Statement of the 2011 Asean Civil Society Conference/Asean Peoples’ Forum

By ACSC/APF 2011 • May 5, 2011

During the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum 2011 (ACSC/APF) in Jakarta, Indonesia, the 1,300 delegates gathered to discuss key concerns confronting the peoples of ASEAN, and produced the statement linked below.

Delegates agreed upon the following recommendations for Burma:

A. Support the call for a UN Commission of Inquiry to conduct a study into widespread and systematic human rights violations in Burma.

B. Refuse Burma the ASEAN chairmanship unless it meets the necessary minimum benchmarks that demonstrate that it is capable of governing a country in a transparent, democratic, and rights-based manner. These minimum benchmarks are: The cessation of attacks on ethnic communities; an immediate halt to all human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law committed against civilians; Immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners; end of all censorship and, genuine and inclusive tripartite dialogue, including a review of the 2008 Constitution.

C. We also call upon ASEAN to provide humanitarian protection and assistance to refugees and other stateless people who have fled from Burma and engage with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, ethnic representatives, the National League for Democracy and other relevant stakeholders to support and facilitate the process of national reconciliation and dialogue.

Click here to read the full text of the statement