OPEN LETTER TO AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER PENNY WONG FROM 688 CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS
The Honorable Penny Wong
Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Parliament House,
Canberra ACT 2600
29 June 2022
Open letter to Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong from 688 civil society organisations
Re: Urgent change of course and action needed on Myanmar
Dear Minister Penny Wong,
We, the undersigned 688 Burma/Myanmar, regional and international civil society organisations, welcome your appointment as Foreign Minister and note the Australian Labor Party’s commitment to seek “strong and enduring relations with the people of Myanmar” when in government. We note your past comments that Australia “cannot be a bystander to a direct attack on Myanmar’s democracy” and your call for the Australian government “to take a stand” for democracy in Myanmar and to impose targeted sanctions. We acknowledge the Australian government’s commitment to appoint a Special Envoy for Southeast Asia and for increased aid to the region and to implement a ‘First Nations Foreign Policy’.
We are writing to urge you to hear our voices, as we struggle for a federal democratic Myanmar that upholds human rights for all and to protect Burma/Myanmar’s cultures, livelihoods and fragile ecosystems that are under dire threat by the illegitimate military junta.
Since the illegal coup attempt on February 1, 2021, the illegitimate junta has waged a terror campaign against the people of Myanmar, amid widespread and mass resistance. There have been more than 10,000 armed clashes, which include attacks on civilians through indiscriminate shellings and airstrikes, and over 2,000 people have been murdered by the junta. Around 440,000 people have been forcibly displaced since the coup attempt, as the junta carries out deliberate attacks, killing, torturing and raping, and destroying houses, villages and food supplies across the country. In Sagaing Region, the junta torched over 5,600 houses in February to April 2022 alone. The junta’s criminal conduct amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity, which it commits with total impunity.
The junta has devastated the economy, which has shrunk around 30%, causing widespread food insecurity. The junta has weaponized telecommunications, ordering internet shutdowns in large swaths of the country, blocked access to information through censorship and targeted the people for surveillance. Journalists have been targeted with murder, arrest and torture, as well as doxing campaigns and the dissemination of hate speech and disinformation.
ASEAN is complicit in the junta’s terror campaign. Since the attempted coup, ASEAN has continued to legitimize the junta and ignore the voices of the people. Its failed Five-Point Consensus was agreed with the illegitimate junta alone, which has ignored its own pledge to implement it. ASEAN has repeatedly invited the junta to meetings, events and military training, providing cover for ASEAN members and Australia to engage with war criminals, emboldening their crimes in Australia’s name. The ASEAN Special Envoy on Myanmar defers to the illegitimate military junta and has failed to engage with Myanmar’s legitimate government, the National Unity Government (NUG), the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), Ethnic Revolutionary Organizations (EROs) and civil society.
The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre), an intergovernmental humanitarian disaster management body supported with Australian taxpayer funds, does not have the capacity to handle humanitarian aid in a conflict setting where the perpetrator and the clear aggressor is the partner in delivering aid. It is rather exacerbating the crisis in Burma/Myanmar by allowing the military to weaponize humanitarian aid, offering tactical and political advantage while lending legitimacy to the military junta who is the main perpetrator of violence that is leading to mass displacement. Civil society strongly rejects the AHA Centre’s divide-and-rule approach of meeting with EROs individually, and failure to engage with NUG, NUCC and civil society.
The Morrison Government fell shamefully short to live up to Australia’s values of and commitment to democracy and human rights. Your predecessor failed to impose targeted sanctions, failed to join efforts for international accountability, failed to recognize the National Unity Government (NUG) as the legitimate government and NUCC as the highest consultative body of Burma/Myanmar, and continually legitimized the junta through bilateral and multilateral engagement, including with Min Aung Hlaing. Australia’s Future Fund has maintained investments in businesses that provide arms and revenue to the Myanmar military junta, profiting from Myanmar’s destruction.
We therefore earnestly appeal to you to change course:
- Impose targeted sanctions against the Myanmar military junta, its businesses and all those responsible for grave human rights violations.
- Recognize and support the NUG as the legitimate government of Burma/Myanmar, and NUCC as the highest consultative body.
- Reject the illegitimate junta’s appointment of ambassador to Australia and accept appointments made by the NUG
- Do more to support the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar by delivering Australian aid cross-border through trusted local humanitarian and community-based organisations, in consultation with NUG, NUCC and EROs.
- Intervene in the International Court of Justice case against Myanmar to fully support accountability for the crime of genocide against the Rohingya.
- Take action to prevent Australian mining companies from continuing to explore and extract minerals, which are a source of revenue for the junta, and threaten ethnic communities and the environment.
- Put an advisory in place for Australian businesses and investors to avoid any business with the Myanmar military junta and its cronies.
- Ensure the Future Fund divests from all businesses that are providing arms and revenue to the military junta.
- Urge the UN Security Council to impose a global arms embargo on the Myanmar military junta and to refer the Myanmar situation to the ICC.
- Stop hiding behind ASEAN as an excuse for inaction on Burma/Myanmar.
- Urge ASEAN to exclude the Myanmar military junta from all meetings, programs and military exercises, and to recognize NUG and NUCC. Boycott all meetings that include junta representatives.
- Urge ASEAN to move beyond the Five-Point Consensus and work with NUG, NUCC, EROs and civil society to find an alternative and durable solution to the crisis in Burma/Myanmar that upholds human rights and democratic principles.
- Urge ASEAN to revoke the decision reached during the Consultative Meeting on ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance to Myanmar that places the military junta in control of aid delivery. Ensure the AHA Centre ceases its divide-and-rule approach and begins inclusive consultation with NUG, NUCC, EROs and civil society. If ASEAN fails to do so, stop providing aid and technical support to the AHA Centre for Myanmar.
- Commission Australia’s Special Envoy on Southeast Asia to engage with the ASEAN Special Envoy and UN Special Envoys on Myanmar to ensure joint effort by the UN and ASEAN to address the human rights and humanitarian crisis in Burma/Myanmar, in coordination with NUG, NUC, EROs and civil society.
- Urge Quad members Japan and India to immediately end business with the junta, impose an arms embargo and end all military support for the junta. The Quad must recognise and support the NUG as the legitimate government and NUCC as the highest consultative body of Burma/Myanmar.
For further information, please contact:
- Khin Ohmar, Progressive Voice, info@progressive-voice.org
- James Thangman, Ethnic Myanmar Communities’ Council of Australia, zotmtuang@gmail.com
- Salai Za Uk Ling, Chin Human Rights Organization, zauk@chinhumanrights.org
List of Signatories
List of signatories include the following 298 Myanmar, regional and international organisations and 390 Myanmar civil society organisations that have chosen not to disclose their names.
Signed by:
- 8888 Generation (New Zealand)
- Active Youths (Kalay Myo)
- Ah Nah podcast- conversation with Myanmar
- Ah. La. Ka (12) Hta Khwe. Primary Education Student Union
- All Burma Democratic Face in New Zealand
- All Burma Federation of Trade Unions-ABFTU
- All Burma Indigenous People Alliance (APIBA)
- All Religions Strike Column
- All Sagaing Township Basic Education Students’ Union
- All Schools of Aungmyaythazan Township Strike
- Alternative Solutions for Rural Communities (ASORCOM)
- ALTSEAN-Burma
- Anti-Junta Forces Coordination Committee (AFCC)
- Arakan CSO Network
- Arakan Humanitarian Coordination Team-AHCT
- Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR)
- Association for Human Rights Defenders and Promoters
- Athan – Freedom of Expression Activist Organization
- Auckland Kachin Community NZ
- Auckland Zomi Community
- Aung Myay Thar Zan Education School
- Aung Myay Tharzan Basic Education Students’ Union-ABFSU
- Aung Pin Lae Main Strike Column
- Australia Chin Communities’ Council Inc.
- Australia Karen Organization (AKO)
- Australian Burmese Muslim Organization
- Australian Burmese Rohingya Organization (ABRO)
- Ayeyarwaddy Youth Network
- Bago Basic Education Students’ Union
- Bago MATA
- Bago Women Group
- Bank Trade Unions Federation of Myanmar – BTUFM
- BEHS-1, Hpa-An Basic Education Students’ Union
- BEHS-1, Mandalay Basic Education Students’ Union-ABFSU
- BEHS-11, Aungmyethazan Basic Education Students’ Union-ABFSU
- BEHS-24, Mahaaungmyay Basic Education Students’ Union-ABFSU
- BEHS-4, Mandalay Basic Education Students’ Union-ABFSU
- BEHS-8, Aungmyethazan Basic Education Students’ Union-ABFSU
- Blood Money Campaign
- Burma Action Ireland
- Burma Environmental Working Group
- Burma River Network
- Burma suomalaiset, Finland
- Burmese American Millennials
- Burmese Canadian Network
- Burmese Community Group (Manawatu, NZ)
- Burmese Community in France
- Burmese Rohingya Welfare Organisation New Zealand
- Burmese Women’s Union
- Campaign for a New Myanmar
- CDM Support Team Mandalay
- Chan Mya Thar Si Township People Strike Column
- Chanayetharsan Basic Education Students’ Union
- Check us for Safety (Ahlone)
- Chin Community of Auckland
- Chin Human Right Organization (CHRO)
- Chin Leaders
- Chin MATA
- Chin Resources Center
- Citizen of Burma Award – New Zealand
- Coalition of Mandalay Engineers
- Columns Coordination Committee
- Committee Representing Mandalay Region Hluttaw
- Cooperative University Student Strike Column
- CRPH & NUG Supporters Ireland
- CRPH Funding Ireland
- Daik-U Basic Education Students’ Union
- Daung Sit Thi
- Dawei Basic Education Students’ Union
- Dawei Development Association
- Delta News Agency
- Democracy for Ethnic Minorities Organization
- Democracy for Myanmar – Working Group (NZ)
- Democratic Youth Council
- Demoso Basic Education Students’ Union
- Dhanu Youth Organization
- Doh Atu – Ensemble pour le Myanmar
- Education Family (Anti – Fascists Education Strike)
- Educational Initiatives Prague
- Equality Myanmar
- Ethnic Myanmar Communities’ Council of Australia
- Ethnic Youth General Strike Committee (Mandalay)
- Family Private School Basic Education Students’ Union-ABFSU
- Federal Myanmar Benevolence Group (NZ)
- Federal Trade Union of Kawthoolei (FTUK)
- Free Rohingya Coalition
- Freedom for Burma
- Future Light Center
- Future Thanlwin
- Generation Wave
- Global Movement for Myanmar Democracy (GM4MD)
- Helping Hands for Burma (H2B)
- Hinthada Basic Education Students’ Union-ABFSU
- Hlaing Thar Yar Basic Education Students’ Union
- Hopin Basic Education Students’ Union
- HTY Scout Channel
- Human Rights Educators Network
- Human Rights Foundation of Monland
- Information & Scout News (Hlaing)
- Insein Scout Channel
- Inter-Faith Strike Column
- Interfaith Youth Coalition on Aids in Myanmar (IYCA-Myanmar)
- International Association, Myanmar-Switzerland (IAMS)
- Justice For Myanmar
- Kachin State Women Network
- Kachin Women’s Association Thailand
- Kachin Women’s Union
- Kadu Youth Development Association (KYDA)
- Kamayut Scout Channel
- Karen Environment and Social Action Network (KESAN)
- Karen Human Rights Group
- Karen Office of Relief and Development (KORD)
- Karen Rivers Watch
- Karen Student Network Group (KSNG)
- Karen Women’s Organization
- Karen Youth Organization (KYO)
- Karenni Civil Society Network
- Karenni Community Geelong
- Karenni Human Rights Group
- Karenni National Women’s Organization
- Karenni Society Finland
- Karenni Society New Zealand
- Katha Basic Education Students’ Union
- Kayah Liphu Youth (KLY)
- Kayan Internally Displacement Supervising Committee (KIDSC)
- Keng Tung Youth
- Kyaikhto Basic Education Students’ Union – KBESU
- Kyaikhto Students’ Union – KSU
- Kyaukse Basic Education Students’ Union
- Kyaukse University Interim Administrative Council
- Kyauktada Strike Committee (KSC)
- Kyause University Students’ Union
- Kyimyindaing Scout Channel
- Labor Union Federation
- Labutta Basic Education Students’ Union-ABFSU
- Langkho Basic Education Students’ Union
- Lanmadaw,Latha & Pabedan Scout Channel
- Lashio Basic Education Students’ Union
- Launglon Basic Education Students’ Union
- League of Labour Union
- Let’s Help Each Other
- Letpadan Basic Education Students’ Union-ABFSU
- LGBT Union Mandalay (LGBTIQ Strike of Mandalay)
- Maha Aung Myay Township People Collective Strike Column
- Mahaaungmyay Township People Strike
- Mandalar College Students Strike
- Mandalar University Student Strike Column
- Mandalar University Student Union (Mandalay Poets’ Union)
- Mandalar University Students Union
- Mandalay Alliance Coalition Strike
- Mandalay Based People Strike Column
- Mandalay Civil Society Organization
- Mandalay Engineer United Force
- Mandalay Engineers Group
- Mandalay People Strike
- Mandalay Poets’ Union
- Mandalay Private Universities Students Union
- Mandalay Technology University (MTU) Students Union
- Mandalay Universities, Degree and College Teachers and Staffs Strike
- Mandalay University Alumni Strike
- Mandalay University of Foreign Languages Students Union
- Mandalay Wholesale Centers Strike
- Mandalay Wholesale Strike Column
- Mandalay Women Strike
- Mandalay Youth Association
- Mandalay Youth Strike Column
- Mawkmai Basic Education Students’ Union
- Mawlamyine Basic Education Students’ Union
- Mayangone News
- Medical Family Mandalay (MFM)
- Medical University (Mandalay) Student Union
- Meikhtila Basic Education Students’ Union-ABFSU
- Metta Campaign Mandalay
- Midwives Training School (Mandalay) Students’ Union
- MIIT Student Strike Column
- Minbu Basic Education Students’ Union-ABFSU
- Minhla Youth Center
- Mogaung Basic Education Students’ Union
- Mohnyin Basic Education Students’ Union
- Monywa Basic Education Students’ Union – ABFSU
- Mudon Basic Education Students’ Union
- Muslim Youth Network
- Muslim Youth Union
- Mya Taung Strike Column
- Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability
- Myanmar Canadian Network
- Myanmar Diaspora Group Finland
- Myanmar Emergency Fund – Canada
- Myanmar Engineers – New Zealand
- Myanmar Gonye (New Zealand)
- Myanmar Institute of Information Technology Students’ Union
- Myanmar Labour News
- Myanmar People Alliance (Shan State)
- Myanmar People from Ireland
- Myanmar Railway, Region (3) CDM Strike Column
- Myanmar Students’ Union in New Zealand
- National Support Team (NST)
- National University of Arts and Culture (Mandalay) Students’ Union
- Network for Human Rights Documentation Burma (ND-Burma)
- New Zealand Doctors for NUG
- New Zealand Karen Association
- New Zealand Zo Community Inc.
- No (12) Basic Education Middle School Student Union
- No (7) Basic Education High School Alumni Strike
- No.12 Basic Education Middle School (High Branch) Basic Education Students’ Union
- NOK Information & Scout Echo
- North Dagon & East Dagon News
- NRFF – New Rehmonnya Federated Force
- Nursing Training School Students Union (Mandalay)
- Nyaunglebin Basic Education Students’ Union
- Overseas Mon Association – New Zealand
- Oway Institute
- Padaung Basic Education Students’ Union-ABFSU
- Pan Pa Wati People Strike Column
- Pa-O Youth Organization
- Paramedical Technical University (Mandalay) Student Union
- PEC Private School Basic Education Students’ Union
- Pharmacy University (Mandalay) Students’ Union
- Phayagyi Peace Strike Column
- Private pre-school Teachers’ Association
- Progressive Voice
- Pyay Basic Education Students’ Union-ABFSU
- Pyigyidagon Strike
- Pyin Nyar Nan Daw Private School Basic Education Students’ Union
- Pyin Oo Lwin Basic Education Students’ Union
- Pyinmana Basic Education Students’ Union-ABFSU
- Pyithu Gonye (New Zealand)
- Reliable Organization
- Rvwang Community Association New Zealand
- Sagaing MATA
- Sangha Samaga Strike Column
- Sangha Union Strike
- Save and Care Organization for Women at Ethnic Border Areas
- Save Myanmar Fundraising Group (New Zealand)
- Save the Salween Network
- Sein Pan Strike Column
- Shan Community (New Zealand)
- Shan MATA
- Sintgaing Basic Education Students’ Union
- Sisters 2 Sisters
- Sitt Nyein Pann Foundation
- Social Garden
- SOS MYANMAR (ရုန်းကန်သံအဖွဲ့)
- South Dagon Scouting Infos (SDG)
- Southern Youth Development Organization
- Strike Column of Representatives of Arbitrarily Arrested People
- Strike Column of Teachers from Universities and Degree Colleges of Mandalay
- Students for Free Burma (SFB)
- Support Group for Democracy in Myanmar (the Netherlands)
- Swedish Myanmar Supporting Community
- Synergy – Social Harmony Organization
- Ta’ang Women’s Organization
- Taekwando Sport Association
- Taekwondo Federation
- Taiwan Alliance for Myanmar
- Tampawadi People Strike
- Tamwe Nway Oo Channel
- Tanintharyi Nationalities Congress
- Tanitharyi MATA
- Taunggyi Basic Education Students’ Union
- Technical University (Mandalay) Student Union
- Technological University (Yadanabon Cyber City) Students’ Union
- Technological University Mandalay (TUM) Students Union
- Tha Pyay Nyo Newsletter
- Thaketa & Dawbon Scout Channel
- Thaton Basic Education Students’ Union
- Thint Myart Lo Thu Myar Organization
- Traditional Medicine (Mandalay) Students’ Union
- Union of Karenni State Youth
- University of Computer (Mandalay) Students’ Union
- University of Computer Studies (Mandalay) Students’ Union
- University of Dental Medicine (Mandalay) Students’ Union
- University of Medicine (Mandalay) Students’ Union
- University of Nursing (Mandalay) Students’ Union
- University of Pharmacy (Mandalay) Students’ Union
- University of Traditional Medicine (Mandalay) Students’ Union
- US Advocacy Coalition for Myanmar (USACM)
- VEC Private School Basic Education Students’ Union
- Way Way Nay
- Wetlet Basic Education Students’ Union-ABFSU
- Women’s League of Burma
- Wundwin Basic Education Students’ Union-ABFSU
- Yadanabon University Students’ Union
- Yadanapone University Student Union (Ya. Ta. Ka. Tha)
- Yangon Revolution Force – YRF (Soft Strike Community)
- Yedashe Basic Education Students’ Union-ABFSU
- Youth Poets’ Union
- Youth Scout For Democracy (YSD)
- Youths Union
- Youths Union – Pathein
- Z Fighter News
- Zabuthiri Basic Education Students’ Union-ABFSU
- Zeegwat News
- Zo Community Australia Inc.
- တော်လှန်သွေးမကုန် တောင်ဒဂုံသပိတ်အင်အားစု
- ဒို့မြေကွန်ရက် (LIOH)
- ပွင့်ဖြူလယ်ယာမြေကွန်ရက်
- မျိုးဆက်-Generations
