The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) calls on ASEAN to suspend Myanmar’s membership in the regional bloc if the country’s military regime continues to detain its democracy leader, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s unjust current six-year house arrest is due to expire on 27 May 2009, but the regime has brought on further trumped-up charges against her and is likely to detain her for a further three to five years.
Several ASEAN member states have expressed deepening concern about the regime’s detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners. However, ASEAN leaders have failed to take the measures necessary to compel the regime to end violations of human rights.
AIPMC parliamentarians strongly call on ASEAN to stop protecting Myanmar’s regime and instead remove them from the grouping until and unless Aung San Suu Kyi is free and genuine efforts to begin national reconciliation are underway.
The AIPMC further urges ASEAN member states to consider imposing targeted sanctions on the military regime generals, and its administration, should they still fail to respect the ASEAN Charter and continue to oppress its people.
Efforts by the international community to hold the regime accountable for its criminal acts, via targeted economic sanctions and UN Security Council actions, have been cushioned by ASEAN’s and China’s economic and political buffering of the regime.
The regime’s ruthlessness causes increasing numbers of internally displaced persons in Myanmar. It continues to use rape, torture and extrajudicial killings as state policies to suppress citizens. The military’s state projects, such as dams, further subject people to unabated suffering.
Change cannot be achieved in Myanmar if ASEAN’s current positions and policies remain. ASEAN must assume its responsibility by supporting, if not calling for, decisive measures such as an international commission of inquiry into the widely documented crimes against humanity allegedly committed by the regime. ASEAN cannot afford patience any longer.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s unjust current six-year house arrest is due to expire on 27 May 2009, but the regime has brought on further trumped-up charges against her and is likely to detain her for a further three to five years.
Several ASEAN member states have expressed deepening concern about the regime’s detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners. However, ASEAN leaders have failed to take the measures necessary to compel the regime to end violations of human rights.
AIPMC parliamentarians strongly call on ASEAN to stop protecting Myanmar’s regime and instead remove them from the grouping until and unless Aung San Suu Kyi is free and genuine efforts to begin national reconciliation are underway.
The AIPMC further urges ASEAN member states to consider imposing targeted sanctions on the military regime generals, and its administration, should they still fail to respect the ASEAN Charter and continue to oppress its people.
Efforts by the international community to hold the regime accountable for its criminal acts, via targeted economic sanctions and UN Security Council actions, have been cushioned by ASEAN’s and China’s economic and political buffering of the regime.
The regime’s ruthlessness causes increasing numbers of internally displaced persons in Myanmar. It continues to use rape, torture and extrajudicial killings as state policies to suppress citizens. The military’s state projects, such as dams, further subject people to unabated suffering.
Change cannot be achieved in Myanmar if ASEAN’s current positions and policies remain. ASEAN must assume its responsibility by supporting, if not calling for, decisive measures such as an international commission of inquiry into the widely documented crimes against humanity allegedly committed by the regime. ASEAN cannot afford patience any longer.
