Continuing failure of ASEAN will prompt people of Myanmar to reconsider Myanmar’s ASEAN membership
Today, Myanmar civil society organisations, supported by regional and international organisations, launch a position paper to call for a review and reframe of the ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus and the bloc’s current approach to the increasingly worsening crisis in Myanmar. The calls come ahead of the 42nd ASEAN Summit to be held next week on 9 – 11 May in Indonesia, which will be chaired by Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
The position paper outlines an extensive assessment of the failed Five-Point Consensus and provides the following five counter points of action that ASEAN leaders must immediately take to prove the bloc’s commitment and capability to resolve the Myanmar crisis effectively.
- Adopt an immediate ASEAN action plan for civilian protection and cessation of violence with a minimum benchmark to end the military’s airstrikes as a matter of urgency;
- Convene inclusive and meaningful consultation with legitimate stakeholders of Myanmar, namely the National Unity Government (NUG), the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), Ethnic Revolutionary Organizations (EROs), and civil society;
- Amend the mandate of the Special Envoy’s term to three years with authority, independence and resource to take effective actions;
- Re-strategize its humanitarian support plan to ensure the discontinuation of the military junta’s representation in the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management’s (AHA Centre’s) Governing Board and provide direct support to frontline humanitarian responders in Myanmar and along ethnic borderlands, including Myanmar’s western borders; and
- ASEAN’s Special Envoy to Myanmar to immediately open formal communications and engage with the NUG, the NUCC, the CRPH, EROs, civil society and other key stakeholders from Myanmar’s Spring Revolution.
Highlighting the fact that ASEAN’s failed Five-Point Consensus has only enabled the junta to inflict further atrocities on civilians, including intensifying airstrikes killing hundreds of people and many children, the position paper states that ASEAN’s failure to take up these recommendations within three months from the upcoming ASEAN Summit in May “will prompt the people of Myanmar to determine whether or not Myanmar’s membership in ASEAN is still in the best interest of Myanmar people in their struggle for federal democracy.”
The paper is open to signatories from all Myanmar, regional and international organisations until the next ASEAN Summit in September 2023.