure on Myanmar

SINGAPORE, July 23 (Reuters) ASEAN will unveil a charter next week that will, for the first time, set specific standards on the 10-nation bloc, putting pressure on members such as Myanmar to improve their rights record or face stern measures, the group's secretary-general said today.

Military-ruled Myanmar, which joined the Southeast Asian grouping exactly 10 years ago, has long been a problem for ASEAN because of its detention of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and poor human rights record.

While ASEAN has maintained a hands-off approach with Myanmar, some members are now more openly critical of this policy of non-interference.

''The charter will help ASEAN's relationship with Myanmar,'' secretary-general Ong Keng Yong told reporters in Singapore, adding that it would ''stress responsibility and obligation of the membership,'' compared to current discussions on compliance which are ''more persuasive, more informal''.

Ong said the first draft of the landmark charter for the Association of South East Asian Nations, whose 10 members also include Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, would be ready when ASEAN foreign ministers meet in the Philippines next week.

An ASEAN charter is seen as a milestone for the bloc because it would create a rules-based community for a group that has been derided as a talk-shop.

Until now it has operated without a constitution, choosing to rely on informal diplomacy and decision-making by consensus. But many leaders believe a charter is necessary to help the group speed up economic integration.

Ong said the charter's compliance measures would have the same effect as sanctions and would stress the obligation to meet certain standards.

But he said the charter would not spell out how to punish those members in breach of the rules, even though some members have suggested expulsion from the group in the most extreme case.

MYANMAR'S THREAT But some critics say that the charter is being watered down to appease Myanmar's generals.

''There was a great deal of hope that the ASEAN charter would lead to a renaissance of Southeast Asia, but fears about how Burma would react has lowered the bar,'' said Debbie Stothard, spokesperson for the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma, a group that was set up in 1996 to campaign against Myanmar's membership.

''In the 10 years that Burma has been a member, the military regime has moved from being a threat to its people to being a threat to the entire region,'' Stothard said, citing Myanmar's drugs trade, high HIV infection rate and human rights record.

Western countries, including the United States, have imposed sanctions on the country to pressure it into political reform.

However, these have had little effect, with some pro-democracy activists blaming China and India for the failure of efforts to isolate the military regime.

And last week, former Thai foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan -- who is likely to become the next ASEAN secretary-general -- suggested a more softly softly approach towards Myanmar.

ASEAN is made up of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Reuters JK GC2006