Progressive Voice: ASEAN not addressing Myanmar crisis

26 May 2023
Progressive Voice: ASEAN not addressing Myanmar crisis
A general view of a retreat session of the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, 11 May 2023. Photo: EPA

Campaign group Progressive Voice has criticised the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for the failure of its Five Point Consensus (5PC) in addressing Myanmar’s crisis.

It says that the continued ineffective approach and delay of concrete actions in response to Myanmar’s crisis by ASEAN emboldens the Myanmar junta to commit further atrocity crimes across the country.

Progressive Voice says that ASEAN’S reaction to the recent attack on the ASEAN convoy from the Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre) is yet another indication of the failure of ASEAN’s Five Point Consensus (5PC) in addressing Myanmar’s crisis.

Following the recent attack against the AHA Centre convoy in Shan State, Khin Ohmar, Chairperson of Progressive Voice said: “The attack on the AHA Centre convoy took place in an area controlled by the Pa-O National Organisation, an ethnic militia armed group that acts as a proxy to the military junta with no active armed conflict at present. It is highly likely that the Myanmar military junta is behind the recent attack”.

The Pa-O National Federal Council (PNFC), which is the political leadership body of Pa-O people who are taking part in the Spring Revolution, also stated that “eyewitness statements by resident Pa-O nationals indicates this attack was perpetuated by the those impersonating the local People’s Force”, and “..observing this shooting of the diplomatic convoy incident that the terrorist military council has no intention helping the people with the required humanitarian aid whatsoever, nor does it have the capacity nor the will to help either.”

The Myanmar military has historically weaponized humanitarian aid and used divide-and-rule tactics among inter- and intra-ethnic communities for their political gain and as stated by the PNFC, at the time of unrest, and discord, actors must be aware of the junta’s strategy “to instill more disharmony between different ethnic communities.”

Progressive Voice believes that allowing representatives of the Myanmar military, the group responsible for the crisis in Myanmar, to remain on the Governing Board of the AHA Centre undermines the AHA Centre’s credibility, independence, and impartiality and enables the junta to advance its political agenda while committing atrocities.

The National Unity Government (NUG) and civil society organisations have called on ASEAN to immediately remove the junta’s representatives from the AHA Centre’s Governing Board.

Progressive Voice also criticised the implementation of the ASEAN 5PC signed with Min Aung Hlaing over two years ago saying that it has become clear that the Myanmar junta never had any intention of honouring the agreement.

President, Joko Widodo, even admitted that “there’s been no significant progress” on the implementation of the five-point consensus.

Yet, ASEAN leaders reaffirmed at the 42nd Summit that the 5PC will remain as its main reference in addressing the crisis in Myanmar without concrete action to enforce it.

As the Myanmar crisis escalates, with spillover effects increasingly reaching beyond Myanmar’s borders, ASEAN’s decision to hold on to the failed 5PC is a failure of its own responsibility for regional peace and stability.

To illustrate ASEAN’s toothlessness Progressive Voice points out that while the ASEAN’s leaders were gathering for the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Indonesia on 10 – 11 May 2023 the Myanmar military committed a massacre of at least 18 people, including children and women, in Nyaung Pin Thar Village in Htantabin Township, Bago Region, on 10 May. Reportedly, after soldiers brutally killed the victims, they burned their bodies.

Following the horrific massacre, the Karen Human Rights Group and the Karen Peace Support Network issued a joint statement condemning the brutal act of the military junta stating:“ The deliberate targeting of civilians constitutes a grave breach of international humanitarian law, amounting to war crimes. The murder of civilians in a systematic and widespread manner is also a crime against humanity.”

The statement also called on the international community to stop turning a blind eye to the junta’s atrocity crimes and take immediate and meaningful action to stop the junta’s attacks.

The Nyaung Pin Thar massacre is the second-largest massacre in Bago Region since the February 2021 coup. The largest massacre in Bago occurred on 9 April 2021, when 80 people were killed in an attack against peaceful protesters in Bago City.

Last year in 2022 and this year in January 2023, the Myanmar junta launched several airstrikes against resistance groups where they breached the airspaces of the neighbouring countries of Thailand and India. The junta dropped two bombs into Indian territory in January this year and caused some damage on the Indian side of the border.

In addition to that is the inevitable growing number of conflict-affected people fleeing into neighboring countries. In line with international human rights and humanitarian law, these neighboring governments must not turn a blind eye and ensure that refugees receive adequate assistance.

These dynamics make it evident that the crisis in Myanmar does not just concern Myanmar but it is a regional issue and is a growing threat to the peace and stability of the ASEAN region, according to progressive Voice.

It says ASEAN must heed and implement the five recommendations made by civil society, including the immediate end to the military junta’s atrocity crimes, an end to all official engagements with the military junta, ensuring the delivery of aid by centering border-based local organisations, and for the ASEAN Special Envoy to engage with NUG, National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) and Ethnic Revolutionary Organizations (EROs).

Progressive Voice says it is time for ASEAN leaders to prove their commitment and effectiveness in helping to solve the Myanmar crisis by taking decisive action, including calling on the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.