ASEAN's Absence in the Protection of Rohingya Refugees in Myanmar

Roles and Challenges of Regional International Organizations

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the current status and challenges of governance of the Rohingya refugee problem in Southeast Asia, particularly the role and limitations of ASEAN in this context. One of the main reasons why the Rohingya refugee issue has not been effectively addressed for a long time is the lack of a targeted refugee protection framework. It is generally viewed by neighbouring countries as an internal matter of Myanmar or a historical legacy between Myanmar and Bangladesh, which has led to the absence of international cooperation and governance mechanisms for the issue. Against this backdrop, one of the options is to seek the help and intervention of ASEAN, a regional international organization, in order to adopt alternative modes of protection governance at the national level and to strengthen the governance capacity of the countries concerned through joint efforts. ASEAN's involvement in this issue has not yet been institutionalized into a systematic governance model, and most of the current refugee governance work is led by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and ASEAN's roles and functions have not yet been fully utilized. Therefore, this paper will further explore the roles and challenges of ASEAN in regional refugee governance in light of this particular situation and try to provide some solutions to better realize the international refugee problem of the Rohingya people in Myanmar, as well as in other regions.