The UN Summit is yet to formally begin but Burma’s Foreign Minister Nyan Win has already been reprimanded on human rights by the US, setting the stage for what looks to be a difficult week for the junta in New York.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday afternoon used a meeting with Asean foreign ministers to single out Burma by reportedly expressing concern to Nyan Win over Rangoon’s slow progress on human rights.

“She emphasized that Burma must undertake political and human rights reform,” US State Department representative Sean McCormack told Reuters. “She said Burma was out of step [on human rights issues].”

It is not known how Burma’s foreign minister defended the junta’s record on human rights in responding to Rice. In past diplomatic encounters when pressed on the issue, the Burmese foreign minister is known to have given the stock response that the junta is on track to initiate democratic reform as part of its “road map” to democracy. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rangoon was, however, unavailable for comment on Tuesday.

Monday’s frank exchange with Rice at New York’s plush Waldorf-Astoria Hotel-also the base of US President George Bush for the UN Summit-occurs two days before the official opening of the event on Wednesday.

With the UN’s Millennium Development Goals high on the agenda and a decision on a permanent Human Rights Council expected imminently, Burma’s representative in New York looks set for a difficult week of diplomacy.

According to an already-published report on the development goals for the Asia-Pacific region to be presented in New York, Burma is making negative progress on HIV/AIDS, education, and environmental protection.

The greater threat to Rangoon, though, is the possibility that the UN may initiate a new Human Rights Council, which would be a more powerful replacement for the Geneva-based Commission on Human Rights, which critics says is politicized.

Only last week, Amnesty International, Oxfam and Human Rights Watch made a joint call for Burma, along with other states considered weak on human rights, to stop efforts to sabotage the establishment of the council. The US has also tried to water down wording of the agreement on the initiative, although it is still expected to come into force, analysts predict.

Amnesty International’s representative to the UN in Geneva, Peter Splinter, told The Irrawaddy that such an initiative would pose a real threat to the junta: “A Human Rights Council would be a much more effective body and would be able to place more pressure on Burma to actually cooperate with the United Nations and to improve its human rights record.”

And despite “spoilers’” efforts to draw out debate on minor issues related to the council, Splinter said he and others pushing for the agreement should be successful, meaning Burma would find it more problematic trying to snub the UN on human rights in the future.

“Burma would not be able to avoid scrutiny in the way it has been able until now,” he said, referring to the junta’s continued refusal to permit Sergio Pinheiro, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Human Rights to Burma, to visit Rangoon.

Lobbying by international rights groups to put Burma on the agenda at the UN Security Council meeting in New York tomorrow, however, have been less successful.

Efforts by organizations including Initiatives for International Dialogue to lobby the Philippines government-which currently heads the rotating presidency of the Security Council-look to have ended in failure.

A representative of the Philippines Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gilberto Asuque, on Tuesday said the meeting was likely to focus solely on global security and debt relief, with Burma seemingly absent: “It is not in the agenda,” he said, adding that discussions would be less country-specific in focus.

However, IDD spokesperson Carmen Lauzon on Tuesday said they were “still challenging the United Nations” on Burma.

“For now I am not confident that we will be able to make it [Burma onto the agenda of the UN Security Council],” she said. “We are in constant dialogue with our secretary of Foreign Affairs [Alberto Romulo].”

The UN Security Council has previously been reluctant to tackle Burma, particularly given that one of the five permanent members-China-is a supporter of the Rangoon government. Russia-another permanent member-has also refused to address the subject in the past.

Nyan Win is expected to end his trip to New York after the end of the final High-level Plenary Meeting on Friday.