Southeast Asian foreign ministers agreed Monday to set up a regional human rights commission, overcoming fierce resistance from military-ruled Burma.

A charter being drafted for the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations will include a provision mandating creation of the human rights body, Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said.

A diplomat involved in negotiations o­n the issue said lower-level officials finished a draft of the charter o­n Sunday with a reference that Burma did not accept the commission, leaving it to foreign ministers to resolve the issue at their annual meeting Monday.

“We have agreed that there will be a human rights body,” Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said after the ministers met for four hours to discuss the draft. “There was a consensus.”

Yeo said details will be settled later but that the foreign ministers hoped to have everything worked out by the time that Asean leaders hold their annual summit in November, when they plan to approve the charter.

“I’m very optimistic,” Yeo said.

Asked about Burma’s resistance and reaction to the agreement, he said: “I think Myanmar [Burma] takes a positive attitude toward all these developments.”

When Burma joined Asean a decade ago-over the objections of Western countries critical of its human rights record-the country appeared to be taking the first steps toward democracy, making it a good candidate for membership as its neighbors sought a unified bloc that could hold its own economically and politically against groups like the EU.

Since then, Burma has turned into Asean’s black sheep, ignoring international outcry over the continued house arrest of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and producing little tangible progress in implementing a so-called roadmap to democracy that it says will lead to free elections.

Details of the agreement among Asean foreign ministers were not immediately available. Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam had suggested earlier that they were not ready for the immediate establishment of such a body, and Asean members might be allowed to join the commission at a later date.

Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam-Asean’s most recent members-all have authoritarian or single-party governments.

The Philippines had pressed strongly for an Asean rights body, with Romulo saying it would give the bloc “more credibility in the international community.”

“I would say most of the Asean countries were in favor of this from the very beginning. We had to agree on this, we had to get a consensus. Now we have the consensus,” he said.

The debate over the charter reflects how Asean’s diverse membership, including fledgling democracies, communist countries and a military dictatorship, has hobbled decision-making.

At their annual meeting, the foreign ministers were also expected to tackle terrorism, better enforcement of a regional anti-nuclear treaty, disaster management and ways to help poorer members catch up with wealthier o­nes to foster faster economic integration.

Asean, formed 40 years ago, decided to draft a charter to become a more rules-based organization with better bargaining power in international negotiations. It hopes the charter can be adopted at an Asean summit in November.