THE ROLE OF ASEAN IN RESPONSE TO THE PROBLEMS OF THE ROHINGYA REFUGEES Miss Kanyaphat Sae Pua 591781005 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Peace Studies and Diplomacy Siam University 2020 Acknowledgements This thesis is the end product of the Master of Arts in Peace Studies and Diplomacy of Siam University. I am forever grateful that this program came on my path and everything it taught me during the past three years. First and foremost, I would like to thank Pol.Col.Dr. Chitphol Kanchanakit and Associate Professor Dr. Tatree Nontasak, Director of MAPD, my thesis advisors who have helped and pushed me to complete my thesis through these years. The door of the MAPD office was always open when I ran into troubles and had many questions about my research or writing. The thesis committee, especially, Assistant Professor Dr. Chayanant Panyasiri who guided and enlightened me on how “conceptual framework” construction of thesis should be. Besides my advisors, I would like to thank the rest of my thesis committee: Associate Professor Dr. Jomphong Mongkhonvanit, Assistant Professor Dr. Chayanant Panyasiri, and Dr. Emmanuel Okafor; for their encouragement, insightful comments, and challenging questions. In addition, a million thanks to Siripan Wandee, my friend and ex-colleague, for her dedication and coaching me on shaping my thesis structure and editing English grammar. I would also like to express my gratitude to the six key informants and thirteen people who willingly participated in focus group discussion. Without their enthusiasm and passionate participation and input, the verification process of my conclusion and recommendations of this thesis could not have been successfully conducted. Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my late parents and my loving family members. Without them in my thought, I would not have had strength to achieve this great accomplishment. Thank you. Kanyaphat Sae Pua iii DECLARATION I, Kanyaphat Sae Pua, do hereby declare that this work is entirely my own and that it is original unless specific acknowledgements state otherwise. Signed…………………………………………………….. Kanyaphat Sae Pua Date……………………………………………………….. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………………………....i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………………..................iii TABLE OF CONTENT…...……………………………………………………………………....v LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES…..………………………………………………………….x LIST OF ABBREAVIATIONS ………………………………………………………………….xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………..1 1.1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………….1 1.2 Research Questions………………………………………………………..........2 1.3 Objectives…………….……..………………………………………………….2 1.4 Hypothesis ………..………………………………………………………........3 1.5 Thesis outline ………………………………………………………………….3 1.6 Background and Statement of the Problems…………………………………….4 1.6.1 The History of the Rohingya……………………………………………...4 1.6.2 The British Colonial Era (1824 to 1942) …………………………………5 1.6.3 World War II and Japan’s Invasion (1939 – 1945) ………………………6 1.6.4 The Evolvement of the Rohingya Problems ……………………………...6 1.6.5 Current crises ……………………………………………………………..7 1.7 Scope and limitation of the study ……………………………………………..13 1.8 Significant of the study ………………………………………………………..14 1.9 Terminology use ………………………………………………………………14 v TABLE OF CONTENT (Continued) CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK …………….17 2.1 The Root Cause of Statelessness .....................................................................17 2.2 Legal frameworksthat link to the status of Rohingya …………..…………...18 2.2.1 Rohingya as a refugee and stateless person status ………………...18 2.2.2 Rohingya as victics of human trafficking and people smuggling ... 20 2.3 International Relations Theories ……………………………………………...21 2.3.1 New Regionalism ………………………………………………….21 2.3.2 Political Realism …………………………………………………..22 2.3.3 Liberalism …………………………………………………………23 2.3.4 Human Rights Approach ………………………………………….25 2.4 Positions and Responses of ASEAN and its member states ………………..27 2.4.1 ASEAN and the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) ………………………………………………………………….27 2.4.2 Malaysia’s Position on Rohingya Refugee Problems …………….28 2.4.3 Myanmar’s Position on Rohingya Refugee Problems …………….32 2.4.4 Thailand’s Position on Rohingya Refugee Problems……………...38 2.5 Extra-ASEAN: Their Positions on Rohingya Refugee Problems …………...41 2.5.1 Bangladesh’s Position on Rohingya Refugee Problems …………..41 2.5.2 Organisation of Islamic Cooperation: OIC ………………………..43 2.5.3 The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) ……………………………………45 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) CHAPTER 2: LITERTURE REVIEW (Continued) Page 2.5.4 United Nations (UN) ………………………………………………47 2.6 ASEAN Mechanisms towards the Rohingya Refugee Problems …………...48 2.6.1 ASEAN Charter …………………………………………………...48 2.6.2 The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR)…………………………………………………………………51 2.6.3 ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime (AMMTC)..52 2.6.4 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) ……...53 2.7 Rules and Laws and Regimes in relation to the Rohingya Refugee - Problems…………………………………………………………………………54 2.7.1 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) ………………..54 2.7.2 Statelessness and Refugee Laws ………………………………….54 2.7.3 ASEAN Human Rights Delcaration through AICHR …………….55 2.7.4 International Bill of Human Rights ………………………………..56 2.8 Advisory Commission on Rakhine State ……………………………………57 2.9 Regional Migration Governance (RMG) ……………………………………57 2.10 Regional Consultation Processes (RCPs) ………………………………….57 2.11 Bali Process ………………………………………………………………...58 2.12 Conceptual Framework …………………………………………………….61 vii TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Design…….. ………………………………………………………63 3..1.1 Research Style …………………………………………………….63 3.2 Methodology ………………………………………………………………...66 3.3 Data Collection Limitation ………………………………………………….66 3.4 Types of Data ………………………………………………………………..66 3.4.1 Primary Data ………………………………………………………66 3.4.2 Secondary Data ……………………………………………………68 3.5 Data Processing ……………………………………………………………...68 3.6 Data Analysis ………………………………………………………………..68 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS 4.1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………70 4.2 Survey Results ………………………………………………………………70 4.3 Theme 1 – Research Question 1 …………………………………………….70 4.3.1 Rohingya as the victims of People Smuggling and Human - Trafficking Networks…………………………………………………….71 4.3.2 Political Regimes of ASEAN Member States …………………….72 4.4 Theme 2 – Research Question 2 …………………………………………….73 4.4.1 Human Rights Scheme and Democracy …………………………..74 4.5 Theme 3 – Research Questions 3 ……………………………………………75 viii TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS (Continued) 4.5.1 Larger than ASEAN Framework …………………………………75 4.6 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………….82 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Summary and Conclusions …………………………………………………86 5.1.1 Results for Research Question 1 ………………………………….87 5.1.2 Results for Research Question 2 ………………………………….89 5.1.3 Results for Research Question 3 ………………………………….90 5.2 Recommendations …………………………………………………………..90 5.2.1 National Level ……………………………………………………..91 5.2.2 Regional Level and the Human Rights Approach ………………...93 5.2.3 International Level ………………………………………………..94 5.3 Recommendations for Further Academic Research ………………………...95 REFERENCES …………………………………………………………………………………96 APPENDIX 1 ………………………………………………………………………………….108 APPENDIX 2 ………………………………………………………………………………….122 ix List of Table Table 1; Political Policy of ASEAN Member States ……………………………………… pg 22 Table 2; Ratification of major human rights and adopted treaties of ASEAN Member - States……………………………………………………………………………………….. pg 26 Table 3; Key Research Questions ………………………………………………………….. pg 64 Table 4; The analysis of policy of intra-ASEAN member states and extra-regional states ..pg 70 Table 5; The analysis on what mechanism to use in order to tackle the Rohingya refugee problems ……………………………………………………………………………………..Pg 82 List of Figure Figure 1; Map showing the movement of the Rohingya people from Rakhine State, Myanmar to Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh …………………………….……………………………………….pg.5 Figure 2; Map Showing Rohingya Refugees Trafficking/Smuggling Route in - Andaman Sea…………………………………………………………………………………pg.11 Figure 3; Number of Rohingya refugees fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh ……………….pg.13 Figure 4; Summary of Bali Process Structure ……………………………………………......pg.59 Figure 5; Conceptual Framework…………………………………………………………….pg.61 x LIST OF ABBREAVIATIONS ACWC ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children AHA Centre ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on - Disaster Management AHRD ASEAN Human Rights Declaration AICHR ASEAN Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights AMMTC ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime APHR ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights ARSA Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army ASEANAPOL ASEAN Chiefs of National Police ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations BIMSTEC Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and - Economic Cooperation CAT Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading - or Punishment, New York, 10 December 1984 CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against- Women, New York, 18 December 1979 CED International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, New York, 20 December 2006 CERD Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial