ASEAN must take full responsibility for its role in exacerbating the crisis in Myanmar, particularly its complicity in—and its members’ aiding and abetting of—the junta’s atrocity crimes. ASEAN puts its hypocrisy on full display by claiming that its goal is “to help the people of Myanmar to achieve an inclusive and durable peaceful resolution that is Myanmar-owned and -led.”12 In its recent decision, ASEAN once again failed to align its efforts with the Myanmar people’s demands for ASEAN to cut all ties with the military junta.13 If ASEAN truly wants to pursue “a Myanmar-owned and -led solution” to “help the people” as it has repeatedly stated,14 ASEAN must ensure that the military junta is barred from representing Myanmar in any capacity across all platforms. Any “Myanmar-owned and -led solution” that is also “inclusive and durable” must align with the will and aspirations of the Myanmar people and must only involve legitimate stakeholders working to dismantle the military junta. ASEAN’s insistence on “inclusive national dialogue”15 that involves the junta blatantly ignores the will of the Myanmar people—who are fending for their lives, liberty, and democracy—by bringing to the table the very perpetrators of atrocity crimes against them and ignoring the military’s undeniable role as the root cause and exacerbator of decades-long violence and instability in Myanmar. ASEAN’s engagements with the junta severely exacerbate Myanmar’s crisis and contravene ASEAN’s goals by emboldening the junta, not representing the Myanmar people, and eroding any trust thereof. By continuing to attend junta-hosted conferences, invite the junta to represent Myanmar, and hold talks with junta representatives, ASEAN emphasizes its own susceptibility to the military junta’s political manipulation and propaganda. Furthermore, through these engagements, ASEAN is not only stroking the ego of and lending false legitimacy to the illegal, illegitimate, and criminal military junta—which weaponizes humanitarian aid and lacks any legal authority to hold an election in Myanmar—but ASEAN is also blatantly undermining the Myanmar people’s immense sacrifices and efforts to build a peaceful Myanmar. In October 2024, ASEAN welcomed the junta to represent Myanmar at its 44th and 45th Summits while only informally engaging with the people’s legitimate representatives, such as the National Unity Government (NUG), the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), and Ethnic Resistance Organizations (EROs). Furthermore, ASEAN member states allowed the junta to host the 42nd ASEANAPOL Conference in Naypyidaw from 21–25 October, with officials from every member state in attendance. On 7 November 2024, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam allowed junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to assume the chairmanship of the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy. ASEAN has an obligation to represent the Myanmar people and respect their sovereignty. The people have resoundingly rejected the illegal and illegitimate junta as their government. By allowing any junta personnel to represent Myanmar, ASEAN has clearly breached its duty to the Myanmar people and their well-being. ASEAN must remember: Without the people, there would be no Myanmar. Going forward, ASEAN must stand with the Myanmar people and support—through its decisions and its platforms—their political aspirations for federal democracy and protection of human rights. ASEAN, supra note 1, para. 12. 601 organizations, “ASEAN: Halt Plans for ‘Inclusive Dialogue’ and Act to Hold the Military Junta to Account,” Progressive Voice, 1 December 2023, https://progressivevoicemyanmar.org/2023/12/01/asean-halt-plans-for-inclusive-dialogue-andact-to-hold-the-military-junta-to-account/. 14 “Press Statement By the Chair of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat,” ASEAN, paras. 22-23, 29 January 2024, https://asean.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Press-Statement-by-the-Chair-of-the-AMM-Retreat-29-Jan-2024.Final.pdf. 15 ASEAN, supra note 1, para. 2. 12 13 3