Southeast Asian MPs condemn the Myanmar military’s response to Cyclone Mocha and urge support for local organizations

Southeast Asian MPs condemn the Myanmar military’s response to Cyclone Mocha and urge support for local organizations

JAKARTA – The Myanmar junta’s inadequate and discriminatory response to Cyclone Mocha must prompt  ASEAN, ASEAN member states, and the wider international community to bypass the junta and provide more aid and support through local ethnic and civil society organizations, parliamentarians from Southeast Asia said today.

One month has passed since Cyclone Mocha landed and caused devastation in western Myanmar on 14 June 2023. Since then, at least 145 people and likely hundreds more have been killed with many more injured and suffering from a lack of food, clean water and shelter. At least 1.6 million people were affected by the hurricane in Chin, Sagaing, Magway, Kachin, and Rakhine, which has a large Rohingya Muslim community that has long been the target of discrimination and persecution.

We are deeply concerned about the welfare of Cyclone Mocha survivors, especially those located in ethnic minority regions,” APHR Chairperson and member of the Indonesian House of Representatives Mercy Barends said today. “Vulnerable communities such as the Rohingya are once again the victims of the junta’s incompetence and callous disregard for human life.”

The Myanmar junta’s failure to respond promptly and effectively to the cyclone has left the lives of thousands in limbo. Their negligence has been compounded by the absurd decision to block access to Rakhine state for aid workers and humanitarian groups, including the United Nations, in clear violation of humanitarian norms and international human rights laws. The junta has made their bad faith clear by the use of racist language in state-run media, calling the Rohingya in Rakhine state ‘Bengalis.’

Meanwhile Chin, Sagaing, and Magway have all been the target of a devastating campaign of airstrikes, raids, and arson by the Myanmar junta in recent months, and residents have even alleged that the military conducted attacks while the cyclone was happening.

Myanmar’s past history with natural disasters and health crises show that this type of ineffective and at times malicious response is unfortunately nothing new. 

During the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in 2008, the Myanmar military largely rejected the assistance of international relief efforts. It prolonged response times by “delaying the issuance of visas to aid workers, prohibiting foreign helicopters and boats from making deliveries to support the relief operation, obstructing travel by aid agencies to affected areas, and preventing local and international media.”

In the same vein, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the military weaponized the virus by attempting to control the population, attacking medics and first responders while also prioritizing their own access to personal protective equipment and other key COVID-19 supplies. 

In stark contrast, ethnic revolutionary organizations (EROs) and humanitarian responders have proven integral to the disaster response so far. Days after the cyclone hit, the Arakan Army and the United League of Arakan formed the Cyclone Mocha Emergency Rescue and Rehabilitation Committee for Arakan. The Arakan Army also assisted with relocation efforts for approximately 100,000 civilians before the storm hit. Other EROs and the National Unity Government (NUG) have also donated significant funds to the relief effort.

Past experience has shown that the Myanmar military’s response to any crisis is inept at best and inhumane at worst. The junta clearly cannot be trusted to facilitate any form of aid, and certainly not in regions where it has only weeks ago conducted brutal airstrikes,” said Barends. “Donor countries and institutions should urgently divert their aid to local ethnic and civil society organizations that have a proven track record of helping those most in need. Failure to do so would be a grave disservice to the thousands of people that have fallen victim not only to a deadly disaster, but also to a murderous authoritarian regime.”

Open Letter to G7 on the worrying state of human rights and democracy in Myanmar and Cambodia

Open Letter to G7 on the worrying state of human rights and democracy in Myanmar and Cambodia

To: G7 Leaders

H.E. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

H.E. Emmanuel Macron, President of France

H.E. Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of Germany

H.E. Giorgio Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy

H.E. Fumio Kushida, Prime Minister of Japan

H.E. Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

H.E. Joseph R. Biden, President of the United States of America

19 May 2023

Your Excellencies,

We, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, are writing to express our grave concerns about the state of human rights and democracy in Southeast Asia, particularly with regard to Myanmar and Cambodia. 

We are monitoring the increasing authoritarian tendencies in the region, with continued human rights violations and attacks on political opponents and activists by authoritarian governments in Brunei, Viet Nam, and Lao PDR, as well as a trend of shrinking civic space, even in nominally democratic countries such as Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines. We are deeply troubled by these developments, and we believe that if the situations in Myanmar and Cambodia are allowed to go on without a serious response from the international community, repressive and undemocratic regimes will be further emboldened, endangering the progress in democracy and human rights that has been achieved in the region in the past few decades.

Since the coup d’etat led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in February 2021, the political and humanitarian situation in the country has continued to deteriorate and has reached alarming levels. In the past two years, the Myanmar military has waged an all-out war on its own people, through he arbitrary arrests of thousands of anti-junta activists and their family members; the routine use of torture of detainees, often with lethal consequences; the shooting of unarmed protesters, air strikes against civilians in Myanmar’s ethnic areas, the burning of whole villagers, and extrajudicial killings. 

Last year, the junta also executed four political prisoners, including former lawmaker Phyo Zeya Thaw and prominent activist Kyaw Min Yu, widely known as ‘Ko Jimmy’. These death sentences were the first known judicial executions in Myanmar since 1988 and show the increasing brutality of Min Aung Hlaing’s regime.

Most recently, air strikes in the Sagaing Region have killed more than 160 civilians, including children. According to an investigation by Human Rights Watch, the Myanmar military used “thermobaric” munitions during the air strikes, a violation of international human rights law and an apparent war crime.

Throughout all these atrocities, the junta has largely gone unchecked. While ASEAN leaders agreed on a Five-Point Consensus on Myanmar with Min Aung Hlaing in April 2021, the junta leader has since clearly demonstrated that he has no intention to abide by the agreement, and ASEAN leaders have displayed little desire to pressure him to do so. The latest statement from the regional bloc following the 42nd ASEAN Summit earlier this month shows an utter lack of urgency and gives little hope that ASEAN will change its approach to Myanmar. 

The International Parliamentary Inquiry into the global response to the Myanmar coup (IPI), which was organized by APHR, wrote in its final report last year that the international community has largely failed to support the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar. It is more crucial than ever to correct this failure and make sure that the junta faces consequences for its actions and put an end to their ability to bring further death and destruction upon the people of Myanmar. 

We therefore urge the G7 to take swift and firm measures against the illegal military junta led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and provide real assistance to the pro-democracy forces in Myanmar. Those measures should include targeted economic sanctions against the military junta, a comprehensive arms embargo including on aviation fuel, and referral of the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court or the establishment of an ad hoc tribunal.

Another worrying situation is the one in Cambodia, whose continuing descent into authoritarianism is of great concern and does not bode well for the region. The situation related to human rights and democracy has drastically deteriorated in Cambodia in recent years, notably since Prime Minister Hun Sen used the country’s courts to dissolve the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) in 2017, shortly after it had run his Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) close in successive nationwide elections.

This year alone, Hun Sen has openly threatened opposition supporters with legal and physical violence, while his regime has shut down one of the country’s last remaining independent media outlets Voice of Democracy (VOD) and sentenced former CNRP leader Kem Sokha to 27 years of house arrest on trumped-up treason charges.

Earlier this week, the Cambodian National Election Commission (NEC) rejected the registration of the main opposition Candlelight Party for the upcoming July elections on administrative grounds, in what was clearly a manufactured bureaucratic obstacle designed to block the Candlelight Party from competing in the elections by any means possible. 

The government of Hun Sen appears determined to drive the final nail into the coffin of Cambodia’s democracy, which is guaranteed by the Paris Peace Agreements of 1991. Any elections held under the present circumstances cannot possibly be free and fair. 

We therefore urge the G7 to pressure the Cambodian government to unconditionally release all political prisoners, halt the constant harassment and prosecution of political opponents, and allow for the will of the people to prevail through a free and fair electoral process, first by creating an environment that allows for opposition parties to register for and compete in the upcoming elections.

If the Hun Sen regime persists in trying to hamstring the opposition, then the G7 must refuse to accord legitimacy to July elections as it is becoming increasingly clear that Hun Sen is intent on using the elections as just another tool to consolidate his power. 

Unless the international community takes some form of action now, nothing will prevent Hun Sen from further solidifying his decades-long dictatorship by eliminating any semblance of a democratic system.

Your Excellencies, as you yourselves have come to power in democratically-held elections in countries with strong human rights protections, we are sure that you recognize and understand the importance of human rights and democracy to the prosperity and well-being of a nation. We have confidence in your commitment to these principles and hope that you will demonstrate that commitment by coming to the aid of the people of Myanmar and Cambodia. 

Recognizing the powerful role you play as leaders of the largest advanced economies in the world, we urge you to take immediate and decisive action to change the course in both countries. Doing so will have a significant impact on neighboring countries in Southeast Asia and will pave the way for a more politically stable region where lasting peace becomes attainable and where economic development can take place with the people’s best interests at the center.

Sincerely,

ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR)

ASEAN must take stronger stance beyond Five-Point Consensus, Southeast Asian MPs say

ASEAN must take stronger stance beyond Five-Point Consensus, Southeast Asian MPs say

JAKARTA – On the two-year anniversary of the Five-Point Consensus, lawmakers from Southeast Asia call on ASEAN to acknowledge that the Consensus signed in April 2021 has failed miserably and that the Myanmar junta led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing should not to be trusted to fulfill the obligations outlined in the proposed agreement. 

The recent airstrikes in the Sagaing region, which killed hundreds of civilians, including children, are further evidence that the Myanmar junta is completely unwilling and incapable  of adhering to the Five-Point Consensus,” ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) Chair and member of the Indonesian House of Representatives Mercy Barends said today. “If ASEAN insists on sticking to an agreement that has proven to be utterly ineffective then it is complicit in the ongoing crimes and atrocities of the junta.”

On April 24, 2021, the leaders of nine ASEAN member states and Myanmar junta chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, agreed to the following five points: an immediate end to violence in the country; dialogue among all parties; the appointment of a special envoy; humanitarian assistance by ASEAN; and the special envoy’s visit to Myanmar to meet with all parties.

The International Parliamentary Inquiry into the global response to the Myanmar coup (IPI), which was organized by APHR, indicated in its final report in November 2022,  “it is clear that the FIve-Point Consensus has failed, and a new mode of engagement is needed in its place.” As one witness noted in their testimony to the IPI, from the start, it was “thoroughly clear that Min Aung Hlaing was insincere in signing it and had no intention of following it.”

The Consensus’ first point on the cessation of violence has been blatantly ignored by the junta, as evidenced by the ongoing airstrikes and malicious attacks against unarmed civilians. Meanwhile, ASEAN’s intention to provide humanitarian aid, as noted in the IPI report,  has been “stymied by a lack of resources and genuine commitment.” The ASEAN Special Envoy position has also proven to be ineffective, especially since it changes along with the ASEAN chair. 

ASEAN’s weak-willed approach toward the junta is a complete disgrace. Even after it finally criticized the junta’s airstrikes in Sagaing, the ASEAN Secretary-General still met with the junta’s permanent representative to ASEAN, making any statement of condemnation little more than lip service,” said APHR Co-chair and former Malaysian member of parliament Charles Santiago. “Indonesia’s ‘soft-diplomacy’ approach as ASEAN chair has also yet to yield results and must be urgently reevaluated. Indonesia must take a stronger stance and be transparent on how they are addressing the Myanmar crisis, especially given the limited amount of time left in their chairmanship.”

In a roundtable discussion at the Indonesian House of Representatives in Jakarta on March 3, dozens of parliamentarians from several Southeast Asian countries urged ASEAN and the international community at large to take swift and concrete action against the illegal military junta led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and provide real assistance to the pro-democracy forces in Myanmar, including by recognizing the National Unity Government (NUG) and having open and public negotiations that include the NUG, ethnic groups, and other pro-democracy forces.

ASEAN needs to live up to its role as a regional mediator and it needs to do so immediately, starting with Indonesia as chair. Closed-door and informal meetings are no longer enough,” said Santiago. “It is clear that ASEAN needs to negotiate a new agreement that includes the National Unity Government and the representatives of ethnic minorities while providing clear enforcement mechanisms to ensure that the agreement is upheld.” 

Click here to read this statement in Thai.

Click here to read this statement in Indonesian.

Open Letter: The United Nations Security Council’s meeting on Myanmar must lead to firm measures against the junta

Open Letter: The United Nations Security Council’s meeting on Myanmar must lead to firm measures against the junta

To: The Member States of the United Nations Security Council

CC: The United Nations Secretary-General

17 April 2023

Open Letter: The United Nations Security Council’s meeting on Myanmar must lead to firm measures against the junta

Your Excellencies,

We, the undersigned 546 Myanmar, regional and international civil society organizations (CSOs), welcome the United Kingdom’s request for an urgent Security Council discussion on Myanmar to address the illegal military junta’s worst civilian massacre since its failed coup, as well as the junta’s categorical refusal to comply with Security Council Resolution 2669 on Myanmar (December 2022). This “Any Other Business” discussion on 13 April must be followed by a dedicated Council meeting on the situation in Myanmar that leads to punitive measures against the junta under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.

On Tuesday 11 April 2023, the illegal military junta in Myanmar launched an aerial attack on a civilian gathering of around 300 people in Pa Zi Gyi Village, Kanbalu Township, Sagaing Region. At least 168 people were killed, including 24 women and 40 children. During the attack, a junta’s fighter jet flew over the village in the morning and dropped two bombs on the gathering. It was followed by a junta helicopter gunship that then opened fire on the crowd. Some of the victims’ bodies were so badly maimed they could not be identified. A second attack on the same location was launched by the junta in the evening, with four more bombs dropped, while victims’ bodies were still being retrieved.

The junta’s actions are a flagrant violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2669, which demanded “an immediate end to all forms of violence throughout the country” (OP1). Yet, since the Security Council adopted the Resolution in December 2022, the military junta has only escalated its campaign of terror and violence against the people of Myanmar.

The airstrike on Pa Zi Gyi Village came just one day after junta airstrikes in Va and Waibula Villages of Falam Township in Chin State, which killed nine civilians and destroyed homes and schools.  Throughout March 2023, the junta’s so-called “Ogre Column” has carried out a series of raids on villages in southern Sagaing Region, massacring more than 30 people, including children, and decapitating and dismembering victims’ bodies. On 11 March, junta forces killed 29 civilians, including three monks, at a monastery in Pinlaung Township, Shan State. On 14 and 16 February 2023, the junta’s jet fighters dropped bombs in Mutraw District, Karen State, destroying two rice warehouses and seven schools.

Last week, the UN Human Rights Council adopted Resolution on Myanmar (A/HRC/52/32) by consensus that condemned the junta’s deliberate, widespread, indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force against civilians. The resolution referred directly to the junta’s airstrike against a school in Let Yet Kone Village, Sagaing Region in September 2022 that killed 11 children, and its airstrike one month later targeting a concert in Hpakant, Kachin State, that killed more than 60 people. The Human Rights Council Resolution demanded that the junta immediately cease all air strikes. The junta responded with the April 11 attack on Pa Zi Gyi Village.

At the same time as launching ground and increasing aerial attacks on civilians in many states and regions where the people’s resistance movement has taken strongholds, the junta is deliberately forcibly displacing people and cutting off humanitarian access to vast parts of the country. According to the most recent figures from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 1.8 million people are now displaced inside Myanmar, but this number of displacements is likely higher. The junta is deliberately fuelling a nationwide humanitarian emergency to advance its political and military agenda.

Excellencies, the military junta has no regard for the lives of the Myanmar people, no regard for the rule of law, and no regard for international peace and security. The junta will not respond to words, only to action. Therefore, we call on the UN Security Council to adopt firm measures under Chapter VII of the UN Charter to enforce the military junta’s compliance with Resolution 2669. Those measures should include targeted economic sanctions against the military junta, a comprehensive arms embargo including on aviation fuel, and referral of the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court or the establishment of an ad hoc tribunal.

Resolution 2669 also calls for “concrete and immediate actions, noting the military’s commitments to ASEAN Leaders, to effectively and fully implement ASEAN’s Five Point Consensus” (OP6). But there will be no progress made towards the implementation of the Five Point Consensus while the junta’s violence continues and its use of airstrikes against civilians increases. If the Security Council does not act now, we fear the crisis in Myanmar will rapidly reach the point of no return.

For more information, please contact:

Signed by 546 civil society organizations, including 248 CSOs who have chosen to not disclose their name.

Click here for the full list of signatories.

Southeast Asian lawmakers condemn deportation of three members of Myanmar opposition forces by Thai authorities

Southeast Asian lawmakers condemn deportation of three members of Myanmar opposition forces by Thai authorities

JAKARTA – Parliamentarians from Southeast Asia strongly condemn the decision by the Thai authorities to hand-over three members of Myanmar opposition forces into the hands of junta allies, where they are likely to be tortured, or worse. ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) calls on the Thai government and the international community to ensure that such an incident does not happen again.

For far too long, the Thai authorities have been forcing asylum seekers and refugees back to Myanmar where they are at risk of persecution. This is a clear violation of  international human rights law, norms and principles,” APHR Chair and member of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Mercy Barends, said today.

According to information APHR received from local civil society organizations, on 1 April, three members of a Myanmar opposition group crossed into Thailand to seek medical treatment. On their way to Mae Sot, the three men were stopped at a checkpoint and taken into custody by Thai immigration. Then, on the morning of April 4, the Thai authorities handed them over to the Myanmar junta -allied Border Guard Force (BGF), despite efforts from opposition groups to negotiate a release. Witnesses say that BGF troops shot at the men after the handover. According to media reports, at least one of the men was killed. The fates of the other two remain unclear.

Despite sharing an extensive border of more than 2,400 kilometers  with Myanmar, the Thai government has not been welcoming to refugees who seek to escape the brutal violence of the Myanmar military. Human rights groups have repeatedly criticized Thailand for sending back those who cross the border.  Asylum seekers from Myanmar in Thailand also face a precarious situation, where they lack legal protection and risk being deported at any time.

Earlier this year, the Thai government officially adopted the UN Convention Against Torture, which states that “no government organizations or public officials shall expel, deport, or extradite a person to another country where there are substantial grounds for believing that the person would be in danger of torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, or enforced disappearance.” Releasing these three men into the hands of the Myanmar junta, which has repeatedly arbitrarily arrested, tortured, and at times even extrajudicially executed dissidents,  is clearly in violation of this convention.

We urge the Thai government to allow those fleeing conflict in Myanmar to enter Thailand safely and to prioritize their protection. Thai authorities must immediately halt the deportation of citizens from Myanmar who face immense risks to their physical well-being in the hands of the junta,” said Barends.  “In light of the upcoming Thai elections, we also urge all Thai political parties and candidates to address human rights concerns on their platforms. Lastly, we call on ASEAN, ASEAN member states, and the international community to put pressure on Thailand to ensure that all people are treated with dignity and that their rights are respected and upheld. No person who faces persecution in the country they are fleeing should be detained and forcibly returned.