ASEAN and the UN Security Council (UNSC) must move beyond the current Five-Point Consensus (5PC) and coordinate effective actions to prevent the Myanmar junta from committing atrocity crimes, said three Burmese human rights organisations.
The call came from Progressive Voice (PV), Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (ALTSEAN-Burma), and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA).
In a 13 July Joint Communique, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers ’Meetings (AFMM), from which the Myanmar junta is currently banned, made a pledge to comprehensively review the 5PC prior to the ASEAN Summit on 4 – 7 September.
According to the rights organisations, currently, ASEAN’s overall approach remains disappointingly ineffective and unenforceable without a pivot to more decisive and concerted actions.
They say that the review on the 5PC must focus on decisive steps to halt the illegal junta’s atrocity crimes and threats to human security.
ASEAN and the international community, particularly the UN and Myanmar’s neighboring countries, must exclude the junta from meetings at all levels as they risk lending false legitimacy to the illegal military and being complicit in the military’s atrocity crimes.
The National Unity Government (NUG) must be included at regional and international stages as they are the only legitimate representatives of the Myanmar people.
Reconstruction of the 5PC and ASEAN’s overarching approach must be a top priority and it should be rooted in civil society’s Five Counter Points and include the National Unity Government (NUG) and Ethnic Revolutionary Organizations (EROs).
ASEAN and the international community must urgently stop the junta-initiated project to forcibly repatriate 7,000 Rohingya from refugee camps in Bangladesh to Myanmar.
ASEAN must also stop channeling humanitarian aid through the junta, and instead partner with the NUG and EROs. It must shift support toward local civil society and community-based organizations and local humanitarian responders, who have been effectively providing assistance to the most vulnerable communities.
Khin Ohmar, Founder and Chairperson of Progressive Voice, stated: “While the bloc’s decision to review the Consensus is a step in the right direction, ASEAN must ensure that this process is rectified and upholds democratic principles. ASEAN must include voices of legitimate representatives of Myanmar and the Spring Revolution. Otherwise, it will face immediate dismissal and condemnation by the Myanmar people.”
Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso, Executive Director of FORUM-ASIA, said: “Civil society — at the regional and international levels — has been constantly calling for ASEAN to review the 5PC, to make it more aligned with the will of the people of Myanmar and the ongoing efforts at the UN level. From this point, ASEAN should no longer be working in silos. It must work with the NUG — Myanmar's legitimate government — and the international community in its responses.”
But, just reviewing the 5PC is not enough. Khin Omar said: “This decision [to review the 5PC] alone is however not enough. Together with the UN Security Council, ASEAN must take a more assertive approach to cease the junta’s atrocity crimes, reject its claim to legitimacy, reflect the people’s aspiration to topple military tyranny and establish a federal democratic Myanmar.”
According to Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso, without action ASEAN will become irrelevant to Myanmar, she said: “As the Chair of ASEAN 2023 until this December, Indonesia must lay down its legacy to bring the ASEAN response for Myanmar to a more robust, meaningful, and tangible action. Failure to do so will only reaffirm that ASEAN is irrelevant to the Myanmar people's struggle and to everyone calling for a better promotion and protection of human rights in the region.”
Progressive Voice is a participatory rights-based policy research and advocacy organization rooted in civil society, that maintains strong networks and relationships with grassroots
Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (ALTSEAN-Burma) is an NGO working to support national and grassroots movements of Burma/Myanmar working for human rights and democracy.
The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) is a network of 85 member organizations across 23 countries, mainly in Asia. It works to strengthen movements for human rights and sustainable development through research, advocacy, capacity development and solidarity actions.
