{"id":2175,"date":"2019-06-20T11:36:20","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T11:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/?p=2175"},"modified":"2019-06-20T11:36:20","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T11:36:20","slug":"asean-leaders-pressured-to-push-myanmar-on-rohingya-repatriation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/asean-leaders-pressured-to-push-myanmar-on-rohingya-repatriation\/","title":{"rendered":"Asean Leaders Pressured to Push Myanmar on Rohingya Repatriation"},"content":{"rendered":"<address class=\"lede-text-v2__byline\">By<\/p>\n<div class=\"author-v2\"><a class=\"author-v2__byline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/authors\/AUDW5VM9o34\/philip-heijmans\" rel=\"author\">Philip Heijmans<\/a><\/div>\n<\/address>\n<div class=\"lede-text-v2__times\"><time class=\"article-timestamp\" datetime=\"2019-06-20T08:01:45.358Z\" data-type=\"updated\" data-status=\"localized\">June 20, 2019<\/time><\/div>\n<div class=\"lede-text-v2__times\"><span class=\"lede-small-image-v2__caption caption\">Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh\u2019s Cox\u2019s Bazar district.<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"lede-small-image-v2__credit credit\">Photographer: Dibyangshu Sarkar\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"lede-text-v2__times\">\n<div class=\"body-columns\">\n<div class=\"middle-column\">\n<div class=\"body-copy-v2 fence-body\">\n<aside class=\"left-column\">\n<div class=\"text-to-speech\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"share-article-button\"><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Southeast Asian leaders are facing pressure to take a tougher stance on Myanmar ahead of this weekend\u2019s Asean summit amid accusations they\u2019re failing to ensure the safe repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims.<\/p>\n<div class=\"hardwall\" data-position=\"1\">Top diplomats are slated to discuss a report by the Asean Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management, ordered one year ago as an attempt to find a unified solution to a problem that\u2019s stymied the region\u2019s human rights record.<\/div>\n<div class=\"hardwall\" data-position=\"2\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"softwall\" data-position=\"2\">A leaked draft of the report, seen by Bloomberg, outlines a strategy for the peaceful repatriation of Rohingya Muslims to Myanmar and describes the relationship between ethnic communities in Rakhine State as &#8220;stable.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div class=\"hardwall\" data-position=\"3\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"hardwall\" data-position=\"3\">It\u2019s drawn sharp criticism from the Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights and rights groups for \u201cignoring the root causes of why hundreds of thousands of Rohingya were forced to flee their homes, including the atrocities committed by Myanmar security forces.\u201d<\/div>\n<div class=\"hardwall\" data-position=\"4\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"hardwall\" data-position=\"4\">\u201cAsean needs to stop turning a blind eye to Myanmar\u2019s atrocities against the Rohingya, and cease lending legitimacy to the repatriation process,\u201d Eva Sundari, an Indonesian member of parliament and an APHR board member, wrote in the\u00a0<a title=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.forum-asia.org\/uploads\/wp\/2019\/06\/Press-statement-ASEAN-Prioritise-Rohingya-rights-and-safety.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">statement<\/a>.<\/div>\n<figure class=\"figure-expandable\" data-align=\"center\" data-id=\"339295260\" data-image-size=\"column\" data-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/i7a4X6VFd0dE\/v0\/-1x-1.jpg\" data-type=\"image\">\n<div class=\"image\" tabindex=\"0\">\n<div id=\"lazy-img-339295260\" class=\"lazy-img\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"lazy-img__image loaded aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/ip5i8YseVp5g\/v1\/800x-1.jpg\" alt=\"MYANMAR-POLITICS\" width=\"793\" height=\"595\" data-native-src=\"https:\/\/assets.bwbx.io\/images\/users\/iqjWHBFdfxIU\/ip5i8YseVp5g\/v1\/-1x-1.jpg\" data-img-type=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>\n<div class=\"news-figure-caption-text caption\">Aung San Suu Kyi<\/div>\n<div class=\"news-figure-credit credit\" data-align=\"center\">Photographer: Thet Aung\/AFP via Getty Images<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Myanmar\u2019s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi is scheduled to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Bangkok, where regional leaders will discuss a host of issues including U.S.-China trade tensions and concerns over the South China Sea.<\/p>\n<p>Asean has long been criticized for whitewashing the atrocities that forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee across Myanmar\u2019s western border into Bangladesh at the onset of military attacks on Muslims villages in Rakhine state in 2017. As one of the largest ongoing humanitarian crises, the United Nations has likened the Rohingya plight to a\u00a0<a title=\"Click to view webpage.\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irrawaddy.com\/news\/systemic-failure-un-ahead-myanmar-military-crackdown-review.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">genocide<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Myanmar has rejected the UN findings and says its military was taking action in response to terrorist incidents in the area.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"figure-expandable\" data-type=\"image\" data-id=\"339295191\" data-image-type=\"photo\" data-image-size=\"half\" data-align=\"right\">\n<div class=\"image\" tabindex=\"0\"><\/div><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>An attempt to repatriate thousands of refugees was already delayed once in November amid safety concerns from the Rohingya community and rights groups.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s preposterous for Asean leaders to be discussing the repatriation of a traumatized population into the hands of the security forces who killed, raped, and robbed them,\u201d Human Rights Watch\u2019s Asia director, Brad Adams, wrote in a separate\u00a0<a title=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/news\/2019\/06\/19\/asean-dont-whitewash-atrocities-against-rohingya\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">statement<\/a>\u00a0on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>But while leaders like Malaysian Defense Minister Mohamad bin Sabu say the Rakhine crisis has the potential to create instability in the region, they would not seek to interfere in Myanmar\u2019s sovereign affairs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Asean Charter spoke very strongly about the principle of non-interference, and Malaysia will continue to subscribe to this principle,\u201d he\u00a0<a title=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.iiss.org\/-\/media\/files\/shangri-la-dialogue\/2019\/speeches\/haji-mohamad-sabu-minister-of-defence-malaysia----as-prepared.ashx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">said<\/a>\u00a0during a summit in Singapore earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p>Credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2019-06-20\/asean-leaders-pressured-to-push-myanmar-on-rohingya-repatriation\">here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Philip Heijmans June 20, 2019 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh\u2019s Cox\u2019s Bazar district.\u00a0Photographer: Dibyangshu Sarkar\/AFP via Getty Images Southeast Asian leaders are facing pressure to take a tougher stance on Myanmar ahead of this weekend\u2019s Asean summit amid accusations they\u2019re failing to ensure the safe repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims. Top diplomats [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,41,37,3,12,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2175"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2175"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2177,"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2175\/revisions\/2177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arakanwatch.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}