Fortify Rights urges Cambodia not to give Myanmar junta leader ‘Red Carpet’ welcome

Mizzima

Fortify Rights called on Cambodia on 9 September not to give Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing an official state welcome during a visit planned for this week, and said Cambodian authorities should execute any International Criminal Court arrest warrant against him rather than proceed with the visit.

Min Aung Hlaing is scheduled to visit Cambodia from 11 to 12 September, according to Fortify Rights. Cambodia’s Senate announced the visit on 18 August, saying it was intended to “strengthen the friendship between Cambodia and Myanmar.”

As a state party to the ICC, Cambodia has binding obligations to cooperate with the court, Fortify Rights said. On 27 November 2024, then-ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan filed an application for an arrest warrant against Min Aung Hlaing for crimes against humanity linked to the forced deportation and persecution of Rohingya people in Myanmar and, in part, Bangladesh. Fortify Rights said it was unaware of any public decision by the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber on that application, and that if a warrant has been issued confidentially and transmitted to Cambodia, Cambodian authorities should execute it under the Rome Statute and domestic law. Under Article 86 of the Rome Statute, states parties must cooperate fully with the court, and under Article 89, they must comply with requests to arrest and surrender people sought by the court.

“Cambodia should offer Min Aung Hlaing accountability, not a red carpet,” said Winter Berry, a communications specialist at Fortify Rights. The group said Min Aung Hlaing’s self-appointed title of “president” should not be treated as grounds for Cambodia to disregard its ICC obligations, noting that the court’s Appeals Chamber has previously held that head-of-state status does not excuse a state party from executing an arrest and surrender request.

The visit would make Cambodia the latest ASEAN member state to host Min Aung Hlaing at the highest level, following a state visit to Vietnam earlier this month and visits to Thailand and Russia in August. India, China, Laos and Belarus have also hosted him in recent months, according to Fortify Rights.

ASEAN did not recognize as legitimate the elections Myanmar held in December 2025 and January 2026, after which Min Aung Hlaing appointed himself “president” in April; the United Kingdom, European Union member states, Canada and Australia also rejected the elections’ legitimacy, citing widespread repression and the exclusion of major political opponents.

Cambodia and Timor-Leste are the only two ASEAN member states that are parties to the ICC’s Rome Statute, Fortify Rights noted, adding that it has urged Timor-Leste to formally request an ICC investigation into crimes committed throughout Myanmar through an Article 14 referral.

Fortify Rights also pointed to a February 2025 arrest warrant issued against Min Aung Hlaing by an Argentine federal court under the principle of universal jurisdiction, in a case brought by BROUK President Tun Khin and Argentine human rights lawyer Tomás Ojea Quintana, who sits on Fortify Rights’ Leadership Council.

The group said Min Aung Hlaing’s diplomatic outreach is continuing alongside ongoing military attacks on civilians, citing its own investigation, published 31 August, into alleged war crimes in Tanintharyi Region, where it said Myanmar military operations in and around the Dawei Special Economic Zone included targeted killings of civilians and humanitarian workers. Fortify Rights said the attacks intensified after the junta signed a memorandum of understanding with Russia in February 2025 to revive the Dawei project. Citing its own past investigations, the group said the military has conducted near-daily airstrikes using fighter jets, drones and paramotors since the 2021 coup, often targeting displacement camps, schools, hospitals and religious sites. The United Nations estimates nearly 3.8 million people have been displaced, and tens of thousands of political prisoners remain detained, Fortify Rights said, adding that an estimated 100,000 people have been killed in conflict-related violence in Myanmar since the coup.