UN Expert Suggests 5 Options to Save People of Myanmar
The Member States which are condemning the coup should send military help inside Myanmar to defeat the authoritarian rulers and get the democracy restored. Shallow statements delivered remotely will not deter the Myanmar dictators. | Rakesh Raman
The Myanmar junta’s brutal response to peaceful protests likely meets the legal threshold for crimes against humanity, a UN expert told the Human Rights Council on March 11, calling for a united global response in the country’s hour of need.
“The people of Myanmar need not only words of support but supportive action,” said Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. “They need the help of the international community, now.”
Andrews stressed that a growing body of reporting indicates that the junta’s security forces are committing acts of murder, imprisonment, persecution and other crimes as part of a coordinated campaign, directed against a civilian population, in a widespread and systematic manner, with the knowledge of the junta’s leadership – thereby likely meeting the legal threshold for crimes against humanity.
With the UN Security Council seemingly unwilling to invoke its Chapter VII authority, Andrews said Member States must rally together to take action.
“Today I am therefore urging that as many Member States as possible commit to taking strong, decisive and coordinated action as a coalition of nations – an Emergency Coalition for the People of Myanmar,” he said.
In a statement to the Council, Andrews outlined five options that such a coalition could take immediately:
- stop the flow of funds to the junta, including by imposing targeted sanctions on the junta’s business enterprises and on Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, the single largest source of revenue to the State of Myanmar;
- impose an international arms embargo;
- ensure accountability for the crimes, through national courts using universal jurisdiction if the Security Council is unwilling to refer the matter to the International Criminal Court;
- work directly with local civil society and aid organizations to provide humanitarian assistance whenever possible; and
- deny recognition of the military junta as the legitimate government representing the people of Myanmar.
“I sincerely hope that the international community will rise to the occasion of this moment of history by following the lead and the inspiration of the people of Myanmar by coming to their aid as a coordinated whole, in this their moment of need,” the UN expert said.
But these suggestions from the UN expert cannot save Myanmar people who are being killed by the dictators mercilessly. The Member States which are condemning the coup should send military help inside Myanmar to defeat the authoritarian rulers and get the democracy restored. Shallow statements delivered remotely will not deter the Myanmar dictators.
In a report to the Human Rights Council, Andrews details how the Myanmar military illegally overthrew the civilian government last month and proceeded to attack the people of Myanmar by committing the crimes of murder, assault and arbitrary detention. He also details human rights violations preceding the coup in an annex to the report.
Mr. Thomas Andrews (United States of America) is the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar.
