CSO Progressive Voice has joined with other organisations in condemning the appointment of a Myanmar junta general, General Tun Aung, to the chair of the of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Air Chiefs Conference (AACC).

It has called for other countries to immediately sanction General Aung Tan and for ASEAN to ban Myanmar any ASEAN meetings, group=s and activities.

Following Justice For Myanmar’s revelation that the Myanmar military junta had recently been appointed chair of the ASEAN Air Chiefs Conference (AACC). General Tun Aung led the junta’s delegation where they assumed the AACC Chairmanship for the coming year.

General Tun Aung is a former director of the military-owned Myanma Economic Holdings Ltd and is sanctioned by the UK and Canada. Just yesterday, in its fifth round of sanctions, the EU also sanctioned General Tun Aung among other individuals and an entity linked to the Myanmar military.

Justice For Myanmar’s findings come just days before the ASEAN Summit, which is set to take place on 10 – 13 November in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

“By allowing the Myanmar military junta to chair the ASEAN Air Chiefs Conference, ASEAN is violating the Five-Point Consensus to cease the ongoing violence, doing the opposite of ensuring regional stability. ASEAN is becoming further complicit in the junta’s war crimes and crimes against humanity by emboldening the military junta,” said Khin Ohmar of Progressive Voice.

“General Tun Aung is a sanctioned individual, and the crimes being committed by the military under his command are well known. Instead of holding General Tun Aung accountable for war crimes, ASEAN is rolling out a carpet for him to be in charge of the regional body that aims for greater partnership between air forces. ASEAN must stop aiding and abetting the junta’s atrocity crimes. Top leaders of ASEAN must take decisive action at the upcoming Summit to exclude both political and non-political junta representatives from all ministerial and related meetings and activities. This should include the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) and the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR),” said Khin Ohmar.

“ASEAN’s dialogue partners, EU, Australia, New Zealand, US, Japan and South Korea must immediately sanction the Air Force Chief,” said the rights groups.

Progressive Voice and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) also say that ASEAN must stop aiding and abetting the Myanmar military’s atrocity crimes and take concrete action to exclude all political and non-political representatives of the Myanmar military junta from attending ASEAN summits, meetings and activities