Indonesian Embassy in London, 16 June 2022
There are two alarming developments that are yet more evidence that the Association of South East Asian Nations, ASEAN, is abandoning key commitments in its own charter, which call for respect for democracy, human rights and the rule of law and which also call for “people-centred” solutions to the problems confronting South East Asia.
Most important, by abandoning its charter commitments, ASEAN is also abandoning 55 million people in Myanmar, who since the coup last year have been subject to what the UN Rapporteur for the situation of human rights in Myanmar calls a “brute force terror campaign”.
So what are these developments?
Firstly, ASEAN has extended an invitation to the junta Defence Minister, General Mya Tun Oo, to attend the meeting of ASEAN Defence Ministers on 22nd June. This is a man who has been subjected to sanctions by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand. They have said as a matter of public record, that in his role as Defence Minister, he has direct command and control over an army that is committing atrocity crimes. Under the Rome Statute, these crimes include murder, torture, enslavement, rape, sexual violence, forced disappearance and imprisonment.
Mya Tun Oo has also been named in the case brought in Turkey by my organisation, the Myanmar Accountability Project, MAP. Thanks to the work of our Turkish lawyers in bringing this unprecedented case, he stands accused of individual criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity and I thank the Turkish authorities for their support. To be clear, Mya Tun Oo is criminally responsible for committing international crimes under the Rome Statute. He should be arrested as a suspected criminal and brought to justice, rather than being granted a seat at the at the top table of ASEAN ministers.
The invitation to Mya Tun Oo is also inconsistent with ASEAN’s decision to ban coup leader, Min Aung Hlaing and junta Foreign Minister, Wunna Maung Lwin from previous meetings, including ministerial level meetings. We call on ASEAN to rescind the invitation immediately and stand with all people of conscience, in Myanmar, in the ASEAN region and in the rest of the world.
The second development within ASEAN that is a cause for concern is the decision to work exclusively with the junta on the delivery of humanitarian assistance and not to co-ordinate aid through the National Unity Government, Citizen Based Organisations and other groups in the ethnic nationalities areas of the country. We are gravely concerned that this will weaponise humanitarian assistance by giving the junta access to areas of Myanmar against which it has waged a war of attrition, using aerial bombardments and artillery attacks which violate the rules of law that protect civilians.
We call on ASEAN to respect the UN’s humanitarian principles of impartiality and neutrality and immediately to initiate dialogue with the NUG, civil society organiaations and the ethnic organisations on the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Just this week, the UN Rapporteur, Tom Andrews said that 142 people under the age of 18 have been killed since the coup, over 1,400 children have been arbitrarily detained, and at least 61, including some as young as three years old, are being held as hostages. Another 250,000 children have been displaced by the military’s violence and as many as 7.8 million children are out of school.
According to the Myanmar Institute for Policy and Strategy, in a report released earlier this month, over 22,000 homes and buildings, including religious buildings have been burnt down since the coup last year, in a deliberate mass arson attack by the junta.
The UN announced in a 31 May report that for the first time, the number of displaced men, women and children in Myanmar has exceeded one million. This includes almost 700,000 people displaced by the conflict and insecurity since the coup. More that 40,000 people, according to the UN, have crossed over into neighbouring countries.
We demand action now. ASEAN must rescind the invitation to the criminal suspect Mya Tun Oo and initiate dialogue immediately with the National Unity Government, the ethnic nationalities groups and civil society organisations. If ASEAN fails to do this, it will stand accused, in the eyes of its own people and in the eyes of the world, of complicity in the crimes of the junta.
Thank you.