ASEAN envoy pledges humanitarian mission to Myanmar

Mizzima

The Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs said Secretary Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro, the ASEAN chair’s special envoy on Myanmar, will lead a humanitarian mission to Myanmar in the fourth quarter of this year to expand access to areas in need, according to a statement dated 14 July.

The pledge followed back-to-back meetings Lazaro held on Myanmar in Bangkok and Pattaya, Thailand, hosted by Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow, on 12-13 July. In Bangkok on 12 July, Lazaro chaired an informal meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers with junta-appointed Foreign Minister Tin Maung Swe — the first in-person engagement between the bloc’s foreign ministers and Myanmar’s since the 2021 coup, mandated by ASEAN leaders at the 48th ASEAN Summit in Cebu.

At the Bangkok meeting, Tin Maung Swe briefed the ministers on steps toward implementing the Five-Point Consensus (5PC), ASEAN’s stalled peace framework, along with what the statement called the government’s “100-day Peace Plan” and measures against transnational crime. ASEAN foreign ministers underscored the 5PC as the bloc’s main reference point and pressed for “concrete and measurable progress,” without confirming any had been made.

The next day, Lazaro traveled to Pattaya for separate talks with ethnic armed organizations and the junta’s National Solidarity and Peacemaking Negotiation Committee (NSPNC) on prospects for inclusive political dialogue. The statement said “all sides expressed openness” to the process but did not name the ethnic armed groups involved or specify a timeline.

The proposed humanitarian mission would confront one of the world’s most severe crises. A separate UN report released 13 July found that nearly 3.8 million people are displaced across Myanmar and that donors have funded less than half of this year’s $890 million aid appeal, with shelter assistance reaching just 3 percent of its annual target.