Parliamentarians urge States and International Organizations to take immediate countermeasures against the dictatorship
Kuala Lumpur/Male/The Hague-New York, 25 July 2022
According to international media sources (BBC and The Guardian), Mr. Phyo Zeya Thaw, a former Myanmar opposition lawmaker from Ms. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy arrested in November and sentenced to death in January in an unfair closed-door trial for offenses under the purported “anti-terrorism laws”, has been executed yesterday without any information provided to his family. Three other political prisoners, including prominent democracy activist Mr. Kyaw Min Yu, were executed on similar grounds. The death sentences imposed by a military tribunal under an illegitimate government and the consequent execution of these courageous individuals are marking an escalation in the brutal repression inflicted by the military junta, which is spreading terror among the population with the first execution of the capital punishment in the country since 1988.
The use of the death penalty on voices of dissent and standing by political differences is a travesty to free speech anywhere and everywhere in the world. We stand together in solidarity with the brave people of Myanmar and offer our deepest condolences and heartfelt sympathies to the families of these freedom fighters who gave up their lives believing in democracy, freedom, justice, and a world free from oppressors and occupation. The Junta has exerted an inhumane form of punishment in all circumstances, and it is particularly vicious when carried out for political reasons as the extreme tool of abuse of power and to instill fear in the hearts of the people. This is happening now in Myanmar at a time when the world’s public opinion and the organs of the International Community appear to give minimal attention to this extraordinarily grave situation. ASEAN leaders and Parliamentarians must heed this clarion call and stand up together to reject all forms of tyranny, whether nearer home or thousands of miles away and pool resources to prevent authoritarianism from spreading in the region. The global PGA network calls for the United Nations, ASEAN, and all the States Parties to relevant human rights instruments to adopt immediate and urgent countermeasures aimed at isolating, weakening, and marginalizing the unlawful and unconstitutional military junta exercising power against the sovereign will of the Myanmar people. Hon. Kasthuri Patto, MP (Malaysia), President of Parliamentarians for Global Action
PGA’s Secretary-General, Dr. David Donat Cattin, commented:
Regretfully, Myanmar's military junta has been exercising more and more abusive power through the application of the so-called counterterrorism law of 2014, which has not been repealed by the National League for Democracy’s Government during the past Legislature. In the name of counterterrorism, the Military and security forces have meted out a brutal repression campaign against the Rohingya community leading to the commission of systematic and widespread crimes against humanity against this population. While there is not yet a universal definition of terrorism under customary or conventional International Law, majoritarian political parties or ethnic or religious minorities cannot be defined as terrorist groups just because they either dissent with the military or with the central government.
PGA calls on the International Community to urgently mobilize in demanding Myanmar's military junta restore the constitutional order violated by the coup d’état of February 2021 and release all political prisoners immediately and unconditionally. Such demands shall be accompanied by concrete countermeasures aimed at incentivizing the de facto authorities of Myanmar to comply with the call for an immediate cessation of the internationally wrongful acts perpetrated by their junta in violation of international human rights law, which entails erga omnes obligations that are binding for all States. Countermeasures should be proportional, necessary, and temporary and include measures such as international sanctions aimed at curtailing the ability of the members of the military junta to administer and possess financial resources (e.g., freezing of assets) and exercise their privileges. Any State may impose such countermeasures, but relevant International Organizations shall make efforts at the international, regional, and/or trans-regional level to ensure that all States undertake these measures. Regretfully, the system is not working correctly due to some powerful States’ unwillingness to abide and comply with the fundamental norms and principles of International Law as reflected in the universal declaration of human rights of 1948.
The International Community as a whole and individual States shall continue to develop constructive diplomatic relations with the Government and Parliament in Exile of Myanmar, to strengthen its institutions and resources, safeguard fundamental rights and freedoms, and enhance its ability to bring truth, justice, and reparations to, as well as reconciliation with, the victims of the mass atrocities perpetrated by the previous civilian-military Myanmar regime. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is already exercising its jurisdiction since 2019 in the situation of Bangladesh/Myanmar regarding crimes against humanity allegedly committed against the Rohingya population, and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is advancing the interstate proceedings brought forward by The Gambia concerning Myanmar’s alleged violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Following the ongoing situation of absolute repression and intolerable injustice oppressing Myanmar’s peoples, PGA’s Convenor of the Campaign for Democratic Renewal and Human Rights, Hon. Rozaina Adam, MP (The Maldives), stressed that:
What is happening in Myanmar should move all States, including Muslim majority countries, towards a decision to either abolish or at least suspend the use of capital punishment by implementing a moratorium on any execution. In fact, the death penalty is an irremediable form of repression in the hands of oppressive regimes abusing vague and unjust legal definitions to violate the right to life and undermine human dignity. We call all peace-loving and law-abiding States of the world to unite their forces to ban the death penalty worldwide as a way to limit the tools at the disposal of Governments who are behaving as cold-blood killers.
Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) is committed to ensuring that universal human rights, including civil and political rights underpinning any basic democratic system, and the Rule of Law will prevail over repressive and oppressive policies on the “rule of force.” In this respect, PGA is committed to guaranteeing that there would be no impunity for gross human rights abuses (crimes against humanity) and other crimes under International Law. Abuses of power characterize every execution of individuals by States enforcing the death penalty, which is a form of revenge and not a modality of justice because it is impossible to remedy the killing of any individual. Victims have the right to confront the perpetrator, prompt redress, and access truth and justice mechanisms. Such rights are negated when an individual is executed. PGA also condemns the abuse of power by States using purported “counterterrorism” notions to attack, neutralize, and/or bring to justice individuals who are simply exercising their civil and political right to dissent. Terrorism and counterterrorism must be strictly defined in accordance with relevant international legal instruments.
