GENEVA (30 January 2024) – UN Member States must reassess conditions in Myanmar and act urgently to save the lives of the most vulnerable in the face of indiscriminate attacks by a weakened military junta, said Tom Andrews, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. On the eve of the third anniversary of the junta’s military coup in Myanmar, he issued the following statement:

“Over the past three months, the military has suffered significant losses in the face of coordinated offensives by resistance forces. Hundreds of military posts and dozens of towns have fallen to opposition groups in northern Shan State, Rakhine State, and elsewhere. The military’s already limited territorial control is rapidly crumbling. The shrinking military force, driven by high casualty and defection rates, surrenders and recruitment challenges, poses an existential threat to the junta.

The junta is responding to humiliating losses by attacking civilians with aerial and artillery bombardments of towns and villages captured by opposition forces. The junta’s crimes are enabled by a robust supply of sophisticated weapons from sources outside Myanmar. This creates both an opportunity and an obligation for the international community to act.

UN Member States must reassess the crisis in Myanmar in light of the significant developments that are unfolding there and launch a robust coordinated effort to target and cut off the junta’s access to weapons and funding.

We know that international sanctions are working. Sanctions targeting junta-controlled banks and enterprises, weapons dealers, and aviation fuel have impaired the junta’s ability to carry out attacks on the people of Myanmar. Sanctions must now be extended to new targets and vigorously enforced to maximise their impact.

Donors and humanitarian agencies must ensure that aid reaches the most vulnerable, including displaced populations in opposition-controlled areas.

Recent developments have laid to rest the junta’s claims of inevitability and that it alone can prevent the violent break-up of Myanmar. Precisely the opposite is true. The junta can only be seen as a unifying force in that it has united the people of Myanmar against it. Far from being a source of stability, the junta is in fact a source of chaos and brutality that has displaced millions and driven the population into ever greater misery and despair.

On the third anniversary of the junta’s military coup, the people of Myanmar need and deserve more from the international community than statements or disjointed actions. Now, more than ever, is the time for coordinated international action that supports the heroic efforts of the people of Myanmar while degrading the junta’s ability to brutalise its own people.”