ASEAN ACTIONS MUST
REFLECT URGENCY OF SITUATION IN BURMA
CALL FOR IMMEDIATE
ACTION TO ENSURE CYCLONE NARGIS SURVIVORS GET AID
SAPA STATEMENT: SOLIDARITY FOR ASIAN
PEOPLE'S ADVOCACIES (SAPA)
WORKING GROUP ON THE
ASEAN
The
members of SAPA demand that ASEAN immediately take a pro-active stand
to ensure that the Burmese authorities stop blocking delivery of
urgently needed international aid – both supplies and expertise –
to the 2.5 million survivors of Cyclone Nargis who are hanging onto
life by a thread. Otherwise, ASEAN risks being seen as callous,
irrelevant and hypocritical.
It is time that our regional grouping
proves that it is indeed "One ASEAN at the Heart of Dynamic Asia"
in addressing the biggest humanitarian disaster to hit the region
since the Aceh tsunami. Failure to do so will undermine the
credibility ASEAN worked so hard to build at its 40th
anniversary.
ASEAN must play a facilitation role
between the Burmese generals and international agencies to launch a
sustained effort for immediate relief work as well as long-term
rehabilitation and reconstruction..
ASEAN leaders must also immediately
move to persuade China, India and Russia to exert their influence on
the military junta to ensure that international aid – and
international aid workers and experts – be allowed into Burma
immediately. Aid must be provided unconditionally to all areas of
Burma.
ASEAN members, Indonesia and Vietnam,
should use their position at the UN Security Council to advocate for
stronger support of UN initiatives to help the people of Burma.
The consequences of more aid delays
will hurt the entire region. Failure to deliver immediate relief and
long-term assistance to rebuild the economic capacity of the affected
areas, long considered the rice-bowl of Burma, would intensify
internal stability which in turn, would have serious regional
repercussions. ASEAN is already bearing the cost of Burma's human
security problems, problems that may increase exponentially if the
survivors of Cyclone Nargis are abandoned to their living nightmare.
ASEAN countries together experienced
the horror of the 2004 tsunami, and its aftermath. Together they
rebuilt, repeating the mantra "never again". The tsunami
response recognized that ASEAN's "non-interference" policy is
irrelevant in the face of natural disasters. ASEAN must prove that it
is capable of putting effective pressure on the generals to make way
for a regional response.
So far ASEAN has established a
humanitarian fund, and has appealed to the junta for quick admission
of ASEAN relief and rescue teams. It needs to do much more. In the
aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, large-scale, uninterrupted
international and ASEAN-led assistance helped to alleviate the
hardships of the victims and speed up the recovery.
ASEAN has a responsibility to protect
all the peoples of ASEAN. Its responsibility now is to act to protect
the most vulnerable, not the generals who have created the conditions
for this disaster.
16 May 2008
SAPA Working Group on the ASEAN,
together with:
ALTSEAN Burma
Burma Partnership
Focus on the Global South
Forum-Asia. Asian Forum for Human
Rights and Development
Human Rights Working Group, Indonesia
IID Initiatives for International
Dialogue
MFA Migrant Forum in Asia
SEACA South East Asian Committee for
Advocacy
SUARAM Suara Rakyat Malaysia
SWAN Shan Women's Action Network
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About SAPA:
Founded in 2006, SAPA or the Solidarity
for Asian People's Advocacies is an open networking platform for
civil society advocacies with governments and inter-governmental
organizations in Asia. SAPA works through functional groups: the
Working Group on ASEAN, the Working Group on Migration and Labor, the
Working Group on the UN, the Task Force on Human Rights in ASEAN, and
the Task Force on Migration in ASEAN.
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For more information, please contact:
ALTSEAN BURMA: Debbie Stothard
<[email protected]>
+6681 686 1652 or Anelyn de Luna [email protected]
SWAN SHAN WOMEN'S ACTION NETWORK:
Charm Tong <[email protected]>,
<[email protected]> +66 81 603 6655
