Human Rights Watch on Thursday slammed a meeting between Australia's ambassador to Myanmar and the military junta chief, saying it was \"lending credibility\" to a regime accused of war crimes.<\/p>\n
Since a military-led coup ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's administration last year, Myanmar has been increasingly isolated internationally -- with foreign governments urging an end to deadly crackdowns on mass democracy protests.<\/p>\n
Australia's outgoing ambassador Andrea Faulkner met with junta leader Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw on Wednesday, with state-owned media outlet Global New Light of Myanmar reporting the pair discussed \"enhancement of cooperation in various sectors\".<\/p>\n
The ambassador was accompanied by Australia's defence attache to Myanmar, Colonel Tony Egan, according to a statement by Min Aung Hlaing's office.<\/p>\n
Katrina Cooper from Australia's foreign affairs department said the ambassador had used the meeting to reiterate calls for Myanmar to cease violence and release detainees.<\/p>\n
\"The Australian government does not consider that the outgoing meeting legitimises the current regime,\" Cooper told a Senate committee in Canberra.<\/p>\n
But HRW said the meeting and subsequent coverage in state media did just that.<\/p>\n
\"This is meeting is not only deeply unacceptable, but it undercuts efforts by other governments to isolate the military commander implicated in serious abuses,\" HRW's Myanmar researcher Manny Maung said.<\/p>\n
\"By taking photo ops and accepting gifts, Australia only serves to lend credibility to a military junta that is accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity against its own population.\"<\/p>\n
Maung urged Australia to \"align with its traditional allies\" by avoiding further high-level meetings with the junta and immediately imposing sanctions.<\/p>\n
Australian officials outlined seven other meetings and phone calls with the junta since the coup, but denied any sectors were engaging with the regime.<\/p>\n
Canberra has repeatedly called for the release of Australian economist Sean Turnell, who was working as an adviser to Suu Kyi when he was detained shortly after the coup.<\/p>\n
He has been charged with violating Myanmar's official secrets law and faces a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison if found guilty.<\/p>\n
Myanmar has been in chaos since a putsch in February 2021, with more than 1,700 people killed in crackdowns on dissent, according to a local monitoring group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Human Rights Watch on Thursday slammed a meeting between Australia's ambassador to Myanmar and the military junta chief, saying it was \"lending credibility\" to a regime accused of war crimes. Since a military-led coup ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's administration last year, Myanmar has been increasingly isolated internationally -- with foreign governments urging an end […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553,1],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-90196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed","category-non-classifiee"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n