Myanmar: UN expert urges Member States to strengthen “growing trend” of coordinated action as human rights and
humanitarian crisis deepens
NEW YORK (24 October 2023) – A growing trend of coordinated action by Member States, including sanctions targeting key
financial institutions and jet fuel, is offering the hope of a more effective path forward to weaken a military junta
that is driving Myanmar deeper into a human rights and humanitarian crisis, said Tom Andrews, UN Special Rapporteur on
the situation of human rights in Myanmar, in remarks to the General Assembly’s Third Committee in New York.
“The junta continues to attack the people of Myanmar with the relentless bombing of villages, hospitals, schools, and
camps for internally displaced persons. But, non-Myanmar nationals are also being victimized by transnational criminal
enterprises, including scam operations, that are flourishing on the border.”
“Now is the time for UN Member States to strengthen and coordinate actions that weaken the junta,” Andrews said. “A
world beset by conflagrations of mass violence must not lose sight of the runaway fire of brutality and human rights
violations that is burning in Myanmar, threatening the lives of millions and eroding regional stability,” he said.
In his report to the UN General Assembly, Andrews highlighted the junta’s attacks against civilians, including reports of mass
killings, beheadings, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, forced labor, and the use of human shields by junta
forces. Massive humanitarian needs have been exacerbated by the junta’s deliberate obstruction of the delivery of
lifesaving aid, according to the report. Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have endured drastic cuts in food rations even
as they face the threat of coercive repatriation back into the hands of the same military forces whose genocidal attacks
forced them over the border.
“Junta leaders would like the world to believe that only they can restore peace and stability in Myanmar. The opposite
is true. The junta is an agent of chaos and violence, creating a vacuum of governance in the country that is
increasingly impacting Myanmar’s neighbours and the international community,” Andrews said.
While condemning the actions of Member States that supply the junta with arms and provide other forms of material or
diplomatic support, Andrews praised positive actions taken by governments to deprive the junta of weapons, money and
legitimacy.
“Sanctions targeting aviation fuel and key financial institutions relied on by the junta are potent measures that could
help alleviate the suffering of the people of Myanmar and push the country back towards the path to democracy,” the
Special Rapporteur said.
“Some of Myanmar’s neighbours have boycotted diplomatic and defense summits attended by junta officials and denounced
the junta’s plans to hold fraudulent elections,” Andrews said.
“The international community must build on the momentum created by these positive developments through a working
coalition of States that are committed to human rights and engaging in coordinated actions that add up to a powerful
whole,” he said. “The people of Myanmar deserve no less.”
Mr. Thomas Andrews (United States of America) is the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. A former member of the US Congress from Maine, Andrews is a Robina Senior Human Rights Fellow at Yale Law School and an Associate of Harvard University’s Asia Center. He has worked
with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and parliamentarians, NGOs and political parties in
Cambodia, Indonesia, Algeria, Croatia, Serbia, Ukraine and Yemen. He has been a consultant for the National Coalition
Government of the Union of Burma and the Euro-Burma Network and has run advocacy NGOs including Win Without War and
United to End Genocide.