APHR Urges ASEAN Foreign Ministers To Put Strong Pressure On The Myanmar Junta

By Mohd Iswandi Kasan Anuar JAKARTA, Aug 2 (Bernama) -- The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers should make their ongoing meeting in Phnom Penh a turning point to lift the Myanmar people out of their suffering. The foreign ministers should take the opportunity to reach an agreement on strong and coordinated measures to put pressure on Myanmar's military junta during their meeting. The call was made by the parliamentarians from the region under ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) in a statement as Cambodia hosts the 55th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting and related meetings from July 29 to Aug 5 in Phnom Penh. According to APHR, over 15 months after ASEAN leaders and Myanmar junta chief General Min Aung Hlaing signed a Five-Point Consensus (5PC) the situation in Myanmar has continued to deteriorate. At a summit here on April 24, 2021, the nine ASEAN leaders and junta chief agreed to 5PC to address the political and humanitarian crisis triggered by the coup on Feb 1, 2021. APHR believes ASEAN should put in place enforcement mechanisms in order for the 5PC to work, which include imposing targeted sanctions and travel bans in the region on Min Aung Hlaing and his men. "Min Aung Hlaing has been given too much time to comply with the 5PC, yet he has only shown that he respects neither the agreement nor ASEAN itself. It is time for him and his henchmen to pay the consequences," said APHR board member Eva Sundari. The 5PC called for immediate cessation of violence, hold dialogues with all key stakeholders, the appointment of a special envoy to facilitate mediation and for the delegation to visit and meet with stakeholders in Myanmar, and to allow ASEAN to provide humanitarian assistance to people in Myanmar. The statement said the regional grouping should publicly engage and recognise the National Unity Government of Myanmar, which is leading the pro-democracy forces and represents the Myanmar people's aspirations for democracy, as well as ethnic organisations. ASEAN should also start working with humanitarian organisations and civil society organisations to deliver aid to those who need it the most as the self-styled State Administration Council is still hijacking humanitarian assistance and has not taken steps towards initiating a political dialogue. In fact, it continues waging a brutal campaign of repression against the population at large in order to stamp out widespread opposition to military rule, the statement read. ASEAN's foreign ministers are meeting in Phnom Penh less than two weeks after the junta executed four political prisoners. The junta went on with the executions despite international pleas not to carry them out, even Hun Sen, the Prime Minister of Cambodia, current ASEAN Chair, made a plea for the prisoners to be spared. APHR noted currently 76 prisoners in Myanmar have been handed out the death sentence including two children who could be executed at any moment, while 41 people have been given the death penalty in absentia. -- BERNAMA