East Timor lastly seems set to affix the Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this 12 months. The nation’s accession to the bloc has been a very long time coming. Greater than a decade in the past after I first moved to Dili, the Timorese capital, authorities officers and odd folks commonly touted the alternatives ASEAN membership presents.
The financial motivation for East Timor’s bid to affix ASEAN is as clear now because it was then, however within the present context, its membership can even deliver a powerful ethical and democratic voice to the bloc.
As a rustic that rightly prides itself on a report of respect for human rights and democracy at dwelling and assist for actions aimed in direction of justice and self-determination overseas, East Timor will strike a special tone than lots of ASEAN’s different members.
Fairly than dimming its gentle to evolve to ASEAN’s drained patterns of impunity concerning human rights abuses, East Timor can personal its identification as a vibrant liberal democracy and use its platform throughout the bloc to affect its positioning. Nowhere is that this extra vital than in ASEAN’s Myanmar coverage, which has been paralysed by a impasse for years.
In 2021 within the aftermath of the Myanmar military’s coup towards the democratically elected authorities, ASEAN adopted the 5 Level Consensus. This plan, which requires the “rapid cessation of violence” and a dedication from opponents to train “utmost restraint,” has been rendered ineffective as a consequence of constant violations by the Myanmar junta and ASEAN’s indecisiveness within the face of such violations.
The next diplomatic impasse has left Myanmar’s pro-democracy motion, which now numbers within the tens of millions, with scant worldwide backing because it fights for freedom from a brutal navy regime. That is the place East Timor’s historical past of overcoming oppression might play an instructive position.
Like Myanmar immediately, East Timor spent a long time below violent navy rule, which subjected the Timorese folks to massacres, pressured displacement and systemic violence. Solely by way of the principled stance of the Timorese folks and sustained worldwide solidarity might they lastly safe their independence in 2002.
This historical past of resilience and dedication provides East Timor a deep understanding of the significance of world assist within the combat for justice. The folks of Myanmar are additionally demanding their proper to self-determination, and East Timor should now stand and act in solidarity with them. One space the place the Timorese authorities can present initiative is the involvement of the Worldwide Prison Court docket (ICC).
The Nationwide Unity Authorities (NUG) of Myanmar, which was fashioned by elected lawmakers eliminated within the 2021 coup and represents the folks, has conferred jurisdiction on the ICC and has requested the court docket to research and prosecute crimes in Myanmar since 2002. Nevertheless, the court docket has not acted on the NUG’s request, seemingly as a consequence of consternation over the NUG’s means to symbolize Myanmar on the world stage.
In a state of affairs similar to this, it’s incumbent on member states of the ICC to refer the state of affairs to the chief prosecutor by making use of Article 14 of the Rome Statute, which permits them to request an investigation in a selected matter. As considered one of solely two ASEAN members of the ICC, East Timor is in a novel place to make such a referral.
This could be a traditionally vital transfer and will additionally predicate a sea change in ASEAN’s method to the Myanmar disaster, guaranteeing that accountability stays firmly in place in future peace negotiations. A referral to the ICC would additionally broaden the scope of the court docket’s present jurisdiction in Myanmar and would focus worldwide consideration on the junta’s postcoup atrocities in addition to its genocide of the Rohingya.
Critics could query whether or not a small island nation similar to East Timor might have an effect on a disaster as advanced and seemingly intractable as Myanmar’s. This overlooks, nevertheless, the ability of small states to have an outsized affect on worldwide affairs, particularly in domains that require ethical readability slightly than massive energy positioning.
We now have seen this on the United Nations with Liechtenstein’s efforts to carry the everlasting members of the UN Safety Council to account over their veto powers, Eire’s principled stance on Gaza and, within the Myanmar context, The Gambia’s main position in in search of worldwide justice for the Rohingya.
In a time when the most important powers appear more and more inward-looking and isolationist, house is opening up for smaller states to point out the remainder of the world what it means to guide by instance.
Moreover, East Timor’s leaders in referring Myanmar to the ICC would echo the worldwide assist it obtained throughout its personal battle for independence – thus permitting the nation to “pay it ahead”. Within the Nineties, world advocacy and UN intervention performed essential roles in ending Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor. Now, East Timor can provide the identical type of solidarity and assist to Myanmar, urging the worldwide neighborhood to take stronger motion towards its navy regime.
East Timor’s accession to ASEAN could possibly be greater than only a diplomatic formality. It could possibly be a second of transformative management – one by which a small nation with a historical past of profound battle makes use of its newfound place to push for significant change. By invoking the authorized mechanisms of the ICC, East Timor couldn’t solely assist maintain Myanmar’s junta accountable but in addition encourage ASEAN to take a stronger stand in assist of democracy and human rights throughout the area.
With East Timor taking the initiative, ASEAN might change into a regional pressure for justice – a pressure that now not turns a blind eye to the struggling inside its boundaries.
The views expressed on this article are the writer’s personal and don’t essentially replicate Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
