The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, today releases the following
statement:
“I fear that Wednesday has the potential for violence on a greater scale in Myanmar than we have seen since the illegal
takeover of the government on February 1.
A protest rally has been called for downtown Yangon today, and there may be protests in other cities and townships as
well, following word that a secretive trial of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint began
yesterday. At the same time, I have received reports of soldiers being transported into at least Yangon from outlying
regions. In the past, such troop movements preceded killings, disappearances, and detentions on a mass scale.
I am terrified that given the confluence of these two developments - planned mass protests and troops converging - we
could be on the precipice of the military committing even greater crimes against the people of Myanmar.
Today I am issuing an urgent call on all governments, individuals and entities that may have influence on Myanmar
military authorities to use that influence to convince the junta that rallies planned for Wednesday must be allowed to
proceed without detentions or violence. Continued repression of the people of Myanmar’s basic liberties and human rights
must end immediately.
I call on the international business community in particular to take immediate action. Urgently call your interlocutors
in the State Administrative Council and stress to them that you will be forced to suspend or cease business in Myanmar
if they continue down this violent path. Specifically stress to them that under the UN Guiding Principles on Business
and Human Rights, businesses and investors should suspend or terminate activities with the Myanmar junta when the risk
of involvement in serious human rights abuses can no longer be reasonably managed. I, and many others, would argue we
have long passed that threshold. Please implore them to use restraint. Implore them to return power to the people of
Myanmar.
As I have made clear in prior statements, those in the chain of command, regardless of rank, can be held liable for any
atrocities committed against the people of Myanmar, and they must disobey orders to attack.
Of course, we cannot rely on the Myanmar military to avoid bloodshed out of a moral or legal obligation alone. That is
why it is so imperative that all those with influence demand that the junta restrain itself from further violence and
arbitrary arrests.
If, as I fear, we see continued mass violence against peaceful protesters, those businesses continuing to work with the
military, regardless of their actions, must accept that they are complicit in the violence. As Martin Luther King once
said: ‘There comes a time when silence is betrayal.’”