Joint Forum on Strengthening Regional Accountability: ASEAN’s Failure on Women, Youth, Peace, and Security in Myanmar

24 October 2025

The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM), Progressive Voice, and the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (ALTSEAN-Burma) jointly hosted the “Joint Forum on Strengthening Regional Accountability: ASEAN’s Failure on Women, Youth, Peace, and Security in Myanmar” on 16 October 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

SUHAKAM Chairman Dato’ Seri Mohd Hishamudin Yunus opened the forum and offered remarks drawing attention to the severe scale of Myanmar’s escalating humanitarian and human rights crisis. Member of the Malaysian Parliament and former Foreign Minister of Malaysia Dato’ Sri Saifuddin Abdullah also offered remarks in response to testimonies of Myanmar youth human rights defenders.

The forum featured two panels: one on Women and Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) and another highlighting youth representatives’ lived experiences of the crisis in Myanmar. This crucial forum provided an important platform for Myanmar’s women and youth human rights defenders from diverse backgrounds to share their experiences of the Myanmar military’s violence and atrocities, as well as their own resistance and resilience. Their powerful testimonies underscored the urgent need for ASEAN to establish strong regional accountability mechanisms. They also offered additional calls to action for the Malaysian government, ASEAN, and the wider international community to address the ongoing crisis in Myanmar and support the Myanmar people’s aspirations and efforts to establish a federal democracy.

The panels were moderated by Melissa Mohd Akhir, SUHAKAM Commissioner, and Megan Steven, co-chair of the Malaysia National Organizing Committee for the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN Peoples’ Forum.

Women Leading Resistance and Governance

Zue Padonmar, a woman human rights defender from Karenni State and Secretary 1 of the Karenni State Interim Executive Council, shared insights into the transformative people-led governance model established in Karenni State “in the framework of federal democracy with the goal to end decades-long military rule and to achieve a sustainable peace and human rights for all.” Zue emphasized the importance of women’s participation, noting that in Karenni State, “women make up at least 30% of decision-making positions,” and a Gender Policy Framework is underway. Despite this progress, Zue noted the pervasive challenges caused by constant junta offensives targeting the people, with junta airstrikes and blockades having internally displaced nearly the entire population of Karenni State.

Suffering of Women and Displaced Communities

Anna, an ethnic Lisu woman from Burmese Women’s Union, spoke about growing up in an armed conflict zone where the Myanmar military has weaponized sexual violence since her mother’s youth. She reported recent cases of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), including a junta-armed militia that arrested six women and “detained [them] in a house, forced [them] to sing and dance to entertain the soldiers and police daily, and…repeatedly raped [them].”

Nandar, a civic educator and former political prisoner, also discussed the prevalence of torture and sexual violence in junta detention centers and by junta-affiliated militias. Cecilia, an ethnic Chin woman human rights defender and founder of The Ladies, underscored the catastrophic scale of displacement, especially of women and children, with an “estimated 85,000 Chin people…displaced internally and nearly 60,000…displaced [across] the India border. Two-thirds of them are women and children.”

In addition, Rimas Khan, a Rohingya genocide survivor and Executive Director of Voice of Rohingya Women and Students, delivered an intervention on the unimaginable genocide and displacement faced by Rohingya community, as well as their courage and resilience. She emphasized that a peaceful and democratic Myanmar requires justice and inclusion for all ethnic communities, highlighting that “every woman, every youth, and every Rohingya should live with dignity, equality, and freedom.”

Harrowing Realities of Political Prisoners

Yoon, founder of the Women’s Organization of Political Prisoners, recounted her own arrest and torture amid the detention of pro-democracy activists. She described the horrific conditions in over 40 junta prisons across Myanmar, where “more than 20,000 political prisoners have been facing blatant human rights violations over the past four to five years,” including overcrowding, inadequate medical care, and forced isolation. She explained that women political prisoners have faced severe restrictions, especially during menstruation, and endured brutal physical and sexual torture inflicted by junta prison personnel.

Voices of Queer and Youth Resistance and Resilience

Kyi Nyein, a queer youth activist and Secretary of Queers of Burma Alternative, spoke on youth insecurity and resilience amid escalating repression. He described how youth have shifted from visible protests to underground organizing, joining and supporting the Civil Disobedience Movement by “moving food and medicine through checkpoints that could cost our lives.”

Speaking to constant risks Myanmar youth face, Nandar—who was arrested and detained by the junta after the 2021 coup attempt—said, “In Myanmar, if you are young and if they suspect you are against them, the military arrests, imprisons, tortures or makes you disappear.” Nandar reflected on the challenges of continuing education and youth activism under military violence. She explained, “Before 2021 and still today, we have not been allowed to form student unions or organize youth activism, so we had to organize discreetly and quietly.”

Moe, a youth researcher from Progressive Voice, shared experience from Sagaing Region, now a resistance stronghold faced with repeated shelling and forced displacement. Moe condemned the junta’s forced conscription campaign, which has reached an “alarming level,” as it has become a “marketplace of bribery for [the junta’s] own profit,” with families “forced to pay bribes between USD 900 to 2,000 to avoid conscription.”

Nick—a youth activist from A New Burma, a Myanmar civil society organization—described how the coup attempt abruptly took away his future: “The attempted military coup did not just arrest our leaders. It arrested our future.” Nick recalled joining the Civil Disobedience Movement, transforming from a medical student into a human rights defender and community activist.

MPi—an ethnic Chin youth activist from Athan — Freedom of Expression Activist Organization, a Myanmar civil society organization—spoke of the relentless military violence his community suffers in Chin State, and stressed that “real peace cannot come from exclusive, top-down processes,” but requires genuine inclusion of youth and ethnic voices who live amid the conflict daily.

Condemnation of Junta’s Plan to Manufacture False Legitimacy

The forum’s speakers uniformly condemned the Myanmar military junta’s plan to hold a sham election in December 2025 as a hollow attempt to manufacture false legitimacy. Zue Padonmar urged the Malaysian government and ASEAN not to recognize the process, stating, “You will never see peace in Myanmar by supporting the military’s sham election.” Kyi Nyein implored ASEAN and the international community to “stop pretending neutrality is peace” and instead formally engage with Myanmar’s legitimate stakeholders. The junta’s planned sham election, he said, “is not democracy. It is theater for the war criminals.”

Calls to Action

The forum called on ASEAN and the international community to take urgent, principled action to address the escalating human rights and humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. Speakers urged the Malaysian government and ASEAN to reject the junta’s sham election and cease recognizing the junta in any capacity, emphasizing the illegitimacy of its claim to control Myanmar. Instead, speakers called on ASEAN to engage formally and meaningfully with the Myanmar people’s representatives, including the National Unity Government, ethnic resistance organizations, and federal units, reaffirming these as the legitimate representatives of the Myanmar people.

The urgent need for increased humanitarian aid channeled through border-based and community-led mechanisms was highlighted throughout the forum, especially for displaced and vulnerable women, the elderly, and children. The forum stressed the importance of supporting justice and accountability processes to end impunity that allows the Myanmar military’s genocide against Rohingya, and war crimes, crimes against humanity, and CRSV against all communities in Myanmar to continue. The voices of Myanmar women and youth stand as powerful testimonies not only to their suffering, but also to their aspirations and resilience, urging ASEAN and the wider international community to stand in solidarity with Myanmar’s people to uphold human rights, advance regional accountability, and pursue a sustainable peace.

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