Cha-am, Thailand - Efforts to set up a human rights body for the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) got off to a bad start Saturday when Myanmar and Cambodia blocked civil society representatives from attending talks with the group's leaders.

The 14th ASEAN Summit being held in Cha-am, 130 kilometres from Bangkok, has been billed as the most "inclusive" meeting of the 42-year-old South-East Asian grouping to date.

The summit kicked off Saturday morning with a series of talks between ASEAN leaders and representatives of civil society, parliamentarians, youth organizations and the business community.

"Eventually, we want to be an inclusive ASEAN, an engaged ASEAN, a compassionate, sharing and caring ASEAN," ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said of the summit's goals.

But Myanmar's and Cambodia's decision that the civil society representatives for their countries, Khin Ohmar from Myanmar and Pen Somony from Cambodia, are to be excluded from the talks has undermined any spirit of inclusiveness he may have hoped to achieve.

"We were expecting the move from Myanmar but for the Cambodians to do this is very surprising," said Yunyun Wahguningrum, a civil society representative from the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen not only rejected the attendance of Pen Somony but suggested an alternative candidate in his place, who happened to be a political ally, Yunyun said.

"This is ridiculous. This is supposed to be a dialogue between civil society and the ASEAN leaders and instead they are dictating terms to us," she said. The meeting was scheduled for noon Saturday.

One of the main tasks of the 14th Summit is to decide on the terms of reference for setting up an ASEAN human rights body, which will be finalized in four months and start its work in October.

Although the terms have yet to be announced in Cha-am, civil society representatives are already sceptical about the body's potential effectiveness in assuring human rights protection in the region.

Firstly, the body is expected to enshrine the principle of non-interference in one another's domestic affairs, considerably limiting its mandate to investigate human rights cases.

Furthermore, the terms of reference have reportedly included a clause that states the body must protect ASEAN from criticism of human rights abuses.

"If this is true, the body will simply be used by ASEAN to deflect criticism rather than protecting human rights," Yunyun said before entering talks with the ASEAN leaders.

ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, 10 countries that are at very different levels of economic and political development. (dpa)