ASEAN’s Rohingya Dilemma: Limits of Regional Co-operation

Abstract

Since its foundation in 1967, the member states of ASEAN have established co-operation mechanisms in a number of sectors, ranging from trade to environmental protection. ASEAN has been highly successful in achieving co-operation in trade and commercial issues. However, it has been unable to achieve similar level of co-operation in political and humanitarian issues. For instance, the ASEAN has failed to deliver a unified response against the human rights violations of Rohingya people in Myanmar. Though the declaration of 34th ASEAN Summit in 2019 calls for ‘safety and security for all communities in Rakhine state’ and facilitation of the ‘voluntary return of displaced persons in a safe, secure and dignified manner’, it failed to mention a timeline of such repatriation process. Moreover, the declaration did not criticize the actions of Myanmar’s military in the Rakhine state. This study offers a critique of ASEAN’s traditional approach of diplomacy known as ‘ASEAN Way’. Examining a set of relevant issues, the study seeks to outline the legal, institutional and political factors which prevented a unified ASEAN response to the Rohingya crisis. Through a qualitative analysis, it concludes with an observation that the failure to develop an institutional mechanism to deal with political and human rights issues in South-East Asia could hinder ASEAN’s objective of becoming a more integrated ‘European Union’-like community.