MYANMAR ADVOCACY DAY: LIFTING THE VOICE FROM MYANMAR GROUND

Jakarta, August 30th, 2023

“…Airstrike fired guns and artillery for one hour to school at 12.50 am, kids stay under the bed, primary school building, student injured, they threatened to kill if children did not come out.   Students had eyes bleeding, lost leg, died, injured on stomach, on reproductive organ, and died. They brought other people from the village. They beat teacher accusing of being part of resistance”

- Testimony 6, airstrikes, Let Yet Kone Village, Sagaing Region, September 16th 2022

More than 2 years after the Military Junta coup d'etat the legitimate government in Myanmar, intense violence continues to occur every day, and resulted in thousands of people losing their lives, and millions more becoming refugees because they lost their homes. The large-scale migration movements compounded with the escalation of violence in Myanmar have resulted in serious political and socioeconomic impacts on both mainland and maritime Southeast Asia, posing a direct threat to regional peace and border security.

There are no good signs on the end of atrocities in Myanmar. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Response have been fractured, incoherent and ineffective. ASEAN’s approach toward Myanmar, dominated by the Five-Point Consensus (5PC), has been detrimental in shaping actions of the international community in addressing the crisis, and yielded no positive developments in resolving the catastrophe. Humanitarian assistance coordinated by the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance (AHA Center) has failed to address the needs of victims because it was dictated by the military junta within it.

The testimony quoted at the beginning of this article is just one of thousands of violence experienced by the people of Myanmar. For this reason, YAPPIKA-ActionAid together with the Regional CSO Network for Myanmar, initiated "Myanmar Advocacy Day: Hearing from People on the Ground and Experts in the Region" as a space to amplify the voices of the Myanmar people, which were then elaborated with in-depth analysis from experts regarding the situation. The results of this public hearing and analysis were then submitted to ASEAN Leaders right before the 43rd ASEAN Summit in Jakarta.