To: ASEAN Leaders

H.E. Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, Prime Minister of Brunei Darussalam
H.E. Hun Manet, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia
H.E. Joko Widodo, President of the Republic of Indonesia
H.E. Sonexay Siphandone, Prime Minister of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic
H.E. Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister of Malaysia
H.E. Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos, Jr., President of the Republic of the Philippines
H.E. Lawrence Wong, Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore
H.E. Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand
H.E. Phạm Minh Chính, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

CC: H.E. Duwa Lashi La, Acting President of Myanmar

7 October 2024

Subject: Open letter from Myanmar civil society organizations to ASEAN to move beyond the Five-Point Consensus and support Myanmar people’s efforts to build federal democracy

Your Excellencies,

Last week, the military junta in Myanmar unleashed a barrage of lethal, indiscriminate airstrikes across Shan, Karen, and Karenni States and Sagaing Region. Of extreme concern, in Lashio, northern Shan State, the junta conducted four consecutive days of airstrikes, which killed at least six civilians. Last month, from 1 to 7 September, the junta launched airstrikes targeting civilians in Chin, Shan, and Karenni States and Magwe, Sagaing, and Mandalay Regions—killing at least 40 people, including a dozen children.

The utter silence of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in response to these ongoing atrocity crimes by the illegal military junta against the people of Myanmar, once again, highlights its continued failure to address the dire human rights and humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. It is imperative that ASEAN change course immediately.

We, the undersigned 240 Myanmar civil society organizations, call on ASEAN to show its political leadership, commitment, and genuine will to support the well-being of the Myanmar people by implementing the following recommendations at the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits in Vientiane under Laos’ chairship. These recommendations were put forth during the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum (ACSC/APF) by the Myanmar National Organizing Committee for ACSC/APF, comprising 15 civil society organizations, and partner organizations. We further call on the international community, particularly the United Nations and ASEAN’s dialogue partners, to assist ASEAN with effectively implementing these recommendations:

1. End all engagement with the Myanmar military junta, including all business ties with the junta and any support for the military junta’s sham election plan.
2. Exclude all representatives of the military junta, both political and non-political, from ASEAN’s platforms at all levels.
3. Formally engage with and provide political support to the Myanmar people’s legitimate representatives and governance bodies, including the National Unity Government, the National Unity Consultative Council, and ethnic resistance organizations.
4. Collaborate with locally led civil society and community-based organizations, including networks of Civil Disobedience Movement professionals, and people-led governance structures.
5. End the involvement of the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre), as well as the use of any channels involving the military junta or its proxies, in the provision of humanitarian aid, and instead cooperate with revolutionary groups to facilitate humanitarian aid through border channels.
6. Support the Myanmar people’s efforts for transitional justice and coordinate with existing international justice mechanisms to hold the Myanmar military accountable for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. In particular, the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children must take immediate action to hold the military junta accountable for sexual and gender-based crimes.

Since the Myanmar military’s illegal coup attempt in February 2021, Myanmar has stood at a pivotal juncture in its history. Over the past three and a half years, the military junta has perpetrated a multitude of grave human rights violations and mass atrocity crimes across the nation, including massacres, torching and pillaging of entire towns, and lethal airstrikes against civilian communities and places where they take refuge. There have been over 2,400 airstrikes by the military since February 2021. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the military’s violence has displaced more than 3 million people—likely a gross underestimation of the true magnitude of displacement.

Despite the military junta’s extreme violence, the people’s revolution has persistently worked towards establishing a federal democracy. Over three and a half years, the people’s revolution has advanced and is now winning on the ground. Today, the Myanmar military junta does not have effective control of the country. Townships covering 86% of the country’s territory and including 67% of the national population are not under stable junta control.

Your Excellencies,

Myanmar is moving forward. Now is the time for ASEAN to seize this most critical opportunity and take immediate and decisive action to support the Myanmar people’s revolution for federal democracy and durable peace in Myanmar, as well as for peace and stability in the region.

As clearly recognized in the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Statement on the Escalation of Conflicts in Myanmar on 18 April 2024, the political, human rights, and humanitarian crisis in Myanmar is not merely an internal affair, but one that requires a resolution for “peace, security, and stability in the region,” which ASEAN has vowed to protect. Without swift action, Myanmar’s neighboring countries and ASEAN Member States will continue to face an influx of refugees, loss of commercial interests, and irreparable reputational damage. We believe that ASEAN has a clear obligation to act to prevent the junta from continuing its campaign of violence and from destabilizing the entire region.

We reiterate our calls and remain at your disposal to provide further information, as well as to assist and collaborate with you for effective implementation of the stated recommendations.

For more information, please contact:

• Sampson Hlaing, Executive Director, Equality Myanmar; [email protected]
• Yasmin Ullah, Executive Director, Rohingya Maìyafuìnor Collaborative Network; [email protected]
• Khin Ohmar, Chairperson, Progressive Voice; [email protected]

Signed by 240 organizations including 45 organizations who have chosen to not disclose their name:

1. 5/ of Zaya State Strike
2. A-Yar-Taw People Strike
3. Action Against Myanmar Military Coup (Sydney)
4. Action Committee for Democracy Development (ACDD)
5. Action Committee of Basic Education Students (ACBES)
6. Ah Nah Podcast – Conversations with Myanmar
7. All Aung Myay Thar San Schools Strike Force
8. All Burma Federation of Student Unions (Monywa District)
9. Alliance Against CRSV-Myanmar
10. Alliance Coalition Strike Mya Taung Strike
11. Alliance of Students’ Union – Yangon (ASU-Yangon)
12. Anti-coup Forces Coordination Committee (ACFCC -Mandalay)
13. Anti-Junta Alliance Yangon-AJAY
14. Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
15. Association of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters (HRDP)
16. Athan – Freedom of Expression Activist Organization
17. Ayeyarwaddy West Development Organisation (AWDO), Magway
18. Ayeyarwaddy West Development Organisation (AWDO), Nagphe
19. Back Pack Health Worker Team (BPHWT)
20. Basic Education General Strike Committee (BEGSC)
21. Basic Education Worker Unions – Steering Committee (BEWU-SC)
22. Blood Money Campaign (BMC)
23. Burma Focus
24. Burma Medical Association (BMA)
25. Burmese Muslim Association (BMA)
26. Burmese Women’s Union (BWU)
27. CDM Medical Network (CDMMN)
28. Chanmyatharzi Township People’s Strike
29. Chaung Oo Township Youth Strike Committee
30. Chindwin (West) Villages Women Strike
31. Civil Information Network (CIN)
32. Civil Society Organizations Coordination Committee (Monywa)
33. Co-operative University Mandalay Students’ Strike
34. Coalition Strike Committee – Dawei
35. Creative Home (CH)
36. CRPH & NUG Supporters Ireland
37. CRPH Funding Ireland
38. Daung Sitthe Strike
39. Dawei (Ashaetaw) Women Strike
40. Dawei Youths Revolutionary Movement Strike Committee
41. Defend Myanmar Democracy
42. Democracy, Peace and Women’s Organization
43. Depayin Township Revolution Steering Committee
44. Depayin Women Strike
45. Equality Myanmar (EQMM)
46. Ethnic Youth General Strike Committee (Mandalay)
47. Federal Corner
48. Former Political Prisoners and New Generation Group – Monywa
49. Future Light Center (FLC)
50. Gangaw Women Strike
51. General Strike Collaboration Committee (GSCC)
52. General Strike Committee of Basic and Higher Education (GSCBHE)
53. General Strike Coordination Body (GSCB)
54. Generation Wave (GW)
55. Generations’ Solidarity Coalition of Nationalities (GSCN)
56. Global Myanmar Spring Revolution (GMSR)
57. Global Myanmar Spring Revolution (South Korea)
58. Green Network (Myeik)
59. HTY Scout Channel
60. Human Rights Defenders and Promoters
61. Human Rights Educators Network (HREN)
62. India for Myanmar
63. Industries Strike
64. Information & Scout News (Hlaing)
65. Justice & Equality Focus (JEF)
66. Justice For Myanmar
67. Kachin Legal Aid Group (KLAG)
68. Kachin Student Union
69. Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (KWAT)
70. Kalay Township Strike Force
71. Kalay Women Strike
72. Kamayut Scout Channel
73. KantBaLu Strike Committee
74. Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
75. Karen Peace Support Network (KPSN)
76. Kayan Women’s Organization
77. Keng Tung Youth
78. Kyae Lak Myay
79. Kyain Seikgyi Spring Revolution Leading Committee
80. Kyauktada Strike Committee (KSC)
81. Latpadaung Region Strike Committee
82. Legal Aid For Human Rights
83. Let’s Help Each Other (LHEO)
84. LGBT Alliance
85. LGBT Alliance Myanmar (Kalay Region)
86. LGBT Alliance Myanmar (Kyaukse Region)
87. LGBT Community Yangon
88. LGBT Union – Mandalay
89. MAGGA Initiative (MI)
90. Magway People’s Revolution Committee
91. Magway Region Human Rights Network
92. Maharaungmyay Township People’s Strike
93. Mandalar University Students’ Strike
94. Mandalay Alliance Coalition Strike
95. Mandalay Medical Family (MFM)
96. Mandalay Strike Force (MSF)
97. Mandalay Students’ Strike
98. Mandalay Women Strike
99. Mandalay Youth Strike
100. Mandalay-based People’s Strike
101. Mandalay-Based University Students’ Unions (MDY_SUs)
102. MATA  Sagaing
103. Mayangone News
104. MayMyo Strike Force
105. Metta Campaign
106. Min Hla Farmers Group
107. Minbu Farmers Group
108. Minority Affairs Institute (MAI)
109. Mon State Development Center
110. Monywa LGBT Strike
111. Monywa People’s Strike Steering Committee
112. Monywa Women Strike
113. Monywa-Amyint Road Strike Leading Committee
114. Monywa-Amyint Road Women Strike
115. Multi-Religions Strike
116. Mya Taung Strike
117. Myanmar Global Support Foundation (MGSF)
118. Myanmar Institute of Information Technology Students’ Strike
119. Myanmar Labor Alliance (MLA)
120. Myanmar People Alliance (Shan State)
121. Myaung Youth Network
122. MyaYar Knowledge Tree
123. Myingyan Civilian Movement Committee
124. Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma (ND-Burma)
125. Network of University Student Unions – Monywa
126. New Myanmar Foundation
127. New Power Generation
128. New Rehmonnya Federated Force (NRFF)
129. No.12 Basic Education Branch High School (Maharaungmyay) Students’ Union
130. NOK Information & Scout Echo
131. North Dagon & East Dagon News
132. Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica
133. OCTOPUS (Youth Organization)
134. Olive Organization
135. Pale Township People’s Strike Steering Committee
136. Political Prisoners Network – Myanmar (PPN–M)
137. Progressive Voice (PV)
138. Purple Window Counselling
139. Pwintphyu Development Organisation
140. Pyi Gyi Tagon Strike Force
141. Queers of Burma Alternative (QBA)
142. Representative Committee of University Teacher Associations (RC of UTAs)
143. Resilient Action for Kachin State (RAKS)
144. Rohingya Maìyafuìnor Collaborative Network (RMCN)
145. Samgha Sammaga-Mandalay
146. Seinpann Strike
147. Shan MATA
148. Shwe Pan Kone People’s Strike Steering Committee
149. Sisters2Sisters
150. Sitt Nyein Pann Foundation
151. Spring Traveller
152. South Dagon Scouting Infos (SDG)
153. Southern Youth Development Organization
154. Students’ Union Co-operative University
155. Synergy – Social Harmony Organization
156. Ta’ang Women’s Organization
157. Tamar Institute of Development
158. Tamwe Nway Oo Channel
159. Taze Strike Committee
160. Taze Women Strike
161. Tha Byay Nyo Shwe Bo
162. Thaketa & Dawbon Scout Channel
163. Thakhin Kodaw Mhine Peace Network (Monywa)
164. Thayat Chaung Women Strike
165. The 88 Generation Peace and Open Society (Monywa)
166. The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM)
167. The Ladies
168. The Students’ Union of Yadanabon University (YDNBUSU)
169. Twitter Team for Revolution (TTFR)
170. University Mandalay Students’ Strike
171. University Students’ Unions Alumni Force
172. Volunteers in Myanmar
173. Wetlet Revolution Leading Committee
174. Wetlet Township Women Strike
175. White Coat Society Yangon (WCSY)
176. Women Activists Myanmar (WAM)
177. Women Advocacy Coalition – Myanmar (WAC-M)
178. Women Alliance Burma (WAB)
179. Women Lead Resource Center
180. Women Organization of Political Prisoners (WOPP)
181. Women’s League of Burma (WLB)
182. Yangon Medical Network (YMN)
183. Yangon Women Strike
184. Yasakyo Township People’s Strike Steering Committee
185. Yinmarpin and Salingyi All Villages Strike Committee
186. Youth Empowerment
187. Youth Heart Beams
188. Youth Scout For Democracy (YSD)
189. ဒီမိုကရက်တစ်လူငယ်ကောင်စီ
190. နည်းပညာဆိုင်ရာဆရာများအဖွဲ့ချုပ် -TTF
191. မုန်တိုင်းကြားကသက်တံများ
192. သမိုင်းသယ်ဆောင်သူများ
193. အညာလွင်ပြင်ရပ်ဝန်း
194. ဒို့မြေကွန်ရက် (LIOH)
195. ပွင့်ဖြူလယ်ယာမြေကွန်ရက်

Additional endorsements

1. Legal Aid For Human Rights
2. မျိုးဆက်-Generations
3. Arakan CSO Network
4. All Arakan Youth Organizations Network AAYON
5. Inlihtan Peninsula Tenasserim
6. CAN-Myanmar
7. Karenni Humanitarian Aid Initiative

and 20 organizations who have chosen to not disclose their name.

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