ITEM 4 – Interactive dialogue on the report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights situation in Myanmar

Republic of the Union of Myanmar
National Unity Government
Ministry of Human Rights

UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
57th session

ITEM 4 – Interactive dialogue on the report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights situation in Myanmar

MYANMAR

25 September 2024

The Republic of the Union of Myanmar, as represented by the National Unity Government, welcomes the interactive dialogue on Myanmar with the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as OHCHR’s corresponding report on the human rights situation in Myanmar.

In the words of Deputy High Commissioner Nada Al-Nashif, “Myanmar continues to sink into an abyss of human suffering”. The Deputy High Commissioner catalogued before the Council a range of military junta atrocities – airstrikes and artillery attacks as “weapons of choice” against civilians; the manipulation of humanitarian aid, seen yet again in the aftermath of Cyclone Yagi; the deliberate destruction of Myanmar youth through a campaign of forced conscription; and the “rampant” use of torture and sexual violence against women and LBGTI persons in arbitrary detention.

OHCHR’s latest report on Myanmar (A/HRC/57/56) explores these same crimes in detail. It also addresses the grave situation in northern Rakhine State, where horrific reports and images have emerged from Maungdaw township and surrounding areas. This raises the alarm about potential new atrocities against the Rohingya, the Rakhine, and other minority communities. The Republic of the Union of Myanmar, as represented by the National Unity Government, is fully committed to preventing such crimes and to ensuring that shameful past failures in Myanmar are never repeated.

Deputy High Commissioner Al-Nashif also repeated earlier OHCHR calls on UN Member States and ASEAN Members to adopt a “new approach” to end the junta-induced crisis in Myanmar. Three steps were proposed, each of which Myanmar supports:

1. Concrete action to block the flow of arms, other military material and aviation fuel to the junta. This must be done through a new Security Council resolution in follow-up to resolution 2669 (2022) that also formally places Myanmar on the Council’s agenda through regular reporting
2. A renewed political process through direct engagement with the National Unity Government, ethnic armed groups, civil society, women and young people to define future solutions for Myanmar
3. Finding creative ways to get humanitarian aid to all communities in need, including through cross-border operations and established ethnic, civil society and community-based organizations. Myanmar, however, cautions the international community against cooperating with the military junta, which continues to manipulate and withhold humanitarian aid as a tactic of war.

Myanmar furthermore supports the Deputy High Commissioner’s calls for accountability, including through a Security Council referral of the situation in Myanmar to the ICC. We remain committed to cooperating with the ICJ and national jurisdictions to advance justice and reparations. And we will continue to work with OHCHR, the IIMM and the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar to secure meaningful access to Myanmar to facilitate investigations, monitoring and reporting on the human rights situation.

Finally, Myanmar wholly accepts OHCHR’s call on the National Unity Government to fully respect international humanitarian law and human rights, including by holding perpetrators of violations accountable, in accordance with international standards. We hold ourselves to this standard and expect the same of all actors in Myanmar.

In closing, Myanmar remains deeply grateful to High Commissioner Türk, Deputy High Commissioner Al-Nashif and to OHCHR’s Myanmar Team for their continued efforts to expose the military junta’s atrocities and to push the world to act.

Ministry of Human Rights
National Unity Government