The human-rights Commission is an integral part of a landmark Charter that ASEAN is trying to complete before a leaders' summit in November 2007. Analysts however say the idea of an ASEAN human-rights charter will be difficult to achieve, given the differing interpretations of the terms within the group, stricter anti-terrorism laws across the region and the fact that the 10-member regional bloc has not reached consensus on when this new body would be formed, what scope of work it would have and other details on the setting up of the mechanism, including the creation of a proper mechanism for victims to submit complaints for the Commission to investigate.
Myanmar, but also Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam – i.e. Asean's most recent members which all have authoritarian or single-party governments – had suggested they were not ready for the immediate establishment of a human-rights body and might be allowed to join the Commission at a later date. But the European Union, which ASEAN hopes to emulate, and the United States have criticized the Asian group for failing to bring enough pressure on Myanmar to restore democracy and free Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
ASEAN will have to give real power to the Commission for this body to be taken seriously. But States are also divided on whether they should abandon their time-honored way of resolving issues by consensus or put them to a vote and have to take a decision on how to penalize members who violate the Charter.
Even if some Asian countries oppose any scrutiny of their human rights, and that members of the group have traditionally held to a policy of non-interference in one another's affairs, many human rights groups complain that this non-interference principle fostered undemocratic governments in the region.
Thus, it will be a real challenge to settle all the pending issues by the time that Asian leaders held their annual summit meeting in November 2007, when they plan to approve the Charter.

ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia are the original members of ASEAN, set up 40 years ago to strengthen regional economic ties and act as a bulwark against the spread of communism in the region. Of them, Indonesia currently tops the list of nations advancing on the human rights and democracy fronts. Malaysia and Singapore, by contrast, have governments known for authoritarian features, where freedom of expression is regularly under threat or non-existent.
The members who joined ASEAN since 1967 are Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. With the exception of Cambodia, these countries do not offer space for political and civil liberties. Brunei has an absolute monarchy, while Laos and Vietnam have been under the grip of communist parties since the mid-1970s. But it is military-ruled Myanmar, admitted to ASEAN a decade ago, who knows serious violations of the humans right that should be among the first cases the new Commission should investigate.