UN Chief Demands Swift Action And Unison Around The World To Address Worsening Myanmar Crisis

In an urgent appeal Thursday, the head of the UN urged all nations to work together to find a solution to the growing crisis in Myanmar.

In order for the international organization to be able to react to a “enormous tragedy,” Secretary-General António Guterres said falling financial help should be increased to earlier levels. He said that since he had a summit meeting with ASEAN leaders in 2022, the situation in Myanmar has become worse. He once again urged the military-installed administration in that crisis-ridden nation to immediately release all political detainees and “open the door to a return to democratic rule.”

Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected administration in Myanmar was overthrown by the army on February 1, 2021. They also detained several prominent members of the National League for Democracy party, which she led to a resounding win in the general election in November 2020.

Security forces used deadly force to put down broad resistance to the military takeover, murdering hundreds of citizens and detaining thousands more who participated in peaceful rallies. In many parts of the poor nation, armed resistance erupted in response to the brutal onslaught.

Before attending the ASEAN leaders’ summit talks in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Thursday, Guterres presented the case for an international reaction during a press conference. Additionally, Guterres reaffirmed his worry about other challenges that are being made worse by international conflict. According to him, “there is a real risk of fragmentation—of a great fracture in world economic and financial systems with diverging strategies on technology and artificial intelligence and conflicting security frameworks.”

When it comes to crises, “our world is stretched to the breaking point by a cascade of crises: from the worsening climate emergency and escalating wars and conflicts, to growing poverty, widening inequalities, and rising geopolitical tensions,” Guterres stated.

As a result of attacks on police and border guards by a Rohingya militant group in August 2017, long-standing discrimination against Rohingya Muslims in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, including denial of citizenship and other rights, reached a boiling point. Myanmar’s military then launched what it called a clearance campaign in northern Rakhine state. As Myanmar military reportedly conducted mass rapes, murders, and home fires, more than 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh, where they are now housed in camps.

The highest court of the UN, the International Court of Justice, ordered Myanmar to take all necessary measures to stop the genocide against the Rohingya in January 2020. I continue to be very worried about the deteriorating political, humanitarian, and human rights situation in Myanmar, notably Rakhine State, as well as the fate of the vast number of refugees who are forced to live in abject poverty, the official added.

A five-point peace plan drafted by ASEAN leaders in 2021 has the UN chief’s backing. It demands that fighting stop right once in Myanmar and that negotiations begin between rival factions, including those of Suu Kyi’s camp and the governing generals.

However, the ASEAN leaders admitted in a joint statement that their approach had not resulted in any progress in Myanmar. Despite this setback, the leaders of the ten-nation bloc made the decision to persist with the strategy and keep forbidding Myanmar’s generals and their designated representatives from attending high-level meetings of ASEAN.

In place of President Joe Biden, US Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Jakarta for the summit meetings on Wednesday and assured the ASEAN leaders that Washington supports their peace initiative. “We have a shared commitment to international rules and norms and to our partnership on pressing national and regional issues such as the crisis in Myanmar,” Harris said.

According to Harris, “The United States will continue to press the regime to end the horrific violence, release all those wrongfully detained, and reestablish Myanmar’s inclusive democracy.”