ASEAN Must End its Repeated Failures and Start Supporting the Myanmar People
“we believe that this decision will enable the military junta to weaponize humanitarian aid to gain legitimacy and commit more human rights atrocities against the people of the country.”
ASEAN’s ongoing cooperation and engagement with the military junta in Myanmar, pledging to deliver humanitarian aid via the institution that has created the humanitarian crisis, and its continuing military-to-military engagements, reflect its repeated failures to the people of Myanmar. The recent US-ASEAN Special Summit, which went ahead without participation from a representative from Myanmar, should have been an opportunity to push ASEAN to take stronger action on Myanmar, but, frustratingly, this did not happen.
The recent US-ASEAN summit produced a statement that, while calling for the cessation of violence, still keeps flogging the dead horse of the ASEAN’s Five Point Consensus – an agreement between ASEAN leaders and junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing in April 2021. To date, the military junta has not made any meaningful steps to adhere to the five points, in particular the cessation of violence which has markedly increased since the consensus was agreed. The summit also had an empty chair for Myanmar, a reflection of the growing pariah status of the military. The National Unity Government’s (NUG) Foreign Affairs Minister, Zin Mar Aung, did meet with US Deputy Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman beforehand, but she was not a party to the summit itself. While engagement by foreign governments with the NUG is welcomed, given that they are the legitimate government of Myanmar, this should be the norm, not an exception. ASEAN itself must also meet with the NUG, as the Malaysian Foriegn Minister, Saifuddin Abdullah, did on the sidelines of the Summit – a positive step.
Under the Chairship of Cambodia, which hosted the Consultative Meeting on ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance to Myanmar on 6th of May, ASEAN decided to continue its policy of cooperating with the junta for the provision of humanitarian aid before the summit in the US. Through ASEAN’s intergovernmental humanitarian arm, the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre), humanitarian aid from the bloc will go through the junta appointed Myanmar Task Force. Nowhere in its statement does the bloc recognise that it is the junta itself which is causing the humanitarian crisis through its failed, violent coup attempt and subsequent crackdown and atrocity crimes committed throughout the country against those who resist. The Myanmar Task Force is merely an extension of the Myanmar junta. As a statement signed by 765 Myanmar and regional civil society organizations outlined, “we believe that this decision will enable the military junta to weaponize humanitarian aid to gain legitimacy and commit more human rights atrocities against the people of the country.”
It is perhaps unsurprising that the statement after the Consultative Meeting on ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance to Myanmar doesn’t acknowledge or address the cause of the dire humanitarian conditions that many communities in Myanmar are facing, because it was a junta representative that attended the Consultative Meeting. The National Unity Government (NUG), made up of elected lawmakers and ethnic leaders, was not invited to the meeting, neither was the United Nations Special Envoy to Myanmar, H.E. Noeleen Heyzer. If ASEAN was serious about delivering humanitarian aid that would reach communities in need, it would push to provide such assistance through cross-border channels, and local service providers. It would also push for Myanmar’s neighbors, particularly Thailand, to open its doors for refugees to cross unimpeded and allow unrestricted access to displaced populations fleeing the junta’s violence. Instead, ASEAN is providing assistance through a military that is causing this displacement.
This was a point clearly made in a webinar in the lead-up to ASEAN’s Consultative Meeting on ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance to Myanmar, by Myanmar regional and civil society actors. One of the speakers, Adelina Kamal, former Executive Director of the AHA Centre, asked a pertinent question “how can we trust the outcome of the meeting when the source of the violence is present?” A post-webinar statement by the organizers further urged “Trusted local non-state actors and the broader existing network as a potential entry point in the border must be considered, including ethnic community-based health or faith-based organizations that have been providing health, education and other essential services to conflict-affected populations along the borders for decades.”
However, it is not just humanitarian cooperation that ASEAN engages the military junta with. It is also aiding and abetting the military through defense ties. In a recent investigation, the activist campaign group, Justice For Myanmar, revealed that ASEAN also maintains military ties with the junta. The junta has been a part of the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting, thus allowing it to participate in “meetings, training, intelligence exchanges, arms production, R&D, cyber security, and education.”
ASEAN’s approach only helps to embolden the junta, and could be aiding and abetting their grave atrocity crimes rather than solving them. It panders to the Myanmar military, cooperating on defense issues, and pledges humanitarian aid to be delivered through the institution that is attacking the people of Myanmar and creating the humanitarian crisis. To make matters worse, the rest of the international community is deferring to ASEAN’s failed Five Point Consensus, which the military junta has zero political will to take seriously. Thus if the broader international community continues to rely on ASEAN, it is also enabling the junta’s crimes. This is in stark contrast to the response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, in which the US-led support to the Ukrainian resistance, but not Myanmar, reveals a double standard when dealing with despotic militaries.
ASEAN must abandon the Five Point Consensus and form a new approach that deals with a terrorist group – the Myanmar military junta – within the borders of the bloc. It must deal substantively with the NUG for diplomatic ties, and any humanitarian assistance must be provided through the local humanitarian networks, community-based organizations, cross-border channels, and ethnic service providers. Furthermore, countries like the US must stop hiding behind ASEAN and its failed Five Point Consensus as a shield of their own inaction, and take stronger measures. Their response to the invasion of Ukraine shows what kind of support the people of Myanmar are missing. At the minimum the US should sanction the military, including sanctioning the main foreign revenue stream for the junta, the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise, coordinate a global arms embargo, and recognize the NUG.
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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.
Resources from the past week
Statements and Press Releases
By 765 Myanmar, regional and international organizations
Myanmar: ASEAN must kickstart stalled approach to human rights crisis at US summit
By Amnesty International
Statement to the US and ASEAN on Myanmar ahead of summit in Washington
By ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
Arrests of Activists, Journalists Continue in Myanmar as Military Tribunals Impose Harsh Sentences
By CIVICUS Monitor
(၉) ကြိမ်မြောက် ရခိုင်အမျိုးသားနေ့သို့ ပေးပို့သည့် သဝဏ်လွှာ
By Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw
US-ASEAN: Promote Rights, Democracy at Summit
By Human Rights Watch
Myanmar: Rebuilding lives in Rakhine
By International Committee of the Red Cross
ASEAN’s complicity in the Myanmar military’s atrocity crimes exposed
By Justice For Myanmar
By Karen National Union, Karenni National Progressive Party and Chin National Front
By Karen National Union, Karenni National Progressive Party and Chin National Front
By National Unity Consultative Council
Two youth forced to transport SAC troops killed in roadside ambush in Muse, northern Shan State
By Shan Human Rights Foundation
ASEAN Risks Flouting All Humanitarian Principles
By Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
ASEAN-U.S. Special Summit 2022, Joint Vision Statement
By The White House
The Deputy Secretary’s Meeting with NUG Representatives
By United States Department of State
By United Nations Myanmar
UNICEF and partners expand mental health services for children and young people
By United Nations Children’s Fund
Reports
Fact Sheet: International response to Ukraine situation highlights sluggishness on Burma/Myanmar
By ALTSEAN-Burma and Blood Money Campaign
MIMU 5W/ Overview of Rakhine State as of 25th March, 2022 (May 2022)
By Myanmar Information Management Unit
The Enduring Challenges to Democratic Transition in Myanmar
By Observer Research Foundation
By Shan Human Rights Foundation
By Shan Human Rights Foundation
Myanmar: Humanitarian Response Plan 2022 – Quarter One Dashboard (Jan – Mar 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.”
