Cambodia Invites Burmese Junta’s Defense Minister to ASEAN Summit

A protester holds a sign with an image of detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi as they prepare to face off against security forces during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon, Burma, on March 5, 2021. STR/AFP via Getty Images

Cambodia has invited the Burmese junta’s defense minister to the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, despite the pleas of hundreds of human rights groups to bar him from attending due to the junta’s atrocities against civilians.

General Nem Sowath, director-general of Cambodia’s General Department of Policy and Foreign Affairs at the Defense Ministry, said on June 17 that all ASEAN defense ministers had been invited to the June 22 meeting.