ND Burma
ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.
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Military jets bomb concert in northern Myanmar, killing at least 50
/in NewsAttack is believed to be single deadliest airstrike since February 2021 coup.
Military jets bombed a concert northern Myanmar commemorating the founding of an ethnic political group on Monday, killing at least 50 civilians and wounding 100 more, according to residents.
It was believed to be the deadliest single airstrike since the military seized power in a February 2021 coup.
The attack came just days ahead of a special meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, in Indonesia to discuss growing violence in Myanmar, one of its members.
The bombing was the latest explosion of violence in fighting over the past 20 months between the military and pro-junta militias and rebel groups scattered across the country. It was strongly condemned by the United Nations, Western governments and human rights groups.
“The junta dropped four bombs in the middle of a crowd where a thousand people were celebrating,” said Col. Naw Bu, a spokesperson for the Kachin Independence Organization, or KIO, which was marking its 62nd anniversary at the concert, which featured several Kachin celebrities, some of whom were killed.
“It is really concerning that the junta intentionally dropped bombs on an area that was not only not a battlefield, but a place where we were celebrating together with many civilians,” he said.
A month ago, two military helicopters killed more than a dozen civilians, including seven children, at a school in Sagaing region, further to the north, in what was previously thought to be the bloodiest airstrike since the coup.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/JEYzd644CLIThe attack occurred at the Anan Par Training Ground, about two miles outside of Hpakant township’s Kan Hsee village, residents told RFA’s Burmese language service. The training ground is under the control of the 9th Brigade of the Kachin Independence Organizatin’s military wing, the Kachin Independence Army, or KIA, which has been fighting the government off and on for decades in a bid for greater autonomy.
Among those killed in the attack were KIA soldiers, Kachin celebrities, and civilians, residents of Hpakant said Monday.
A Kachin artist, who declined to be named, said at least nine Kachin celebrities who attended the concert were among the casualties. Musicians Aurali Lahpai, Galau Yaw Lwi (a.k.a Yungwi Shadang), and Ko King were killed, while Zaw Dain, a veteran actor and the former chairman of the Kachin Artist Association was injured, he said.
The Associated Press reported that as many as 80 people were killed, citing KIO members and a rescue worker.
RFA was unable to independently verify the death toll or the identities of the victims.
Blocked Access
A member of a Hpakant-based relief group, who declined to be named for security reasons, told RFA that providing assistance to the wounded wasn’t possible because junta forces had blocked off the road leading to the site of the attack.
“We cannot go there to provide any relief help,” he said. “Junta forces have blocked several gates to make sure no one can travel to the area,”
Other local relief groups said that although they had requested permission to travel to the Anan Par Training Ground from General Ko Ko Maung, the head of the junta’s Northern Military Command, they had not been cleared to go as of the evening on Monday. The area is located around 15 miles outside of Hpakant.
Win Ye Tun, the junta’s Minister for Social Affairs and the spokesperson for Kachin state, told RFA that he hadn’t received details about the airstrike, but said he is assembling a team to provide assistance.
“I haven’t received any specific information about civilians being killed. I heard some news, but it’s an ongoing battle,” he said. “I am currently networking resources to help. We can’t just take off to go there and help immediately. After the fighting is over and when it is safe to go there, I will follow up.”
International condemnation
The attack prompted a statement on Monday from the U.N. office in Myanmar condemning what it said appeared to be an “excessive and disproportionate use of force by security forces against unarmed civilians,” adding that reports suggested “over 100 civilians may have been affected.”
The statement said that those injured should be “availed [of] urgent medical treatment,” calling such airstrikes “unacceptable” and demanding that those responsible be held to account.
Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, said Monday that Guterres had expressed “deep concern” over reports of the airstrikes in Kachin state.
“We reiterate our call for the immediate cessation of violence and all those who were injured need to be given urgent medical treatment as needed,” he said.
A statement jointly issued by the U.S. Embassy in Yangon, EU member states, Norway, Switzerland, and the U.K., said Sunday’s attack “underscores the military regime’s responsibility for crisis and instability in Myanmar and the region and its disregard for its obligation to protect civilians and respect the principles and rules of international humanitarian law.”
Phil Robertson, deputy head of Human Rights Watch’s Asia-Pacific Division, went further, calling the strike a “war crime.”
“It is outrageous and unacceptable that they have attacked a group of civilians,” he said, adding that the junta knew there was an entertainment event taking place at the site and suggesting the airstrike was “retaliation” against the KIA for its resistance to military rule.
“It shows how completely bankrupt, both morally and ethically, this Myanmar military junta is,” he said. “It’s a clarion call for the U.N. Security Council to finally act … to stop the military junta from these kinds of atrocities against their own people.”
Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government suggested that the military had violated the Geneva Conventions with the latest attack on civilians and called in a statement on the international community and the U.N. to “take effective actions urgently” against the junta.
It noted that the attack came just a month after a Sept. 16 airstrike on Sagaing region’s Let Yet Kone village killed 13 civilians, including seven children, and wounded 12 others. The attack, in which two military helicopters fired on a school for more than an hour, was thought to be the single worst air raid on a civilian area in Myanmar since the coup.
The National Unity Government said that since seizing power, the military had carried out nearly 240 airstrikes targeting the civilian population throughout Myanmar, “resulting in [the] deaths of over 200 civilians and destruction of many houses and religious buildings.”
Later on Monday, the junta issued a press statement denying reports that civilians had been killed in the attack in Kachin state, which it said were “lies” circulated by “fake” online media groups.
The statement said the training ground where the attack occurred was an “active military area operated by terrorists,” and that there were only armed fighters and KIA-supporting businessmen at the site, but no “common civilians.”
It also claimed that junta forces had carried out the operation “according to the law of armed conflict, based on the Geneva Conventions.”
RFA News
Myanmar military bombs Kachin music concert, killing dozens including civilians, performers and KIA officers
/in NewsThe KIA says the nighttime airstrikes were carried out by the junta to target civilians ‘on purpose’ and constitute a war crime
Myanmar junta airstrikes on a music festival killed several dozen people in northern Myanmar’s Kachin State on Sunday evening, according to media reports and a spokesperson from the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO).
The festival was being held in honour of the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the KIO, marked officially on October 25. Sunday’s concert was held at a site called A Nang Pa in jade-rich Hpakant Township, an area under the control of Brigade 9 of the KIO’s armed wing, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), and just two miles from the village of Ginsi (Kan Hsee), according to the Kachin News Group.
Three Myanmar military fighter jets dropped bombs on the location mid-way through the festival at around 8:30pm, killing at least 50 people including four well-known Kachin artists, and injuring many more. Footage of the area after the attack showed that structures in the area had been levelled by the blasts, and debris, including machinery, vehicles and building materials, scattered widely.
Also among the casualties were KIA officers who were attending the event, according to the organisation’s spokesperson, Col Naw Bu. He said that the KIO was working to provide medical treatment for those who were wounded.
“There was no fighting that had broken out between us and the military [in the area],” Col Naw Bu told Myanmar Now on Monday afternoon, noting that it had been months since the last clash in Hpakant.
“They bombed the event on purpose knowing that there were many civilians there. This is inhumane and a war crime,” he said.
https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=eyJ0ZndfdGltZWxpbmVfbGlzdCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOlsibGlua3RyLmVlIiwidHIuZWUiLCJ0ZXJyYS5jb20uYnIiLCJ3d3cubGlua3RyLmVlIiwid3d3LnRyLmVlIiwid3d3LnRlcnJhLmNvbS5iciJdLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdGltZWxpbmVfMTIwMzQiOnsiYnVja2V0IjoidHJlYXRtZW50IiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd190d2VldF9lZGl0X2JhY2tlbmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib24iLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3JlZnNyY19zZXNzaW9uIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9uIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19jaGluX3BpbGxzXzE0NzQxIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6ImNvbG9yX2ljb25zIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd190d2VldF9yZXN1bHRfbWlncmF0aW9uXzEzOTc5Ijp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InR3ZWV0X3Jlc3VsdCIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0Zndfc2Vuc2l0aXZlX21lZGlhX2ludGVyc3RpdGlhbF8xMzk2MyI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJpbnRlcnN0aXRpYWwiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2V4cGVyaW1lbnRzX2Nvb2tpZV9leHBpcmF0aW9uIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6MTIwOTYwMCwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19kdXBsaWNhdGVfc2NyaWJlc190b19zZXR0aW5ncyI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdmlkZW9faGxzX2R5bmFtaWNfbWFuaWZlc3RzXzE1MDgyIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InRydWVfYml0cmF0ZSIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9mcm9udGVuZCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9fQ%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1584462193877463041&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmyanmar-now.org%2Fen%2Fnews%2Fmyanmar-military-bombs-kachin-music-concert-killing-dozens-including-civilians-performers-and&sessionId=635343c2f85ad9a300c49d00a9d031b0e17c70c9&theme=light&widgetsVersion=1c23387b1f70c%3A1664388199485&width=550pxThe Kachin News Group reported that around 100 people were injured and reportedly trapped in Ginsi as Myanmar army troops restricted social welfare groups from accessing the site to provide assistance.
A source within the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) speculated that the death toll may be higher than initial estimates.
“It is very sad. Many of the victims were our fellow KBC Christians and they were just regular civilians,” the source said.
One of the bombs reportedly detonated near the main stage while singer Aurai was performing, killing him instantly. Other artists killed in the attack were singer Galau Yaw Lwi and a keyboard player named Ko King. Actor Lahtaw Zau Ding was also reportedly among the casualties, but Myanmar Now was unable to independently verify his death at the time of reporting.
At least nine Kachin entertainers were at the festival to perform.
Kachin_singers_0.Jpeg
Left to right, singers Aurai and Galau Yaw Lwi, who were reported as having been killed in the military bombing on October 23, and and actor Lahtaw Zau Ding whose condition is still unknown at the time of reporting (Kachin News Group)
The incident is the most lethal airstrike perpetrated by the junta on a KIA-controlled area since the military coup in February last year.
Zay Thu Aung, a Myanmar air force captain who defected to the resistance after 17 years as a military pilot, told Myanmar Now that the jets that attacked Hpakant on Sunday had come from the Tada-U airport in Mandalay, and were likely Russian-made Yak-130 model aircraft.
“It is very possible that they used Yak-130s because that kind of jet can drop 500-pound bombs or 1,100-pounds bombs at night,” he told Myanmar Now. “The military council will do whatever it pleases… They only think about winning the war.”
Another air force officer who defected, Sgt Htet Naing Aung, who was stationed at an air base in the Kachin State capital of Myitkyina, confirmed the likelihood that Yak-130 jets were used.
Zay Thu Aung estimated that the travel time by air from Tada-U to Hpakant would have been a half-hour maximum, leaving little warning time.
Sources close to the KIA said that scouts for the resistance were aware that the aircraft had left the Tada-U that evening, but that no one believed that they had set out to target the festival.
Phone and internet connections were cut off in Hpakant by the military soon after the coup.
The military has repeatedly accused the KIA, headquartered in Laiza along the Kachin-China border, of playing a vital role in the ongoing anti-coup resistance movement by training, arming and collaborating with People’s Defence Forces (PDFs) active in Sagaing; the region is highly contested, and is connected to northern Kachin State through land routes.
On Monday morning, clashes broke out between the military and a joint force belonging to the KIA and the PDFs near the town of Momauk, 200 miles southeast of Hpakant, in which the junta’s forces employed jets and heavy artillery fire.
A 17-year ceasefire between the military and the KIA broke down in 2011 when fighting resumed in Momauk.
Myanmar Now News
Myanmar army artillery fire in Karenni State hits shelter housing displaced family
/in NewsThe father in the family of four was killed and the mother was injured along with their eight-year-old son; only the five-month-old infant was reportedly left unscathed
Heavy artillery fired by the junta’s forces near Kone Thar village in Karenni (Kayah) State’s Loikaw Township on Sunday killed a 35-year-old man and severely injured a 33-year-old woman—his wife—according to local sources.
One of the shells exploded near a farm hut where the couple had sought refuge after fleeing their home in Kone Thar with their two children, aged 8 and five months, just one day earlier.
The man was reportedly killed on the spot. The woman suffered a head injury, and the eight-year-old boy was hit in the thigh by shrapnel.
“We don’t know if the woman will survive… I only heard that the injury was very serious,” a local told Myanmar Now.
Only the infant was left unscathed, he added.
Loikaw_konethar.jpg
The damaged hut following the artillery explosion (Karenni Human Rights Group)
The family, whose identities were not confirmed at the time of reporting, relocated to the hut after junta soldiers arrived in Kone Thar and proceeded to occupy the community over the weekend.
Residents feared that a battle with resistance forces was imminent, the local said.
“The hut where they were staying was also serving as a makeshift IDP [internally displaced persons] camp. The shell fell near the hut while they were all sleeping,” he explained.
At least four clashes have broken out in Kone Thar since last year, with locals repeatedly forced to flee.
The junta’s artillery fire on Sunday was not provoked by any fighting in the area, according to the local, who claimed that troops in Demoso, as well as Pekhon in southern Shan State, were also known to do the same.
“It’s happening all over the country. The military is fring heavy artillery shells without there being any battles,” he said.
A woman from Kone Thar was also reportedly killed in an earlier shelling on September 27.
The Progressive Karenni People’s Force (PKPF) released a statement in early October that a total of 339 civilians had been killed by the military since the February 2021 coup, and 1,200 houses and 27 religious buildings had been destroyed in Karenni State.
The PKPF also stated that nearly 1,600 junta personnel and 171 Karenni resistance fighters had been killed since May 2021.
Frequent clashes have occurred recently in Loikaw, Bawlakhe, Demoso, Hpruso and Shadaw townships in Karenni State, as well as Pekhon in Shan State.
According to locals and members of the resistance, the military’s administrative mechanism is only able to function in urban wards within Karenni territory, where the junta’s forces still maintain a presence.
Myanmar Now News
Myanmar junta seals off roads after hitting crowded concert with airstrike
/in NewsAs the death toll rises to as many as 70, roadblocks prevent the wounded from getting medical attention.
By RFA Burmese
2022.10.25
In this photo provided by a citizen journalist, a mass burial ground with newly placed gravemarkers for the victims of Sunday, Oct. 23 Myanmar junta airstrikes are seen in Hpakant township, northern Kachin State, Myanmar, Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022. Church members in Hpakant buried the victims close to the site of the airstrike on Tuesday since military junta was blocking the roads in and out of an area hit with airstrikes killing a large number of civilians.
Citizen journalist
UPDATED at 8:27 p.m. EDT on 10/25/2022
Myanmar’s military has blocked off roads leading in and out of concert grounds that its jets hit with an airstrike that killed as many as 70 people and wounded dozens more, many of whom were in desperate need of medical attention, sources in the country told Radio Free Asia.
“There are about 150 injured patients and 60-70 people are already dead,” said a resident, who requested anonymity for safety reasons. “I am very worried as we can’t give any medical treatment to the injured. We approached the junta blockage gates and asked if we could help but they wouldn’t let us through.”
In Sunday’s attack, fighter jets dropped bombs on crowds at a concert near Hpakant township, in Kachin state, celebrating the anniversary of the Kachin Independence Organization, or KIO, which has been advocating for greater autonomy for one of the largest ethnic groups in northeastern Myanmar.
Colonel Naw Bu, a KIO spokesperson, said the confirmed death toll stood at 62 as of Tuesday afternoon, with the same number wounded. But the death toll could rise if those badly wounded didn’t get medical attention.
“This is such an inhumane act. It was not in a battle,” he said. “The junta intentionally attacked us when we were all peacefully celebrating together with many civilians. It was cowardly and inhumane. This is definitely a war crime.”
It was the bloodiest airstrike since the military took control of the government in a February 2021 coup, which has led to months of fighting between the military and various rebel groups.
The junta was blocking access even to local aid groups, a relief worker told RFA’s Burmese service. “Most local aid groups from Hpakant went there but we couldn’t reach them,” he said.
Unable to get through, some rescue organizations have given up. … The injured patients are getting no medical treatment,” he said.
Retaliation for rebel attacks
In a statement, the junta’s foreign ministry said the area was a KIA base restricted to the public, not a concert site, and that the bombing was retaliation for on rebel “terrorists” for their attacks on security forces.
“Security forces had to retaliate in self-defence and to take necessary measures against armed terrorists,” it said. Reports that civilians and musicians were “fabricated,” the ministry statement said said.
But residents reached by RFA said most of the dead were civilians, and a few were members of the Kachin Independence Army.
The junta’s Minister of Social Affairs for Kachin State, Win Ye Tun, said he was not informed that troops were blocking the roads into the area. “We are arranging to help those injured and support the people there with necessities. It’s started,” he said. “But I don’t know about the rest of the story about the battles.”
“We have been picking up bodies and parts of bodies, so I think more than 70 are dead. Since [the injured] are trapped here, many are trying to give them medical treatment with what little supplies we have,” one resident said, asking not to be identified.
The Kachin Independence Organization said the junta’s attack was aimed at causing the maximum possible deaths as civilians were attending a music concert. The group said it will transform this “sorrowful incident into a revolutionary force” and accelerate the fight against the military dictatorship.
Several Kachin musicians were among the dead, including keyboard player Zakhon Zau Mum, also known as Ko King. The junta prevented his family from transporting his body back to his hometown, a family member told RFA.
“We can’t go get his body,” she said. “I’ve been told that they are preparing to bury all dead bodies in some village that we don’t know.”
International condemnation
On Monday, the U.N.’s Myanmar office called the attack an “excessive and disproportionate use of force by security forces against unarmed civilians.”
The embassies of the U.S., E.U., Norway, Switzerland and the U.K. issued a joint statement saying the attack showed the junta’s disregard for its obligation to protect civilians and respect the principles and rules of international humanitarian law.
The junta’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs pushed back against statements made by the U.S. and the U.N., saying they were one-sided. “Foreign governments and the United Nations are advised to verify facts before making statements,” it said.
Elaine Pearson, the Asia director at Human Rights Watch called the airstrike an “apparent violation of the laws of war, which prohibit attacks causing indiscriminate or disproportionate civilian harm.”
She accused the military junt of carrying out crimes against humanity and war crimes. “How high does the death count need to reach before governments around the world impose consequences that will impact the junta’s behavior?” she asked.
Pearson urged the U.N. Security Council to impose an arms embargo on the junta and to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court.
She also called on Southeast Asian leaders, who will meet at the ASEAN Summit in November in Cambodia to signal their support for such efforts.
ASEAN released a statement expressing its concern about the escalation of violence in Myanmar, including against civilians.
“We, therefore, strongly urge utmost restraint and immediate cessation of violence,” it readm adding that all concerned parties should engage in “constructive dialogue” to find a peaceful solution.
The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar, a group of independent international experts, condemned the airstrike, with former UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Yanghee Lee calling it “horrific.”
“Junta fighter jets deliberately attacked a nighttime music concert attended by hundreds of civilians knowing it would likely cause catastrophic loss of life, an act that constitutes a war crime,” Lee said. “When will the international community, including the UN and ASEAN, stand with the people of Myanmar and support the democratic revolution?”
Killing civilians in an airstrike was the “ultimate act of junta cowardice and inhumanity,” former chair of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, Marzuki Darusman, said.
“Sadly, it is entirely consistent with the campaign of scorched-earth that the Myanmar military has been waging against the peoples of Myanmar, including the Kachin, with impunity not just for the last 20 months but for decades,” said Darusman.
Translated by Myo Min Aung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Update: Adds reaction from sources within the blocked off area as well as responses from the junta, the Kachin Independence Organization and the international community.
RFA News
Junta Airstrike on Hpa Kant Music Concert is an Atrocity
/in Member statementsOctober 25, 2022
On October 23, a music concert was held in Hpakant, Kachin State, as an early celebration of the 62nd anniversary of the founding of Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).
In the evening of the commemoration event, the armed wing of the junta forces perpetrated an aerial bombardment with fighter planes, causing the death and injury of many innocent civilians. More than 60 civilians, including ethnic Kachin, are known to have been killed, whilst more than 100 others were injured in the airstrike, based on reports so far.
This atrocious and intentional terror attack targeted a crowd of people during a peaceful gathering at a ceremony, and constitutes a crime against humanity and war crime of the junta.
The armed wing of the junta subsequently blocked local streets to obstruct those seeking treatment for the injured, a blatant violation of the right to life in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
This atrocity demonstrated their intent to make the population submit to military dictatorship through using weapons to sadistically target and indiscriminately kill. The military junta considers the whole of Burma as their enemy.
We, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, strongly condemn any act of terror committed by the junta. We implore international actors to take immediate and effective action – to mitigate the armed wing of the junta’s extrajudicial killings, destruction of innocent livelihoods and homes, on daily basis.
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
OPEN LETTER FROM CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS CONCERNING ASEAN’S APPROACH TO THE ONGOING POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN MYANMAR
/in Member statements, Press Releases and StatementsTo: ASEAN Leaders
H.E. Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, Prime Minister of Brunei Darussalam
H.E. Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia
H.E. Joko Widodo, President of the Republic of Indonesia
H.E. Thongloun Sisoulith, Prime Minister of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic
H.E. Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob, Prime Minister of Malaysia
H.E. Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos, Jr., President of the Republic of the Philippines
H.E. Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore
H.E. Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand
H.E. Phạm Minh Chính, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
25 October 2022
Subject: Open letter from civil society organizations concerning ASEAN’s approach to the ongoing political, human rights and humanitarian crisis in Myanmar
Your Excellencies,
We, the 457 undersigned Myanmar, regional and international civil society organizations, call on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (‘ASEAN’) to cease inviting all political and non-political representatives of the Myanmar military junta to all summits and meetings, and revise the mandate of the Special Envoy to Myanmar. We further call on ASEAN under the Indonesian Chairship, as a regional bloc and as individual states, to move beyond the failed Five-Point Consensus (‘5PC’), enable effective humanitarian assistance, and publicly recognize the National Unity Government.
For the past 20 months since the failed coup, ASEAN has been largely ineffective in responding to the escalating crisis in Myanmar. ASEAN’s “dialogue” demonstrates a selective approach to the 5PC and yields no results to stop the ongoing crisis in Myanmar. Despite being put on notice for non-compliance with the 5PC in a joint communique in August 2022, the junta has continued committing atrocity crimes against the Myanmar people. Just one month after the warning, the junta’s airstrikes on a school in Sagaing Region killed 11 children.
The exclusion of the junta from ASEAN Summits in October 2021 and November 2022 was a step in the right direction. We also note positive stances taken by Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore, and welcome the bloc’s statement in July 2022. Nevertheless, any engagement with the junta is in breach of the ASEAN Charter. The crimes that are being committed by the Myanmar military amount to acts of a terrorist organization under international legal definitions and Myanmar’s domestic laws. The Myanmar military stands accused of atrocity crimes at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, and under a universal jurisdiction case in Argentina. We are alarmed that this illegal entity holds sway in ASEAN’s actions.
Mandate of Special Envoy
Since the establishment of the desultory 5PC, the mandate of the ASEAN Special Envoy (‘SE’) has proven unsuccessful in resolving, let alone positively impacting, the worsening crisis in Myanmar. Several efforts by the SE, and by extension of ASEAN, to initiate “dialogues” and “visits” to the military junta have not actualized in any meaningful progress. Instead, such actions have condoned and emboldened the illegal junta to continue its heinous crimes with blanket impunity.
Evident in the visits by the second SE, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, in March and June 2022, the junta has been reassured of ASEAN’s inaction and launched intense aerial attacks against civilians and spiked the death toll of children. State Counsellor, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was repeatedly given additional prison sentences, along with her economic adviser, Sean Turnell. It is a shame that, per the junta’s disapproval, in none of the visits was the SE allowed access to the State Counsellor and other arbitrarily detained parliamentarians elected in the November 2020 general elections. The SE has further failed to meet with the Acting President, Prime Minister or other officials of the National Unity Government (‘NUG’), the legitimate government of Myanmar, key ethnic revolutionary organizations (‘EROs’) and civil society organizations (‘CSOs’).
The junta was emboldened to carry out extrajudicial executions of four political activists in July despite the appeal from ASEAN Chair, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. The executions clearly demonstrated, as Singapore’s Foreign Minister put it, “the high level of cynicism or even outright disrespect for the role of ASEAN”. We are deeply disappointed that such a reprehensible action, which may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, was met with no more than empty condemnation.
These imprudent engagements of the SE further caused extensive damage to the struggle of Myanmar people to end military tyranny and establish a federal democracy. Such actions stand in contrast to the 5PC’s promise to strive for a solution “in the interests of the people”. Furthermore, the vague nature of the SE mandate has so far created public confusion of whether the mandate is a political mediator, interlocutor or focused on humanitarian delivery.
Humanitarian Aid and AHA Centre
ASEAN’s ongoing cooperation and engagement with the military junta to deliver humanitarian aid through the bloc’s Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (‘AHA Centre’) has only exacerbated the humanitarian crisis. The AHA Centre, designed to tackle natural disasters, is ill-equipped to deal with a multi-dimensional political crisis. With its operating procedures, the Centre relies on the junta for access and is dictated by a board consisting of the junta’s Myanmar Task Force. Aid is being weaponized by the very perpetrators of crimes against humanity and war crimes that led to the ongoing humanitarian crisis, and of the genocide of the Rohingya in 2017. The former director of the AHA Centre stated that the junta “is unwilling to provide access to the people in line with humanitarian principles,” and called on ASEAN to remove the junta as aid partner.
Local humanitarian actors and CSOs have been effectively delivering the much-needed humanitarian assistance to communities since the failed coup, along with the NUG and EROs. Border-based CSOs have been indispensable in assisting groups in hardest-to-reach areas with financial and subsistence support. The NUG provided 2.73 billion Myanmar Kyat to internally displaced people and the Civil Disobedience Movement in a year. Meanwhile, international humanitarian organizations, UN agencies and the AHA Centre have been largely unable to reach those most in need. In his letter to the ASEAN Secretary-General, the Malaysian Foreign Minister noted that “the special [humanitarian] task force formed by ASEAN together with the junta is not working well”. With the lack of trust in the junta as a result of its ongoing campaign of terror and weaponization of aid, local aid providers are increasingly unwilling to work with the junta or organizations linked to it.
Recommendations
While Myanmar people themselves are sacrificing their lives, livelihoods and futures for the future of their young generations, ASEAN must take concrete actions to end all inhumane acts committed by the military junta. We appeal to the Indonesian President, set to assume ASEAN Chairship in 2023, to support the will of the Myanmar people.
It is imperative that ASEAN no longer holds official meetings with the junta or recognizes it and its representatives as the government of Myanmar. The bloc must bar all junta representatives, political and non-political, from all ASEAN summits and meetings, including 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). Such disengagement must include ending defense ties with the Myanmar junta. ASEAN must officially recognize the NUG, allowing its delegation to the bloc and member states.
We strongly urge ASEAN to move beyond the 5PC and develop a plan that includes clear benchmarks and indicators of success to realistically measure progress. The plan must be based on extensive consultation with the NUG, the National Unity Consultative Council (‘NUCC’), EROs and CSOs. ASEAN must establish actionable punitive measures upon the junta’s non-compliance with the 5PC to cease the ongoing violence.
At the November Summit, we also call on ASEAN to amend the mandate of the SE to be a full-time position from 2023 onwards with a three-year term, appointed by the ASEAN Chair, and to represent and be accountable to ASEAN as a whole. The SE must have clear terms of reference not for peace-brokering, but be grounded in human rights principles, justice and accountability, and the will of the Myanmar people. The mandate must hold authority and independence to take actions unencumbered by the delay of infrequent ASEAN high-level meetings. The mandate must immediately open formal communications and engage with the NUG, the NUCC, EROs, CSOs and the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw.
On humanitarian aid, ASEAN must stop partnering with the junta and recognize that the AHA Centre cannot address the humanitarian crisis. We recommend to ASEAN to take a solidarity-based approach to facilitate cross-border aid by working in partnership with local humanitarian actors, the NUG and EROs. ASEAN members must also accept and provide protection for asylum seekers from Myanmar. All regional efforts must be based on humanitarian principles of do-no-harm, humanity and impartiality, and the agency of displaced communities.
The political, human rights and humanitarian crisis in Myanmar is not merely an “internal affair,” but a threat to regional security and stability which ASEAN vowed to protect. Without swift action, Myanmar’s neighboring countries and ASEAN states will continue to face the influx of refugees, loss of commercial interests and irreparable reputational damage. We believe that ASEAN’s credibility depends on its ability to act in a timely manner to effectively prevent the junta’s violence and destruction spilling over and destabilizing the entire region.
We CSOs remain at your disposal to ensure the bloc’s effective action in addressing the needs of Myanmar people in line with their will and aspirations.
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Signed by 457 organizations including 297 organizations who have chosen not to disclose their name:
Additional 297 organizations have chosen not to disclose their name.
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