PP21 - Alliance of Hope

ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ ASEAN Peoples' Forum

Greeting ACSC/APF participant,

On behalf of the ACSC/APF program committee, I would like to share the registration to the webinar Zoom's link as attached below.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar which will happen from Oct 15-17 2021

Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-PqIZ0vDS5yLRDAs3gNVmA

Note: If there are any technical issues happen during your registration process, kindly contact:
Mr. Pring Khun via Telegram/Whatapp:+85577790912 or Email: [email protected]

Update at > https://www.facebook.com/acscapf2021
Register at > https://forms.gle/NJQCVDr29jkYbFEY7
The ACSC/APF 2021

"Authoritarianism, Militarism and COVID-19:
Challenges for Collective Actions
to Address Rising Inequality and
Shrinking Civic Space in Southeast Asia"

ASEAN Civil Society Conference / ASEAN Peoples’ Forum 2021

Background

Established in 1967, ASEAN is now a regional body consisting of 10 countries covering a population of almost 600 million people in Southeast Asia. While the ASEAN Charter was adopted as a legal based organization in2007 and committed to be a caring and sharing society and placing people at the center of decision making through the establishment of ASEAN Communities by 2015, these initial aims have not come to fruition. The so called “ASEAN Communities” is yet to materialize.

With In the ASEAN region as elsewhere in the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has created and continues to create a genuine health emergency, prompting governments to take extraordinary, unprecedented measures in an effort to curb its lethal progress. Barriers in accessing health care have become abundantly clear, as ASEAN governments failed to mitigate the spread of the virus, revealing inability of the governments to guarantee the basic right healthcare, human security and safety. Simultaneously, several ASEAN Member States have nefariously the pandemic as a smokescreen to clamp down on human rights defenders, peaceful political and social dissent, and have deepened discrimination and violence against vulnerable groups in a region already suffering from increasing authoritarianism, human rights violations and a narrowing civic space. In the case of Myanmar, the military Junta is taking advantage of the pandemic for political gain by weaponizing the COVID-19 pandemic , This basic right to health as well as many other rights is not well respected and implemented yet since the adoption of ASEAN Declaration on Human Rights signed on November 18, 2012, in Phnom Penh. Although there is no binding legal obligation to this Declaration, there must be a consideration of morality, state responsibility and social contract with citizens to uphold the principles of the Declaration. Additionally, many human rights norms within the ASEAN Declaration are echoed in other international human rights treaties and instruments and customary international legal norms which the ASEAN Member States are obliged to comply with, such as the ICCPR and ICESCR.

Against the backdrop, the attempted military coup of 1 February in Myanmar has created a political, human rights, and humanitarian crisis in the region. The people of Myanmar have consistently refused to accept the military junta and months of street protests, strikes, the civil disobedience movement (CDM), actions of self-defense, and various tactics of resistance have undermined any claim that the military has in terms of control and legitimacy. The Spring Revolution is a defiant, leaderless, grassroots response by the people of Myanmar that is forging a new future based on federalism, democracy, and equality. The military junta, faced with this inspirational movement of determined, diverse people of Myanmar, has responded in the only way they know – brutal violence and atrocity crimes. Furthermore, it has weaponized humanitarian aid, using it to pressure the democratic movement and ethnic organizations to end their resistance to military rule by blocking or destroying the relief aid being provided to the displaced victims of the war it is waging against the people.

It has been nine months since the attempted coup and little concrete action has been taken by the UN Security Council to address the unfolding human rights, humanitarian, and COVID-19 crisis in Myanmar. Rather, the UN and governments have deferred to the regional bloc, ASEAN, to take the lead on a diplomatic, COVID-19 and humanitarian response. Yet, more than 160 days since the Five Point Consensus between ASEAN leaders and Myanmar’s junta leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing was reached during the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting on 24 April, 2021, there has been no transparency or timeline to achieve the Five Point Consensus. In the wake of the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting, the military junta has made it clear they will only accept the Five Point Consensus on their terms and when they have ‘stabilized’ the country, completely undercutting the outcomes. Despite the commitment withing the consensus to cease violence, the Junta has killed 400+ civilians within 160 days since the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting. Meanwhile, people are suffering without access to humanitarian assistance. ASEAN’s AHA Center, tasked to respond to the Myanmar crisis, is ill-equipped to handle the political nature of this ‘man-made’ crisis and gives the military junta overall discretion to dictate their operations under ASEAN regulations. While ASEAN has recently selected a Special Envoy to Myanmar, this has also failed to stop the military violence and furnish any concrete results in the alleviation of the humanitarian crisis.

The human rights and humanitarian crises in Myanmar are not the only impact of militarism in Southeast Asia. ASEAN inaction on the Thailand coup, impunity to military assaults in Mindanao and West Papua coupled with misuse of non-interference ASEAN ways has led to mass displacement and instability within the region. But the Myanmar situation crystallizes all the pressing issues we are confronting in the region today. Thus, it is also imperative to have a particular focus on agenda and outcomes at this year’s ACSC/APF, as this is our way of showing and asserting our rights and our solidarity with the ongoing struggle of the peoples of Myanmar.

ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ ASEAN Peoples Forum started the process since 2005 provided the venue for people-to-people interaction and exchange for social good. The annual events also provided a great opportunity for the peoples in Southeast Asia including Timor Leste to discuss about their common concern, faith, painful difficulties and strengthen their transborder solidarity in realization of the meaningful “Caring and Sharing Community”, peaceful society based on participatory democracy, justice, human rights and dignity as well as holistic development.

In alignment with that, on the occasion of the 37th ASEAN Summit, the ACSC/APF committee is organizing a virtual convening to provide a platform for discussion among the civil society to move forward in addressing the rising inequality and militarization in the region.

https://asiatimes.com/2021/07/everyone-is-dying-myanmar-on-the-brink-of-decimation/?fbclid=IwAR3koNbWX4tzCNbIITRf_SybKiFqG3FO46I6qxZS6q58qi47KCTnNoCH3EM

‘Everyone is dying’: Myanmar on the brink of decimation Two days ago, I spent six hours on encrypted apps with contacts inside the country trying to locate one – just one – oxygen concentrator for the mother of my friend, whom I will call “M…

26 June

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/un-chief-urges-general-assembly-act-myanmar-2021-06-18/

United Nations calls for halt of weapons to Myanmar The United Nations General Assembly on Friday called for a stop to the flow of arms to Myanmar and urged the military to respect November election results and release political detainees, including leader Aung San Suu Kyi.