Myanmar National Organizing Committee for ACSC/APF ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum 2024

The Myanmar National Organizing Committee (Myanmar NOC) for ACSC/APF, comprised of 15 Myanmar civil society organizations, will be participating in the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum (ACSC/APF) 2024, which will be held in Dili, Timor-Leste, from 19 to 21 September. ACSC/APF is an annual conference where civil society organizations and peoples of ASEAN gather to discuss and address various issues across national, regional, and global boundaries. This year, the Conference’s theme is “Toward a People-Led Democracy and Sovereignty in Southeast Asia”.

During this three-day gathering, the Myanmar NOC will report on the country’s situation at the opening of the Conference and will host workshops and side events throughout the Conference.

On 20 September, the Myanmar NOC, together with International Peace Bureau – Philippines, Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma, ALTSEAN-Burma, and Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), will host a workshop under the theme of State Violence, Militarism, National Liberation, and Democracy, entitled “Triumph over Military Tyranny: ASEAN’s Role in Rebuilding Myanmar”. This workshop aims to provide updates to stakeholders in the region on the ground realities of the Myanmar people’s revolution; to provide analysis of and assess ASEAN’s approach to the crisis in Myanmar, including recommendations for ASEAN’s approach to successfully address Myanmar’s crisis and implement its pledge for a Myanmar people-owned and -led process of liberation and federal democracy building.

In addition to the workshop, the Myanmar NOC will also host a side event with photo exhibition, film screening, and solidarity corner for the Spring Revolution in Myanmar. On 19 September, a representative from one of the Myanmar NOC’s member organizations, Rohingya Maìyafuìnor Collaborative Network, will speak on Plenary 2: Critical Overview for ASEAN Mechanism. On 20 September, a representative from the Interim Executive Council of Karenni State will speak on Plenary 4: People and Planet First: Toward a Liberating Southeast Asia.

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Background

Since the Myanmar military’s illegal coup attempt in February 2021, Myanmar has stood at a pivotal juncture in its history. The bottom-up people’s revolution, driven by the aspiration to liberate Myanmar’s communities from decades-long military tyranny and establish a federal democracy, has persistently advanced on the ground despite the military’s unprecedented nationwide terror campaign against the people.

Over the past three years, the military junta has perpetrated a multitude of grave human rights violations and mass atrocity crimes across the nation, including massacres, torching and pillaging of entire towns, and lethal airstrikes against civilian communities and places where they take refuge. There have been over 2,400 airstrikes by the military over the past three and a half years. The junta’s violence has displaced more than 3 million people—a number that has been rising steadily and is likely a gross underestimation of the true magnitude of displacement. Displacement is widespread both within Myanmar and across its borders, with about 30,000 new Rohingya refugees having arrived in Bangladesh after 5 August.

Most recently, across six days in early September, the military junta had launched several airstrikes targeting civilians in different areas of the country. It was reported that at least 40 people were killed by those junta airstrikes, including a dozen children. In the face of these attacks and violence by the junta, the people’s revolution has worked tirelessly towards establishing a new, peaceful, inclusive, and sustainable Myanmar that is free from the military tyranny. The people’s revolution is winning on the ground, and the Myanmar military junta does not have effective control of the country. Townships covering 86% of the country’s territory and including 67% of the national population are not under stable junta control.

Myanmar is moving forward. Now is time for ASEAN and the wider international and regional community to seize this most critical opportunity and take immediate and decisive action to support the Myanmar people’s revolution for federal democracy.

Members of the Myanmar NOC:

Action Committee for Democracy Development (ACDD)