By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

RANGOON, Burma (Myanmar) – World Leaders have converged in Myanmar’s remote capital for the summit for the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean). The Summit marks the first time the country has hosted such an event since the country began adopting political reforms four years ago. United States President Barack Obama, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang will join ASEAN leaders in the capital Naypyidaw for the meetings that will likely address crucial issues facing the region including territorial disputes in the South China Sea. For the Myanmar government the Asean summit is intended to highlight the country’s recent reforms and serve as a symbol that the country is abandoning military dictatorship and joining the international community.

Under Thein Sein, a reformist former general, most sanctions against the state have been lifted and foreign investment have begun to flow into the country as it has been welcomed back into the international community after enacting sweeping reforms including the release of most political prisoners, including opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. The Myanmar regime has also promised to hold free and fair elections next year. Despite reforms, which have been rewarded by the international community with investments and the Asean Summit, granting legitimacy to the regime, the Myanmar government has been criticized for the continued mistreatment of the country’s 1.3 million Rohingya Muslims. More than 100,000 Rohingya have fled the country by boat in the last two years. Another 140,000 are living under apartheid conditions in displacement camp.

Just days before world leaders landed in Myanmar for the summit a Harvard University study was released detailing alleged war crimes committed under the regime’s military dictatorship. According to the report, published by human rights researchers at Harvard Law School Military activities carried out by Myanmar’s powerful Minister of Home Affairs Minister Ko Ko, who was head of the army’s Southern Command while the country was ruled as a military dictatorship could constitute war crimes. The report cites evidence that the Home Affairs Minister and two other generals were responsible for the executions, torture and enslavement of Burmese civilians by military officials during a large-scale offensive against ethnic rebels.

The authors of the report say there is enough evidence to justify the issuance of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court. The Myanmar government responded to the report by saying that what happens during times of conflict is often unavoidable and argued that now is a time to look forward and not back. “We are going through a democratic transition,” said Nay Zin Latt, one of the president’s political advisers and an ex-army officer. “Everyone should be encouraging the reform process rather than putting further obstacles along the way.”

However Ko Ko remains a high ranking official, now in command of internal security, overseeing the police force. “Ko Ko oversaw egregious rights violations in eastern Myanmar,” Matthew Bugher, global justice fellow at Harvard Law School and a principal author of the report said. “His prominent position in Myanmar’s Cabinet calls into question the government’s commitment to reform.”

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – Myanmar hosts world leaders for ASEAN summit – 12 November 2014

The Wall Street Journal – U.N. Chief Urges Myanmar to Protect Minority Rohingya – 12 November 2014

CNN International – Myanmar: Rohingya not welcome – 11 November 2014

The New York Times – report cites evidence of war crimes in Myanmar – 5 November 2014