Rohingya crisis sidelined at ASEAN Summit

The Rohingya crisis was sidelined in the ASEAN Summit in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur on October 26-28, despite it being a regional humanitarian challenge affecting Bangladesh the most.

The event carried special significance due to the presence of major global powers, including the US, China, India, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Canada and South Africa as well as the heads of the World Bank, IMF, ILO and FIFA.

The timing of the event was also important given the global geopolitical shift, the tariff war and the presence of US President Donald Trump, who witnessed the signing of a peace deal between Thailand and Cambodia.

It acceded Timor-Leste and expanded ASEAN, while upgrading trade agreements, especially with China and across the region, to position ASEAN in key global value chains.

The summit addressed regional security issues, including maritime tensions, border disputes, and stability in neighboring countries, but not the Rohingya crisis.

"This is very frustrating," said Nay San Lwin, co-chair of the Arakan Rohingya National Council (ARNC).

The summit was focused on trade and the economy.

"Everybody was busy with what Trump says -- the US president too took credit for the Thailand-Cambodia peace deal. But, what did he do for the Rohingya? Don't they have right to live lives with dignity and basic rights?"

The one positive aspect was that Myanmar's Senior General Min Aung Hlaing was not invited to the event.

The Myanmar crisis and its fallouts including the Rohingya have been a much deeper and old regional problem, but global leaders have totally forgotten it, he told The Daily Star from Germany.

While about 750,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar's Rakhine State and took shelter in Bangladesh in 2017, more than 150,000 of them again fled amid conflicts between the Myanmar junta and the rebel group Arakan Army since 2024.

According to the UN, close to 3.6 million people are estimated to be internally displaced across Myanmar, as the ongoing conflict between the Myanmar junta, which took control of power in 2021, and various non-state armed groups continues to force civilians to flee their homes.

Aid agencies have repeatedly warned of starvation in war-torn Myanmar's Rakhine State, as well as in the refugee camps in Bangladesh where some 1.2 million Rohingya live.

Of the total demand of $934 million for the Rohingya humanitarian assistance in Bangladesh, only 38 percent was met this year.

The summit adopted a four-page declaration, but there's not a single word mentioning "Rohingya", said Charles Santiago, co-chair of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights.

"This means ASEAN does not think the Rohingya is a Myanmar problem. It is indeed a Myanmar problem creating a challenge for the whole region," he told The Daily Star from Malaysia.

Though Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand have a sizeable number of Rohingya, Bangladesh is bearing the major brunt of the refugee crisis.

As a regional bloc, ASEAN has to take the responsibility to help address the crisis, he added.

"ASEAN cannot overlook a genocide that took place in its member country. Again, now the Myanmar military is preparing for the elections in December, but ASEAN does not appear to have any say on it," Santiago said.

The UN, the EU and many other rights bodies are saying that the Myanmar elections will be a sham in a civil war and will not send election observers.

But ASEAN is likely to eventually endorse the Myanmar junta election.

"Thus, ASEAN is failing the Rohingya and the civilians of Myanmar seeking democratic rights. I would urge ASEAN to come out of rhetoric and act to protect the Rohingya and other refugees emanating out of Myanmar and oppose the genocidal events," said Santiago, also a former member of the Malaysian parliament.