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Alternative ways for Myanmar’s Five-Point Consensus needed: ASEAN rights rep
Another way to implement the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus peace plan is needed as Myanmar civilians are living in nonstop fear following the military coup in 2021, according to the Indonesian representative of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR).
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ASEAN foreign ministers (left) meet with ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights representatives (right) as part of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Jakarta on July 11, 2023. (-/Bay Ismoyo/Pool via Reuters)
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SEAN must explore more ways to implement the Five-Point Consensus (5PC) to bring the conflict in Myanmar to an end, a representative to the bloc’s human rights body has urged, amid the lack of any sign of improvement in the human rights situation in that country.
The ongoing violence in Myanmar and the lack of implementation of the consensus was a topic at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Interface meeting with the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) representatives in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The 5PC is a peace plan agreed by ASEAN and the Myanmar junta chief following the coup in the country in 2021. Among important points in the consensus is a cessation of violence and constructive dialogue, but the junta has so far largely ignored it.
“I want to echo the voices of the people of Myanmar. They want ASEAN to take more ways to implement the Five-Point Consensus without ditching it,” said Yuyun Wahyuningrum, the Indonesian representative on the AICHR, during Tuesday’s meeting.
Read also: Time to reframe ASEAN five-point consensus in line with ASEAN Charter
Over 3,770 civilians have been killed and 24,000 more arrested by security forces since the coup in Myanmar in February 2021. These numbers, however, might well be an undercount. “People in Myanmar, including women and children, are now living in survival mode surrounded by fear,” Yuyun said.
She suggested that the AICHR should be involved in the implementation of the consensus through, among other avenues, humanitarian aid. Should more parties participate in such aid, human rights protection for civilians in Myanmar could also follow through, Yuyun added.
