A day before his participation in the ASEAN summit, Amnesty International called on the junta leader in Myanmar General Min Aung Hlaing to be held accountable for crimes against humanity, the organization said today, targeting Southeast Asian countries.
The summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will take place in Jakarta tomorrow Saturday, and Hlaing, who ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s government on February 1, is expected to attend, according to Indonesian diplomats and officials.
“As it has signed the UN Convention against Torture, Indonesia has a legal obligation to prosecute or extradite anyone who has allegedly violated it,” Amnesty International said in a statement, according to AMPE.
Tomorrow’s meeting will be the first coordinated effort to alleviate the crisis in Myanmar, where security forces have killed hundreds of pro-democracy protesters since the coup.
It is also a test for ASEAN which traditionally does not interfere in the internal affairs of its members and operates on the principle of unanimity.
“The military crisis in Myanmar is the biggest test in the history of ASEAN,” said Amelin Gill, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director of research.
“The organisation’s usual commitment not to interfere in the internal affairs of the Member States does not apply: it is not an internal Myanmar issue, but a major humanitarian and human rights crisis with implications for the region and beyond.”
A group of 45 Southeast Asian NGOs complained that Min Aung Hlaing was invited to the ASEAN summit “It legitimizes the massacre carried out by the military regime against the people and the citizens themselves “.
The NGOs also invited ASEAN leaders to invite members of the National Unity Government, which was formed last week by former Myanmar lawmakers and pro-democracy politicians, to attend the summit.

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