Editorial
New Delhi
November 5
Leaders of the Association of South-east Asian Nations meet annually to work out common positions on pressing issues, but also maintain a policy of non-interference in each other’s affairs.
Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (C) holds the gavel for ASEAN
chairmanship in 2020 during the closing ceremony of the 35th Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Bangkok on November 4,
2019. (Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)
Beyond the international grandstanding in Bangkok, quite the most robust statement to emanate from the Asean summit was the UN Secretary-General’s appeal to the Myanmar government to take responsibility for the plight of 730,000 Rohingya refugees from Rakhine state. Mr Antonio Guterres has called upon the government in Naypidaw to deal with the “root causes” of their flight to Bangladesh and work towards their safe repatriation. The United Nations, represented as it was by its head, has raised awareness of the international rights of the Rohingya Muslims, who for several years have been buffeted from shore to shore in their quest for hearth and home.