The Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) is lobbying hard to bring the issue of human rights abuses by the military regime in Burma before the UN Security Council.

"The United Nations, the European Union, the United States and other major stakeholders should urgently pull together to establish a dialogue with Burma's military regime," said Zaid Ibrahim, chairperson of Asean's year-old Inter-Parliamentary Burma Caucus (AIPMC).

Thai Senator Jon Ungphakorn added that, "Burma should come up at least with minimum standards on democratic reforms, including the release of political prisoners such as Aung San Suu Kyi and a dialogue with the country's political parties."

Burma's military junta has ruled the country since 1962. In 1990, Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won national elections, but the generals refused to hand over power. She is now in detention.

Other key issues raised by Asean include a new democratic constitution, the rights of the country's minority groups, and the role of the military itself. If negotiations do not lead to a solution, Asean is urging economic sanctions as well as military intervention.

They have the support of the United States, a permanent veto-wielding member of the Security Council, which raised the plight of Suu Kyi and 1,300 other political prisoners in June. However, Russia and China blocked any action at that time.

"The US would very much like to bring this to the council if we can get sufficient support," said Ambassador Anne Patterson last week. "We think it belongs in the council."

But some observers predict that China will again attempt to block any sanctions. "I think that China will try to get everyone to think they will use its veto, in order to intimidate some wavering states not to put Burma on the agenda at all," Maureen Aung-Thwin, director of the Open Society Institute's Burma Project, told IPS.

"China may also get another permanent member of the Security Council - for example, Russia - to use their veto, because Russia is not as inextricably linked to Burma as China is."

Highest level

Still, Aung-Thwin welcomed the tougher approach. "After having tried almost everything else - carrots, sticks, UN resolutions - the world has received only empty words and broken promises by the regime. We need to take the issue to the highest level of the UN because it is the institution that bestows the ultimate legitimacy to the regime," she said.

"At this time, the UN Security Council resolution being sought is a rather basic, non-punitive one that merely compels the regime to work with the UN secretary-general's office to start a dialogue and hopefully a transition to a government by consent."

Refugees International (RI), a humanitarian advocacy group, also sees an urgent need for the Security Council to act. In light of the continuing violation of human rights within Burma, RI fears the prospect of worsening regional instability due to growing numbers of refugees pouring into neighbouring countries.

Joel Charny, vice president of RI, said that "it has become imperative for the Security Council to implement measures to ensure a collective approach towards ameliorating the situation".

"Action by the UN Security Council will underscore the seriousness of international concern about the situation in Burma and offer the possibility of taking concrete steps to protect the hundreds of thousands of displaced Burmese," he said.

In addition to the refugee problem, HIV/Aids has reached epidemic proportions, underlines Paulo Srgio Pinheiro, the UN Special Rapporteur for the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Burma.

Although Pinheiro has not been permitted to conduct a fact-finding mission to Burma since November 2003, NGOs confirm reports of forced labour, rape and other sexual violence by government forces. In particular, the country's ethnic minorities, such as the Shan and Mon communities, have suffered tremendously under the current regime.

Asean represents 10 countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Since its founding in 1967, the grouping has pursued a strong policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of member states, instead advocating constructive engagement and non-confrontation.

Asean admitted Burma in 1997 in the hope that democratic reforms would follow. But Thai Senator Ungphakorn frankly admitted this week that, "It simply has not worked."

In July, fearing that Burma could damage the group's standing, Asean forced Burma to forgo the 2006 chairmanship of Asean. The chairmanship rotates alphabetically among member states, and Burma (also known as Myanmar) was supposed to take over the leadership from Malaysia. Now that Burma is being skipped, the Philippines will succeed in 2006.

Lacking clout

Realising that Asean lacks the clout to pressure Burma to change its political system, four of the bloc's members - Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia - decided to form the AIPMC.

"Asean is too small and it is not a monolithic group.We consist of 10 nations with different political systems and different priorities. Asean wants to see change, but it cannot be a champion," explained Zaid Ibrahim.

With its request for action, AIPMC is joining calls from noted South African human rights activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and former Czech President Vaclav Havel, to refer Burma to the UN Security Council.

"Quiet closed-door meetings among countries in New York are no longer enough. They have failed," said Archbishop Tutu, who recently commissioned a report calling for Security Council intervention.

"It is time for the UN Security Council to act. In fact, it is past due. If governments want to talk about the situation in Burma, the time is now and the venue is the Security Council." - IPS