Myanmar Expels East Timorese Ambassador Over Human Rights Feud

Erin Araneta

Staff Writer

Myanmar’s military authorities ordered the head of Timor-Leste’s diplomatic mission in Yangon to leave the country within seven days, after Timorese authorities accepted a criminal complaint against Myanmar’s armed forces, state media said on Monday. With the expulsion of Timor-Leste’s Charge d’Affaires Elisio do Rosario de Sousa, the top envoy to Myanmar, tensions between the two Southeast Asian states have increased. 

The expulsion comes as Myanmar’s situation has escalated since the 2021 coup and removal of the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi caused nationwide conflict and repeated allegations of serious abuses by United Nations bodies and rights groups. Myanmar is already facing a separate genocide case at the International Court of Justice over its treatment of the Rohingya people, of which it denies.

The Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO), a Myanmar-based group focusing on abuses against the Chin minority, filed the complaint, alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity by Myanmar’s military. According to Reuters, CHRO filed the complaint in East Timor because it wanted a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with an independent judiciary and one it believed would be sympathetic to the suffering of the Chin’s largely Christian population, citing the country’s history and its courts’ willingness to hear serious human rights cases. CHRO’s case includes allegations of gang rape, the killing of 10 people including a journalist, deaths of Christian clergy, and airstrikes on a hospital and religious sites, which it characterizes as war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to the Associated Press. The case was brought under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which permits states to investigate and prosecute serious international crimes regardless of where they occurred or the nationality of those involved. 

Timor-Leste’s judicial authorities accepted the complaint and appointed a senior prosecutor to examine it, a move that Myanmar’s foreign ministry said has resulted in “setting an unprecedented practice, negative interpretation and escalation of (public) resentments.” The junta also accused Timor-Leste of violating ASEAN charter articles that undermine non-interference and respect for sovereignty, according to Channel News Asia. 

Timor-Leste has long backed international justice, becoming a member of the International Criminal Court in 2002. The country, which only gained independence in 2002 and joined ASEAN last October, has taken strides to push for accountability and action against the Myanmar military, including this latest development. President Jose Ramos-Horta has previously expressed support for Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement, including meeting with opposition representatives, which earlier drew protests from the junta. According to Human Rights Watch, the Myanmar military has violated several ASEAN commitments and the binding ASEAN Charter, which promotes the principles of democracy, rule of law, and human rights. Analyst Susannah Patton spoke to Channel News Asia about the “unique” principles Timor-Leste has brought to ASEAN, as the countries in the bloc currently are divided about how to engage with Myanmar between governments trying to enforce the ASEAN obligations and those unwilling to do so.

According to The Diplomat, the Timor-Leste government said in a statement that it “condemns” the expulsion of its charge d’affaires and repeated “the importance of supporting all efforts for the return of democratic order in Myanmar.” It also voiced its “solidarity with the Myanmar people” and called on the military “to respect human rights and seek a peaceful and constructive solution to the crisis.”

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