APHR Meets Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Lazaro — Urges ASEAN 2026 to Reject Myanmar Junta’s Sham Election

MANILA, 8 December 2025— ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) welcomes the critical courtesy meeting on 5 December 2025 between the APHR lawmaker delegation and Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro, who serves as ASEAN 2026 Special Envoy on the Myanmar Situation.

The meeting, attended by APHR Chairperson Hon. Mercy Chriesty Barends from Indonesia, Co-Chairperson, former MP Charles Santiago from Malaysia, former Rep. Arlene Brosas from the Philippines and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand Kasit Piromya, reaffirmed the urgent need for principled, coordinated ASEAN action to address Myanmar’s deepening political and humanitarian crisis.

APHR commends Secretary Lazaro for committing to keep Myanmar high on the ASEAN agenda during the Philippines’ chairship and for agreeing to raise the issue at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat on 29 January 2026. APHR stressed that ASEAN’s credibility and regional stability are at stake and offered parliamentarian-led support to help bridge humanitarian, political and technical gaps.

The delegation of Southeast Asian lawmakers presented its concerns about the junta’s escalating violence, the failure of the Five-Point Consensus, the worsening humanitarian conditions and the dangers of the junta’s planned sham elections this December.

APHR welcomed the Secretary’s openness to the proposed Inclusive Humanitarian Forum, a platform designed to channel aid into areas outside junta control, an urgent need given shrinking international funding and intensifying displacement.

Delegates also emphasized that any ASEAN strategy must address the dire situation of the Rohingya and other displaced communities, whose already limited support is rapidly dwindling.

APHR will continue its engagement with the Philippine 2026 Chairship, ASEAN Special Envoys and partner parliaments and civil society to support; operationalizing the Inclusive Humanitarian Forum; technical exchanges and capacity building for local governance in ethnic areas; and coordinated diplomatic outreach to major external actors to prevent legitimization of the junta.

The network of parliamentarians emphasized that this is not merely a diplomatic challenge but a test of ASEAN’s values. Only a principled, united, and justice-driven approach can help end the suffering in Myanmar and restore the democratic aspirations of its people. ###

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