Mizzima

The US government is calling on Laos, which takes up the ASEAN chair next year, to keep the pressure up on the Myanmar junta to bring an end to the crisis engulfing the country.

The message was conveyed by Melissa Brown, the deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs in charge of Southeast Asia affairs in the 13 September Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing on human rights in Burma in the aftermath of the February 2021 coup d’état.

She said that in addition to being less, perhaps, vocal and forward-leaning on ensuring that Burma is held accountable and forced to make progress on the five-point consensus and not getting legitimacy within ASEAN, there's also just the practical staffing capabilities.

Laos is a much smaller country with less capacity, she noted, adding that the United States was providing all the assistance that they can.

According to the US State Department, since the coup nearly 3,000 people have been killed, nearly 17,000 detained, and more than 1.5 million displaced. Steps taken by the United States, the UN, ASEAN and other international actors with the goal of restoring democracy in Burma, including imposing sanctions, have not succeeded to date. The junta has announced that it intends to hold nationwide elections at some point in 2023, but the State Department has said the elections “cannot be free and fair” under current conditions. Meanwhile, 900,000 forcibly displaced Rohingya, victims and survivors of crimes against humanity and genocide, remain in Bangladesh with no solution to their crisis on the horizon.

Witnesses in the 13 September hearing reviewed the human rights situation in Burma in the aftermath of the coup; discussed the response of the United States and the international community, including implementation of Executive Order 14014 and BURMA Act provisions as well as accountability initiatives; and offered recommendations for policymakers.