ASEAN leaders sign landmark charter

Singapore (ANTARA News) - Leaders of the 10-member Association of
Southeast Asian Nations on Tuesday signed the group's charter which
gives a legal identity to the bloc as it prepares to create an ASEAN
Community by 2015.

The charter which was signed at their summit in Singapore gives the bloc a set

of binding rules and legal personality as an inter-governmental
organization for the first time in its 40-year history, Kyodo reported.

The charter mandates, among other things, the creation of a body that will monitor human rights in the region.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. (*)