CHA-AM, Thailand - Southeast Asian leaders, having launched the region's first human rights watchdog, called Saturday on military-ruled Burma to conduct free and fair elections next year but refrained from criticizing one of the world's worst human rights offenders.
Activists criticized the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for taking an even softer line on Burma than in the past, and ignoring growing demands to press for the release of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
A statement from the leaders did not mention Suu Kyi, sparing the junta a public scolding. It only "underscored the importance of achieving national reconciliation and that the general elections to be held in Burma in 2010 must be conducted in a fair, free, inclusive and transparent manner in order to be credible to the international community."
When the three-day summit opened Friday, the bloc unveiled the region's first human rights commission, but it was immediately derided as toothless by activists who pointed out that its mandate did not extend to prosecution of violators like Burma, an ASEAN member. The activists were also angered by the exclusion of several members of civil society from the summit.
"ASEAN no longer feels under pressure from the United States and European Union and as a result is softening its approach," said Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK.
He said a recent policy shift by Washington from shunning the junta to seeking high-level dialogue has been misinterpreted by Southeast Asian nations as a move in tandem with their own, long-held policy of engagement.
The Obama administration is sending Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, to Burma in the next few weeks. But Washington says it won't lift its economic sanctions and continues to condemn the junta, calling for the release of Suu Kyi, who Saturday will have spent 14 years in detention.
"Basically the whole expectation is that the U.S. policy, which includes the engagement component, will somehow lead to some progress, (but) this will actually increase the complacency of the region," said Debbie Stothard of the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma. "What has been clear is the (junta) has been using this as a honeymoon to commit more ... crimes against humanity."
The leaders' statement also urged North Korea to return to six-party talks aimed at halting Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, and stressed the need to continue domestic stimulus packages to ensure sustained recovery from the global economic crisis.
ASEAN's 10 member countries include Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Brunei, Laos, Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines.
The meeting at a Thai beach resort also includes leaders of China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama delivered a strong condemnation of North Korea, delegation spokesman Kazuo Kodama said.
"Japan cannot tolerate nuclear and ballistic missile development by North Korea," Kodama quoted the prime minister as saying. "In order to insure peace and stability in the region, we must have comprehensive agreement. I urge you to close ranks with me."
The ASEAN bloc is also following up on China's $25 billion initiative to promote infrastructure development in Southeast Asia, Japan's program on the use of efficient energy, and a $100 million South Korean project to help the region respond to climate change, conference documents said.
The statement also welcomed what it called a "historic point in ASEAN-U.S. relations," a summit of the bloc and the United States scheduled for Nov. 15 in Singapore.
