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Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Asean hobbles itself

 
29.01.2019 , OPINION

Thailand's first test as this year's Asean chair occurred two weeks ago in Chiang Mai. It was not a resounding success. At the 10-nation group's annual retreat of foreign ministers, the Rohingya issue was at the top of the agenda. But what the participants had agreed upon -- a spirited discussion -- quickly petered out. Now, the issue has been once again overtaken by the United Nations.

The UN's outspoken special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, was in Bangladesh during the weekend. After talks with top officials in Dhaka, Ms Lee conducted a straight-talk news conference,for which she is known.

First and probably most importantly, she said there was no chance any significant number of the 700,000 Rohingya refugees could return to Myanmar. She added that before that could happen, the chief of the Myanmar army must be taken before the International Criminal Court to face charges of genocide.

In a way, the UN envoy from South Korea simply stole the spotlight from the Asean ministers. Members of the retreat at Chiang Mai concluded that Myanmar's Rakhine state is too dangerous for the group to provide meaningful aid to. An Asean team had reported in advance to the Chiang Mai meeting that the unrest in the province makes it impossible to even assess a possible aid programme. Ms Lee put it even more bluntly -- that the Rohingya have to remain in squalid camps in Bangladesh because the Burmese army and government can't make western Myanmar safe.

Once again, Asean's "consensus rule" has conspired against good sense and meaningful action. The Myanmar veto hangs over the heads of the Asean foreign ministers. The group must act as if no one wants to shoulder the blame for the Rohingya crisis and an inability to establish peace in the state of Rakhine. The United Nations has specifically identified the chief troublemakers and the root cause of the problem as Tatmadaw commander Snr Gen Min Aung Hlaing, with the head of government Aung San Suu Kyi as the enablers.

This emphasises the contradiction between Asean and the United Nations, including Ms Lee's office and others involved in the investigations of the violence in Myanmar. On the one hand, Asean is closely...involved, capable of helping both diplomatically and in a humanitarian way, but it does not. The United Nations, frustrated at its inability even to assess the problems inside Myanmar first-hand, is colourfully,bluntly outspoken. Asean would never whisper "ethnic cleansing" or "genocide". The UN uses these terms as a description of Myanmar's actions.

What the latest unfortunate development in the Rohingya crisis shows is Asean's own continuing dilemma. On one hand, the group and its Thai chairman want relevance and demand respect. On the other, it is hobbled by its own diplomacy and consensus rule.

it is hobbled by its own diplomacy and consensus rule. It has few notable diplomatic breakthrough achievements -- with the current difficulties in Myanmar as the main proof.

This is disappointing for the foreign ministers and to Asean citizens. Perhaps the agenda at the next high-level meeting should be topped once again with a discussion of how Asean can break its own bonds...Asean is the obvious body to take firm charge in the Rakhine-Rohingya crisis. But changes are needed before that can happen.

Link :https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1619678/asean-hobbles-itself

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