“In not setting clear deterrents for the military junta’s violence, ASEAN is ‘kicking the can down the road’ and enabling it to continue their terror campaign against the people of Myanmar.”
The after effects of the summary executions of democracy activists Phyo Zayar Thaw, Kyaw Min Yu (Ko Jimmy), Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw by the Myanmar military junta on the weekend of 23 and 24 July 2022 continue to be widely felt. Myanmar’s Spring Revolution forces inside and outside Myanmar held a series of protests and public oath ceremony reaffirming their pledge to topple the military junta. Yet, the general reaction from the international community has been to issue statements, many of which use the same predictable rhetoric and outrage, expressing ‘deep concerns’, ‘strongly disappointed’ and ‘strongly condemn’. Using recent history as a guide, these responses will not yield a meaningful shift to the lives of those on the ground, nor will it end the junta’s terrorism and bring about democratic change.
The executions represent a new low for the junta’s depravity, but this is by no means out of character for junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing. Since the coup attempt on 1 February 2021, this military junta has consistently committed extrajudicial killings, execution-style killings and other war crimes and crimes against humanity against civilians with complete impunity. Additionally, in previous decades, this military has perpetrated genocide against the Rohingya in 2017 and countless war crimes and crimes against humanity against ethnic communities. Importantly, the junta deliberately selected these four men, and attempted to use the levers of the judiciary as a guise of ‘fair trial’ and in accordance with the ‘rule of law’ to create a façade of legitimacy, when in fact these act could amount to a war crime or crimes against humanity according to the UN-established Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar.
Courageously, protesters took to the markets and streets to show their defiance and condemnation of the unlawful killing of the four men executed, determined to resist and continue moving the revolution forward. The friends and families of 77 prisoners on death row, and 42 prisoners sentenced to death in absentia, are fearful the junta is poised to conduct further executions – that is, inaction from the international community will spur the junta into continuing to execute civilians. Friends and family are also fearful for their own safety, as pro-military thugs have been attacking the homes of Ko Jimmy and Ko Phyo Zeya Thaw, throwing objects at their houses.
Meanwhile, ASEAN has made it clear that there will be no meaningful consequences for the executions, beyond issuing a statement, despite ASEAN’s current Chair, Cambodia’s Prime Minister, Hun Sen, pleading with Min Aung Hlaing to cease the executions. Since the Five Point Consensus was devised by the ASEAN leaders 15 months ago on 24 April, 2021, the military junta has not acted in good faith, utterly failing to comply with all five points. ASEAN’s only concrete and punitive response has been to ban the Myanmar military – Min Aung Hlaing – from the ASEAN Ministers Meeting (AMM) in 2021 and 2022. While the joint communique of the AMM acknowledged the limited progress and lack of commitment by the junta, in further delaying action by offering the junta three more months to implement the Five-Point Consensus, ASEAN is allowing the military to continue to commit atrocity crimes. In not setting clear deterrents for the military junta’s violence, ASEAN is ‘kicking the can down the road’ and enabling it to continue their terror campaign against the people of Myanmar.
The Five Point Consensus is also blocking concrete coordinated and effective actions from the international community. The international community has not stepped up to call out these failings, rather they have continuously deflected responsibility for the Myanmar crisis onto ASEAN. ASEAN and the international community must listen to Myanmar civil society and move beyond the Five Point Consensus, in consultation and partnership with the National Unity Government, Ethnic Revolutionary Organizations and civil society.
In a promising move that reflects these consistent calls from various parts of Myanmar, Malaysia’s Foreign Minister, Saifuddin Abdullah and the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar, Noeleen Hayzer held a joint press conference, critical of the Five Point Consensus. Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah has acknowledged that the junta is “making a mockery” of the Five Point Consensus and expressed that the executions were a “crime against humanity”. However, ASEAN as a bloc must be unified in their response to the executions, dispensing with their policy of non-interference.
Meanwhile atrocities on the ground continue. Just last week in Demoso, Karenni State, the junta killed a father and his 14-year-old daughter after shelling an internally displaced person (IDP) camp, as well as injuring four others. This is at least the 10th such attack on IDP camps in Karenni State since the attempted coup, according to Karenni Human Rights Group. In another horrific incident, the charred remains of at least 12 people burned alive by junta were found in Kyi Su, Kanbalu Township, Sagaing Region, after junta helicopter gunships and ground troops attacked villages surrounding Kyi Su. While these incidents may not grab international headlines as the executions have, the international community, including ASEAN, must focus on ending all inhumane acts committed by the junta. More direct and meaningful actions to bring an end to the military junta’s terror campaign, and foster a genuine federal democracy, are urgently needed. This should include, but is not limited to, targeted sanctions on military leaders, military businesses and military-linked cronies. Additionally, a global arms embargo, sanctions on the supply of jet fuel to the junta and cutting all legitimacy to the junta – which must include sanctions by the US government on Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprises as called for by US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other senators. Overall, the international community must stand with the Spring Revolution, and the people’s desire for a genuine federal democracy – not just through words but through actions.
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[1] One year following the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, the former military junta changed the country’s name from Burma to Myanmar overnight. Progressive Voice uses the term ‘Myanmar’ in acknowledgement that most people of the country use this term. However, the deception of inclusiveness and the historical process of coercion by the former State Peace and Development Council military regime into usage of ‘Myanmar’ rather than ‘Burma’ without the consent of the people is recognized and not forgotten. Thus, under certain circumstances, ‘Burma’ is used.
Open Letter from Myanmar People to Civil Society Organizations and Political Parties of India
By 183 Civil Society Organizations and Individuals
Myanmar: Execution of Four Democracy Activists Highlights Junta’s Brutality
By 15 Civil Society Organizations
Myanmar: Junta Reaches A New Low With Shocking Executions
By ALTSEAN-Burma and International Federation for Human Rights
Myanmar: First Executions in Decades Mark Atrocious Escalation in State Repression
By Amnesty International
AAPP Statement on the 25th of July Extrajudicial Executions
By Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
Southeast Asian MPs Condemn Barbaric Executions of Four Political Prisoners in Myanmar
By ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
ASEAN Chairman’s Statement on the Execution of Four Opposition Activists in Myanmar
By ASEAN (Cambodia)
Burma Military Executes Four Activists: UK Must Expel Burmese Military Attaché
By Burma Campaign UK
By Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw
By Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw
By Council of the European Union
Execution of Pro-Democracy and Opposition Leaders in Myanmar
By European Union, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Korea, United Kingdom and United States
Extrajudicial Killings of Dissidents a War Crime with Serious Chilling Effect
By Free Expression Myanmar
G7 Foreign Ministers’ Statement on the Myanmar Military Junta’s Executions
By G7 Foreign Ministers and the European Union
စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ် တိုက်ဖျက်ရေး အထွေထွေသပိတ်ကော်မတီ – ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာချက်
By General Strike Committee
By General Strike Coordination Body
By Human Rights Watch
Statement by India For Myanmar on Executions Carried Out by the Terrorist Fascist Junta
By India For Myanmar
Statement on the Executions of Ko Jimmy, Phyo Zeya Thaw, Hla Myo Aung, and Aung Thura Zaw
By Milk Tea Alliance
Burma/Myanmar – France Strongly Condemns the Execution of Four Political Prisoners
By Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs
By Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
National Unity Government Statement (17/2022)
By National Unity Government of Myanmar
ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီအင်အားစုများ၏ တော်လှန်ရေး သန္နိဌာန် ကြေညာချက်
By National Unity Government of Myanmar, Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, Karen National Union, Karenni National Progressive Party, Chin National Front, National League for Democracy and All Burma Students’ Democratic Front
By Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma
New Zealand Condemns Myanmar Executions
By New Zealand Government
Myanmar: Bachelet Condemns Executions, Calls for Release of All Political Prisoners
By Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
By Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Open Society Foundations Condemn Horrific Myanmar Executions
By Open Society Foundations
By Progressive Voice
UN and ASEAN Must Respond to Junta’s Summary Executions
By Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
By Student Union Representatives Committee
By Three Brotherhood Alliance
ရက္ခိုင်အမျိုးသားအဖွဲ့ချုပ် – ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာချက်
By United League of Arakan (Arakan Army)
Secretary-General Strongly Condemns Executions by Myanmar Military against Political Activists
By United Nations
By United Nations
မတရား သေဒဏ် စီရင်ခြင်းအပေါ် သဘောထားထုတ်ပြန် ကြေညာချက်
By United Nationalities Alliance
Security Council Press Statement on Situation in Myanmar
By United Nations Security Council
USCB Condemns the Executions of Kyaw Min Yu, Phyo Zeya Thaw, Aung Thura Zaw, and Hla Myo Aung
By U.S. Campaign for Burma
Execution of Burma’s Pro-Democracy Leaders
By U.S. Department of State
Burma’s Military Regime Executes Pro-Democracy Leaders
By United States Agency for International Development
By Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma
By Shan Human Rights Foundation
Myanmar Humanitarian Update No. 20 | 31 July 2022
By United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Progressive Voice is a participatory, rights-based policy research and advocacy organization that was born out of Burma Partnership. Burma Partnership officially ended its work on October 10, 2016 transitioning to a rights-based policy research and advocacy organization called Progressive Voice. For further information, please see our press release “Burma Partnership Celebrates Continuing Regional Solidarity for Burma and Embraces the Work Ahead for Progressive Voice.”