A planned Southeast Asian rights body risks being powerless due to its limited mandate, lack of independence and small print protecting governments, a watchdog said yesterday.

The scope of the long-awaited forum, made up of members from the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, needed to be expanded if it was to be taken seriously, the Asia Forum for Human Rights and Development said.

Regional foreign ministers were discussing the terms of reference for the body at their annual summit in the Thai beach resort of Hua Hin yesterday.

"From what we understand... principles of non-interference will be enshrined in the terms of reference," Yap Swee Seng, executive director of the Bangkok-based Asia Forum told AFP.

"We fear that this would be invoked by some states to prevent the body or to prevent other states talking about human rights violations in that particular country."

Human rights has been a perennial thorn in the side of Asean, whose members include military-ruled Myanmar and two communist states. The group has repeatedly been pressed to use its weight to improve rights in Myanmar.

Diplomats said that while some countries wanted to appoint independent experts to the body, others were pushing for it to be made up of government officials.

"That is a concern for us," said Mr Yap. "The body will not be independent if government officials are appointed." Sources said that the current proposals outlining the body's mandate only concerned promotion of human rights, education, training, public campaigns and research but would not give it the power to investigate abuses.

Mr Yap said the ability to gather complaints and probe alleged abuses "are very important in order to provide limited protection for human rights victims and (to give them) the right to redress in the body".

"We hope Asean will set up a credible body," remarked Mr Yap. "If it's not a credible and independent body it will not be able to address human rights violations in the region effectively.

"This will in turn affect the peace and security that Asean would want to achieve."

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