Regional MPs and former UN experts urge Philippines to keep Min Aung Hlaing out of ASEAN summit as airstrikes continue

Mizzima

ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) and the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M) on 9 November urged the Philippines, as ASEAN chair, to confirm that junta leader Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who declared himself “president”, will not be invited to the bloc’s leaders’ summit in Manila on 16-18 November, warning that his presence would reward a regime that continues to bomb civilians.

In a joint statement, the regional lawmakers’ network and the group of former UN experts said inviting the junta chief or any senior regime figure would undermine the Five-Point Consensus (5PC), the peace plan ASEAN agreed with Min Aung Hlaing in April 2021, two months after his coup. The bloc has kept the regime’s top leaders out of its summits since October 2021 because the military failed to carry out the plan.

The groups said every concession ASEAN has offered the regime has been followed by fresh attacks. On 12 July, as ASEAN foreign ministers met informally with the regime’s foreign minister, junta jets bombed civilians in Karen State, according to the statement. Junta airstrikes killed at least 100 civilians, including 12 children, in October alone, the statement said, citing the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). On 16 October, the regime’s newly appointed defence minister described the aerial bombing of civilians as “steps taken to obtain peace,” the groups said.

The statement also pointed to UN Special Envoy Julie Bishop’s October briefing to the General Assembly. In that briefing she said up to 70 per cent of Myanmar is contested or controlled by resistance forces, and she called for measurable benchmarks to enforce the 5PC. UN Special Rapporteur Kelley Currie has warned that unconditional engagement risks legitimising military rule, the groups added.

“Min Aung Hlaing’s attendance at the Summit would mark a total capitulation,” said Yanghee Lee, a SAC-M founding member and former UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar.

The summit closes a day before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivers its judgment on 19 November. The case, brought by The Gambia, accuses Myanmar of genocide against the Rohingya during the military’s 2016-2017 “clearance operations” in Rakhine State. Min Aung Hlaing was commander-in-chief at the time.

Beyond the invitation, the groups called on ASEAN leaders to adopt measurable benchmarks with deadlines. These include an end to the violence, the release of all political prisoners, among them Aung San Suu Kyi and former President Win Myint, and unimpeded humanitarian access, backed by escalating penalties if the regime does not comply. They also urged the Philippines and Singapore, the incoming chair for 2027, to consult Myanmar’s democratic forces, including the opposition National Unity Government (NUG), ethnic organisations and civil society.

Mercy Chriesty Barends, APHR chairperson and a member of Indonesia’s House of Representatives, urged ASEAN leaders to “stand with the people of Myanmar, not with the military that is bombing them.”