ASEAN chair calls for Aung San Suu Kyi’s release after ICRC meeting

ASEAN’s chair on Friday called for the release of all those arbitrarily detained in Myanmar, including Aung San Suu Kyi, describing her 3 August meeting with a delegate from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as a positive step toward inclusive national dialogue and reconciliation. In a statement issued through the Philippines, which holds ASEAN’s rotating chairmanship this year, the bloc said it hoped the meeting between Suu Kyi and ICRC resident representative Arnaud de Baecque would open the way for regular, sustained access to her family, legal counsel, medical professionals and other appropriate humanitarian representatives. ASEAN repeated a call it first made after the February 2021 coup for expanded access to everyone held in detention in Myanmar, urging Suu Kyi’s “complete and unconditional release” alongside that of other detainees. The meeting marked Suu Kyi’s first confirmed contact with an outside party since the military ousted her elected government in 2021, following years of pressure from her son Kim Aris and rights groups demanding proof of her wellbeing. The ICRC confirmed the visit in its own statement Monday, and the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Nations have separately called for her release since the meeting became public.