688 Myanmar, regional and international civil society organisations (CSOs) have signed an open letter to the new Australian Foreign Minister, Penny Wong. They called on her to improve on the previous government's lack of support for those fighting the junta's illegitimate coup and to properly support the struggle for a federal democratic Myanmar.
They said: 'We are writing to urge you to hear our voices, as we struggle for a federal democratic Myanmar that upholds human rights for all and to protect Burma/Myanmar’s cultures, livelihoods and fragile ecosystems that are under dire threat by the illegitimate military junta.'
They called for targeted sanctions against the Myanmar junta by Australia and said that the previous Morrison Australian Government 'fell shamefully short to live up to Australia’s values of and commitment to democracy and human rights' because it 'failed to join efforts for international accountability, failed to recognize the National Unity Government (NUG) as the legitimate government
and NUCC as the highest consultative body of Burma/Myanmar, and continually legitimized the junta through bilateral and multilateral engagement, including with Min Aung Hlaing'.
Below is a copy of the letter in full:
29 June 2022
The Honorable Penny Wong
Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Parliament House,
Canberra ACT 2600
Re: Urgent change of course and action needed on Myanmar
Dear Minister Penny Wong,
We, the undersigned 688 Burma/Myanmar, regional and international civil society organisations, welcome your appointment as Foreign Minister and note the Australian Labor Party’s commitment to seek “strong and enduring relations with the people of Myanmar” when in government. We note your past comments that Australia “cannot be a bystander to a direct attack on Myanmar’s democracy” and your call for the Australian government “to take a stand” for democracy in Myanmar and to impose targeted sanctions. We acknowledge the Australian government’s commitment to appoint a Special Envoy for Southeast Asia and for increased aid to the region and to implement a ‘First Nations Foreign Policy’.
We are writing to urge you to hear our voices, as we struggle for a federal democratic Myanmar that upholds human rights for all and to protect Burma/Myanmar’s cultures, livelihoods and fragile ecosystems that are under dire threat by the illegitimate military junta.
Since the illegal coup attempt on February 1, 2021, the illegitimate junta has waged a terror campaign against the people of Myanmar, amid widespread and mass resistance. There have been more than 10,000 armed clashes, which include attacks on civilians through indiscriminate shellings and airstrikes, and over 2,000 people have been murdered by the junta. Around 440,000 people have been forcibly displaced since the coup attempt, as the junta carries out deliberate attacks, killing, torturing and raping, and destroying houses, villages and food supplies across the country. In Sagaing Region, the junta torched over 5,600 houses in February to April 2022 alone. The junta’s criminal conduct amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity, which it commits with total impunity.
The junta has devastated the economy, which has shrunk around 30%, causing widespread food insecurity. The junta has weaponized telecommunications, ordering internet shutdowns in large swaths of the country, blocked access to information through censorship and targeted the people for surveillance. Journalists have been targeted with murder, arrest and torture, as well as doxing campaigns and the dissemination of hate speech and disinformation.
ASEAN is complicit in the junta’s terror campaign. Since the attempted coup, ASEAN has continued to legitimize the junta and ignore the voices of the people. Its failed Five-Point Consensus was agreed with the illegitimate junta alone, which has ignored its own pledge to implement it. ASEAN has repeatedly invited the junta to meetings, events and military training, providing cover for ASEAN members and Australia to engage with war criminals, emboldening their crimes in Australia’s name.
The ASEAN Special Envoy on Myanmar defers to the illegitimate military junta and has failed to engage with Myanmar’s legitimate government, the National Unity Government (NUG), the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), Ethnic Revolutionary Organizations (EROs) and civil society.
The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre), an intergovernmental humanitarian disaster management body supported with Australian taxpayer funds, does not have the capacity to handle humanitarian aid in a conflict setting where the perpetrator and the clear aggressor is the partner in delivering aid. It is rather exacerbating the crisis in Burma/Myanmar by allowing the military to weaponize humanitarian aid, offering tactical and political advantage while lending legitimacy to the military junta who is the main perpetrator of violence that is leading to mass displacement. Civil society strongly rejects the AHA Centre’s divide-and-rule approach of meeting with EROs individually, and failure to engage with NUG, NUCC and civil society.
The Morrison Government fell shamefully short to live up to Australia’s values of and commitment to democracy and human rights. Your predecessor failed to impose targeted sanctions, failed to join efforts for international accountability, failed to recognize the National Unity Government (NUG) as the legitimate government and NUCC as the highest consultative body of Burma/Myanmar, and continually legitimized the junta through biliteral and multilateral engagement, including with Min Aung Hlaing. Australia’s Future Fund has maintained investments in businesses that provide arms and revenue to the Myanmar military junta, profiting from Myanmar’s destruction.
We therefore earnestly appeal to you to change course:
1. Impose targeted sanctions against the Myanmar military junta, its businesses and all those responsible for grave human rights violations.
2. Recognize and support the NUG as the legitimate government of Burma/Myanmar, and NUCC as the highest consultative body.
3. Reject the illegitimate junta's appointment of ambassador to Australia and accept appointments made by the NUG
4. Do more to support the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar by delivering Australian aid cross-border through trusted local humanitarian and community-based organisations, in consultation with NUG, NUCC and EROs.
5. Intervene in the International Court of Justice case against Myanmar to fully support accountability for the crime of genocide against the Rohingya.
6. Take action to prevent Australian mining companies from continuing to explore and extract minerals, which are a source of revenue for the junta, and threaten ethnic communities and the environment.
7. Put an advisory in place for Australian businesses and investors to avoid any business with the Myanmar military junta and its cronies.
8. Ensure the Future Fund divests from all businesses that are providing arms and revenue to the military junta.
9. Urge the UN Security Council to impose a global arms embargo on the Myanmar military junta and to refer the Myanmar situation to the ICC.
10. Stop hiding behind ASEAN as an excuse for inaction on Burma/Myanmar.
11. Urge ASEAN to exclude the Myanmar military junta from all meetings, programs and military exercises, and to recognize NUG and NUCC. Boycott all meetings that include junta representatives.
12. Urge ASEAN to move beyond the Five-Point Consensus and work with NUG, NUCC, EROs and civil society to find an alternative and durable solution to the crisis in Burma/Myanmar that upholds human rights and democratic principles.
13. Urge ASEAN to revoke the decision reached during the Consultative Meeting on ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance to Myanmar that places the military junta in control of aid delivery. Ensure the AHA Centre ceases its divide-and-rule approach and begins inclusive consultation with NUG, NUCC, EROs and civil society. If ASEAN fails to do so, stop providing aid and technical support to the AHA Centre for Myanmar.
14. Commission Australia’s Special Envoy on Southeast Asia to engage with the ASEAN Special Envoy and UN Special Envoys on Myanmar to ensure joint effort by the UN and ASEAN to address the human rights and humanitarian crisis in Burma/Myanmar, in coordination with NUG, NUC, EROs and civil society.
15. Urge Quad members Japan and India to immediately end business with the junta, impose an arms embargo and end all military support for the junta. The Quad must recognise and support the NUG as the legitimate government and NUCC as the highest consultative body of Burma/Myanmar.
