Southeast Asian nations are to call for those responsible for atrocities in Myanmar’s Rakhine state to be held “fully accountable,” according to a statement prepared for the ASEAN summit, reflecting a stronger line being taken within the group.
The draft of the chairman’s statement, which might change before it is delivered by Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the close of the meetings, said the situation in Rakhine is a “matter of concern.”
The Singaporean government did not immediately comment on the draft statement.
A final statement could have been issued after the ASEAN leaders met late yesterday.
Burmese government spokesman Zaw Htay did not answer calls seeking comment.
A UN report in August detailed mass killings and gang rapes with genocidal intent in a Myanmar military crackdown that began last year and drove hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims from Rakhine into neighboring Bangladesh.
Myanmar has denied most of the allegations in the report.
Burmese State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, who was to be joining the summit in Singapore, has been widely criticized for her handling of the crisis.
Amnesty International yesterday said it had withdrawn its most prestigious human rights prize from Aung San Suu Kyi, accusing her of perpetuating human rights abuses by not speaking out about violence against the Rohingya.
“We called on the Independent Commission of Enquiry established by the government of Myanmar to carry out an independent and impartial investigation of the allegations of human rights violations and related issues, and hold those responsible fully accountable,” the ASEAN draft statement said.
The Rohingya crisis is one of the biggest artificial disasters involving a member since ASEAN was founded in 1967, and it is one of the thorniest issues yet faced by the group.
In July, Myanmar established a commission of inquiry to probe allegations of human rights abuses in Rakhine, which includes two local and two international members from Japan and the Philippines.
The draft statement repeated ASEAN’s previous calls on the importance of the repatriation of displaced persons to Myanmar, humanitarian relief and reconciliation among communities, but went further in calling for accountability for the alleged atrocities.
The strengthening of rhetoric in the draft was flagged earlier this year by Singaporean Minister of Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan, who said his ASEAN peers had urged Myanmar to give the inquiry commission a full mandate to hold those responsible accountable.
A source close to pre-summit discussions, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Singapore was leaning toward a stronger stance, because it is the most internationally engaged member of ASEAN and feels responsibility as summit host to protect its credibility.
It was not clear if all members would back the statement.
ASEAN’s Muslim-majority members — Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei — tend to take the toughest line on the Rohingya question, while Myanmar has close regional allies in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Thailand has also provided cover for Myanmar.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, a doyen of the group, has served notice he has lost faith in the Nobel peace laureate because of the Rohingya issue.
“We have made it quite clear we don’t really support her any more,” Mahathir said in an interview with Turkish news channel TRT World last month.
“Our policy in ASEAN is non-interference in the internal affairs of the countries, but this is ... grossly unjust,” he said.
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