Myanmar: NGOs pen open letter to Australian FM Wong urging harsher actions against junta

As political turmoil intensifies in Myanmar, hundreds of NGOs have been urging Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong to adopt harsher action against Myanmar's military junta by implementing targeted sanctions in addition to a series of other measures. According to an ABC report, the over 300-group penned down an open letter pushing Senator Wong to stick by her pre-election remarks by enacting targeted penalties on the junta and individuals in charge of serious human rights breaches. 

Imprisoning the de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi along with other key government officials and Australian economist Sean Turnell, the junta ousted the democratically elected government in a coup in February 2021. 

Despite allies like the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada taking action against the coup leaders, Australia has, since the takeover, discontinued its military collaboration with the army, also known as the Tatmadaw, ABC reported.  

In addition to this, Senator Penny Wong has called the deadly crackdown on demonstrators and protestors "deeply distressing" a month after the takeover. In the meantime, she remarked that Australia cannot watch while a frontal attack on Myanmar's democracy takes place. 

Many Australians are experiencing psychological consequences after seeing their friends and family escape their homes or rebel against the military's control, according to James Thangman, secretary of the Ethnic Myanmar Communities' Council of Australia, as well as a signatory to the letter. According to him, the communities in Myanmar received a lot of help from the former Australian government, but "no profound or substantial support." 

Over 2,000 individuals have been killed by the military junta

Thangman continued by saying, “If you look at Ukraine, if you look at Afghanistan, the Australian government took action very quickly," ABC reported. He added, “In Burma, (the former official name for Myanmar), people are fighting for their life, people are fighting to restore the democracy, people are fighting for human rights". He argued that the junta's "brutality" ought to be denounced. 

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, over 14,000 individuals have been detained and over 2,000 individuals have been killed by the junta. The letter further revealed that there have been over 10,000 armed conflicts, which include indiscriminate airstrikes and artillery assaults on people. As per the ABC report, villages have been burned down, and over 1 million people have been evacuated. 

Apart from this, an Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)’s spokesperson noted that the government has been reviewing "Australia's policy settings on Myanmar". "Consistent with the approach we take on all sanctions regimes, it would not be appropriate to discuss whether specific persons or entities are under consideration for sanctions," as per the DFAT spokesperson.  

More than 3,300 people from Myanmar have applied for asylum abroad in Australia since the coup, and 460 of them have come on humanitarian or refugee visas. 

Meanwhile, Aung San Suu Kyi, the deposed leader of Myanmar, was moved on June 22 from a secret detention facility to a prison in the capital. A spokesman for the military junta claimed that Aung San Suu Kyi was taken and is being detained in solitary confinement. 

(Image: AP)