The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) will hold another summit in Hua Hin, Thailand, on Oct. 23-25, and once again, Burma is expected to be high on the agenda.

For the past 12 years, the abysmal human rights record of the country’s ruling regime has been a constant embarrassment to the 10-member Asean. This time, regional leaders will be obliged to answer questions about the junta’s relentless repression of the political opposition ahead of next year’s planned election, as well as the recent breakdown of cease-fire agreements with ethnic armed groups. Concerns about the threat to regional security posed by the flood of refugees and migrants into neighboring countries will also loom large over the gathering.

Whether it defends the regime or issues a rare statement criticizing its actions, Asean will find itself in an awkward position. It wants to maintain unity, but it also needs to be taken seriously by the rest of the world—and that can’t happen if it remains forever at the mercy of the whims of Burma’s generals.  

It is ironic that a grouping established at the height of the Cold War to serve as a bulwark against the spread of communism is incapable of persuading the authoritarian regime in Burma to change its behavior. 

Asean now has a charter and is in the process of creating a human rights body. However, the new commission’s mandate will be limited to “promoting” human rights rather than actually defending them. This means that human rights offenders among member countries can continue to abuse and lock up their own citizens without fear of penalty. Certainly, Burma’s more than 2,000 political prisoners will have little reason to celebrate Asean’s attempt to institutionalize its hollow commitment to human rights.

Sadly, even Asean’s modest moves to create a less repressive political climate in the region have been flatly rejected by the governments of Burma, Laos and Cambodia, which believe they have the right to deal with domestic “troublemakers” as they see fit. This was reflected by their efforts to impose restrictions on an encounter between civil society groups and Asean leaders ahead of the summit.

It is a worrying sign that these three countries, which were the last to join the grouping, have ganged up to prevent the participation of civil society in Asean affairs. It is important to remind them that Asean is not a club of bureaucrats, politicians, generals and dictators, but, as its charter states, a “people-centered” association. 

Asean has always claimed that it wants to play a more active role in shaping the region’s future. However, every time it holds a meeting of foreign ministers or an annual summit, doubts about its credibility and relevance grow.

In recent years, Asean leaders have occasionally expressed frustration with the intransigence of Burma’s ruling generals. But even at their most exasperated, they continue to cling to the principle of non-interference in the “internal affairs” of member states. As a result, these outbursts have served only to reinforce Asean’s image as an organization incapable of dealing effectively with problems within its own ranks.

Nyan Win, a spokesman for the National League for Democracy, the party that won Burma’s last election in 1990, summed up the feelings of many Burmese citizens when he said recently that Asean is incapable of making any positive political change in his country.

But Burma is not the only country affected by Asean’s failures. There are 600 million people living in the region who long for freedom, democracy and good governance. Whether they are in prison in Burma or walking freely on the streets of Bangkok, Phnom Penh or Vientiane, many will share Nyan Win’s sentiment.