Timor-Leste set to join ASEAN, 36 groups call for action on Myanmar crimes
(BANGKOK, October 23, 2025)—Timor-Leste must use its Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) membership to push for accountability in Myanmar, including by referring the situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fortify Rights and 35 other groups said today in a joint open letter to Timor-Leste President and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate José Ramos-Horta. ASEAN leaders will meet this weekend in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to formally confirm Timor-Leste as the newest member of the regional bloc.
“Timor-Leste has historically taken a strong and principled stance on the situation in Myanmar,” said Patrick Phongsathorn, Senior Advocate at Fortify Rights. “ASEAN membership must not weaken Timor-Leste’s commitment to human rights and democracy, and its solidarity with the Myanmar people. Instead, President Ramos-Horta and Timor-Leste should use this platform to push for accountability for the crimes taking place in Myanmar.”
The open letter, signed by civil society organizations from Myanmar, throughout Asia, and across the world, calls on Timor-Leste to use its existing ICC membership and prospective ASEAN membership to “lead a regional initiative to secure genuine peace, justice, and accountability in Myanmar.” As an ICC state party, Timor-Leste is empowered, under Article 14 of the Rome Statute, to refer any situation it believes comes under the ICC’s jurisdiction to the court’s Chief Prosecutor.
On February 1, 2021, the Myanmar military stormed the country’s parliament and arrested its democratically elected leaders, including State Counselor and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and countless others. Since then, the Myanmar junta has tortured, killed, and persecuted its real and perceived opponents on an industrial scale, amounting to crimes against humanity. The military’s actions also led to a mass armed uprising and a reignition of decades-long conflicts with ethnic armed organizations. In recent months, the Myanmar junta has increasingly relied on its air superiority to target civilians and civilian infrastructure with air strikes, which have leveled villages and killed scores. The Myanmar junta also continues to commit genocide against the Rohingya people, recently forcibly conscripting abducted Rohingya refugees.
In the Rohingya’s case, the ICC has an ongoing investigation into the crime against humanity of deportation and other crimes, and the Chief Prosecutor has sought an arrest warrant for junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. An Article 14 referral would allow the ICC to open a wider investigation into international crimes committed against all of Myanmar’s communities.
This accountability option also has the distinct advantage of allowing the Chief Prosecutor to open an investigation without approval from the U.N. Security Council, which has been largely deadlocked on the Myanmar crisis. There is also a clear precedent, in the case of Ukraine, of ICC state party referrals leading to the opening of investigations and issuing of arrest warrants for perpetrators of mass atrocity crimes.
In September 2023, President Ramos-Horta met ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, where he reportedly expressed grave concern over the ongoing violence and human rights abuses in Myanmar and urged the ICC to lead accountability efforts for Myanmar. Earlier that year, seemingly in response to Timor-Leste’s support for democracy and human rights in Myanmar, the junta expelled the top-ranking Timorese diplomat from the country. Recently, the Myanmar junta also reportedly attempted to block Timor-Leste’s ASEAN accession, claiming unwanted interference in its domestic affairs.
In the context of widespread persecution and violence, the Myanmar junta has committed to conducting nationwide “elections” beginning at the end of this year. In their open letter, the 36 groups call on President Ramos-Horta to issue a “clear rejection of the military regime’s planned sham elections scheduled for December 28, which cannot, in the current circumstances, be remotely free or fair.”
“Timor-Leste has an opportunity to kick-start genuine and inclusive efforts for peace, truth, and justice in Myanmar,” said Patrick Phongsathorn. “By referring the Myanmar crisis to the ICC, Timor-Leste would be demonstrating its commitment to human rights and democracy in Myanmar, and to the rule-based international order.”