Asean Declines to Champion Rohingya Cause

By | Tuesday, November 20, 2012 |

The general secretary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) said that the regional grouping can’t force Burma to accept the Rohingya, a Muslim minority living mainly in Arakan State, as citizens. “There are other issues that Asean cannot expect to be involved in more effectively, [such as] citizenship … [I]f a government of a country says ‘These people are not [our] citizens,’ I don’t think it’s Asean’s role to go in and say, ‘You change your law!’” Surin Pitsuwan, the Asean chief, said last Friday, according to a report by Mizzima.