ASEAN’s appointment of Myanmar’s junta to coordinate relations between Russia and the regional bloc legitimizes its campaign of murder and atrocities, Justice for Myanmar said.
“The move by ASEAN legitimizes the junta as if it were the government of Myanmar and supports its deepening relationship with the Russian regime, which is the junta’s biggest supplier of arms,” the research and advocacy group said in a recent statement.
It was referring to ASEAN’s decision to appoint Myanmar – where a military regime grabbed power from a civilian government – to manage relations between ASEAN and Russia.
In this regional role, which will run until 2027, Myanmar’s military junta will be responsible for managing ASEAN relations with Russia, a dialogue partner. This involves co-chairing meetings, enhancing relationships, representing ASEAN in negotiations and promoting the bloc’s interests internationally.
According to a May 2023 UN report, Russia had transferred US$406 million in arms and related materials to the junta since the military’s Feb. 1, 2021 coup.
Junta boss Min Aung Hlaing and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Rudenko met late last month in Napyitaw to discuss strengthening ties and cooperation, including in defense and security and on the regional and international stages.
Their talks included plans to transfer nuclear technology to the junta. Russia claims the technology is for peaceful purposes.
By placing the junta in a regional role, ASEAN is enabling greater political, financial and military support between the junta and Russia, Justice For Myanmar said.
The two regimes have war crimes and crimes against humanity in common. These include mass killings, indiscriminate airstrikes and shelling, rape, torture, arbitrary detention and mass forced displacement.
“ASEAN’s decision to empower Myanmar junta relations with the Russian regime flouts international law, threatens international peace and security and disregards the will of Myanmar people who have courageously rejected the junta and prevented its coup attempt from succeeding for over three years,” Justice For Myanmar said.
The appointment also undermines the bloc’s own commitments to resolve the crisis in Myanmar while decisions to allow the junta to take part in ASEAN coordination efforts, meetings and activities have contributed to the failure of its Five Point Consensus, the advocacy and research group said.
In 2023, the European Union rejected Myanmar as the coordinator for its relations with ASEAN because it does not recognize the junta as the country’s government.
For three years from 2021, the junta was ASEAN’s coordinator for relations with China, the second-biggest provider of arms to the Myanmar military.
As permanent members of the UN Security Council, China and Russia can veto or delay its resolutions. Rights groups and others have called on the Security Council to take action to stop the junta’s forced conscription.
The problem with ASEAN is not that it is weak or ineffective, but that it is complicit in terrorism, Justice For Myanmar said.
“ASEAN is not ineffective or useless in responding to the crisis in Myanmar. It is actually far worse than that, as it is complicit in the junta’s atrocities by providing direct and indirect support for its terror campaign,” Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung explained.