ASEAN and The Principle of Non-Intervention SYNOPSIS COMMENTARY

However, the fact is ASEAN Leaders – including the Myanmar leader Min Aung Hlaing – met at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta on 24 April 2021 and issued the Five-Point Consensus to address the situation in Myanmar. [...] Some observers attributed ASEAN’s inability to persuade the military regime in Myanmar to comply with decisions by ASEAN Leaders, including the Five-Point Consensus (5PC), among others, to the organisation’s adherence to the principle of non-intervention in domestic affairs. [...] The UN General Assembly, in December 1965, adopted Resolution 2131(XX) on Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention in the Domestic Affairs of States and the Protection of Their Independence and Sovereignty. [...] Pressing On With Five-Point Consensus To address the situation in Myanmar and implement the 5PC, ASEAN must enhance the effectiveness of its engagement with all the conflicting parties. [...] ASEAN member states need to review the effective implementation of the 5PC, including the arrangement for the Special Envoy, who has a crucial role in promoting peaceful negotiations and ending violence among the parties in Myanmar.