The Republic of the Union of Myanmar, as represented by the National Unity Government, is grateful to High Commissioner Türk for his oral update on the human rights situation in Myanmar.

The High Commissioner described the situation in Myanmar as among the worst in the world and, addressing the military junta’s crimes and violations, catalogued a “litany of human suffering that is difficult to fathom”. This includes famine, mass civilian casualties, coercive conscription, beheadings, burnings, mutilations, executions, torture, the use of human shields and sexual violence. Arcing forced displacement also continues to impact communities already in the most stark situations of vulnerability, including the Rohingya.

Myanmar fully supports the High Commissioner’s appeal to the international community to prioritize Myanmar, including through sharpened targeted sanctions against junta members and their businesses and associates, and by demanding an embargo on weapons, munitions, jet fuel and dual-use items transfers to the junta.

We also support the High Commissioner’s call on UN Member States to support solutions that place the National Unity Government, ethnic organizations, women’s groups, youth, civil society and other pro-democracy actors at the centre. This should include an ASEAN+ approach that brings Myanmar’s neighbours and other influential States into a political process that upholds the Myanmar people’s democratic will and aspirations, and that meets ASEAN’s call for scaled-up financial support for the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian assistance. The UN Special Envoy on Myanmar and ASEAN’s Troika mechanism could take lead roles in this process.

Furthermore, Myanmar also shares the High Commissioner’s commitment to accountability and to breaking the cycle of impunity by holding perpetrators of human rights violations and abuses to account.

This session, the Human Rights Council has before it the opportunity to adopt a stronger resolution on Myanmar that is attuned to the rapidly evolving situation on the ground, where the National Unity Government and ethnic organizations are expanding territorial control and service delivery.

Looking to a post-military future, the new Myanmar text should:

• sharpen condemnation of the junta, including its continued atrocities against civilians, its forced conscription drive, its planned sham elections, and its withholding and blocking of humanitarian assistance
• welcome the filing by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court of an application for a warrant of arrest for Senior General Min Aung Hlaing
• condemn the continued failure of the military junta to comply with UNSCR 2669 (2022) and call on the Security Council to take clear punitive steps against the junta in follow-up
• express its clear support for a political process that places the National Unity Government, ethnic organizations, civil society, and the people’s democratic aspirations at its centre
• support expanded humanitarian assistance, reconstruction, transitional justice and nation-building efforts as essential steps toward cementing an inclusive, sustainable federal democratic union.

Myanmar repeats its thanks to High Commissioner Türk and extends its full cooperation to OHCHR and to the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms.

Ministry of Human Rights

National Unity Government

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