3 March 2024
The Republic of the Union of Myanmar, as represented by the National Unity Government, welcomes the High Commissioner’s oral update on Myanmar at HRC55.
We remain deeply grateful to High Commissioner Türk for OHCHR’s dedicated efforts to push Myanmar to the front of the international community’s mind.
Describing Myanmar’s human rights situation as a “never-ending nightmare, away from the spotlight of global politics”, the High Commissioner’s demand for international action could not have been clearer:
For the last three years, people in Myanmar have sacrificed everything, and kept alive their aspirations for a better and safer future. They need the entire international community to support them…
… I call for a new approach by ASEAN and States with influence to engage all actors, including the National Unity Government, ethnic organizations and the broader civil society.
The High Commissioner’s oral update also lays bare the illegal military junta’s escalating, terrifying and dehumanising atrocity crimes. Among these are airstrikes, artillery attacks and naval shelling against populated civilian areas; the junta’s systematic and widespread torture of political detainees, hundreds of whom have died in custody; and its movement restrictions and withholding of humanitarian aid to increase the suffering of millions of people.
Desperate as it loses territory, troops and morale, the junta will plunge to any depth to ensure its own survival. Recent months have seen appalling acts of brutality, including the burning alive of two captured Revolutionary Force members by a pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia. Local villagers were forced to watch.
Now, the junta wants to forcibly conscript young women and men to fight in its horrific war against its own people. This act of collective punishment aims to destroy new generations of Myanmar youth and will trigger massive population movements as young people flee to safety and to join the Spring Revolution’s ranks.
At the same time, resumed conflict in Rakhine State has compelled the High Commissioner to “ring the alarm bells” as spiralling violence threatens new purges against the Rohingya.
Myanmar fully supports the High Commissioner’s calls for:
- An immediate end to junta violence, the full protection of all civilians, and the release of all political prisoners
- Meaningful, effective and targeted action to end the military’s access to arms, munitions, jet fuel and foreign currency
- A new international approach that directly engages the National Unity Government, ethnic organizations and civil society
- Coordinated action by the international community and the UNCT in Myanmar to implement the Rosenthal report’s recommendations and to prevent further atrocities in all possible ways.
The international community must also facilitate the upscaled delivery of direct humanitarian, financial and technical assistance to and through the National Unity Government and ethnic and civil society organizations.
Finally, the Human Rights Council should seize on every opportunity to advance accountability, including by supporting the set-up of a special tribunal on Myanmar.
Myanmar extends its full cooperation to OHCHR and the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms, and stands by its international obligations and commitments.
National Unity Government
Ministry of Human Rights