Attachments
Seventy-eighth session
Agenda item 71 (c)
Promotion and protection of human rights: human rights
situations and reports of special rapporteurs
and representatives
Situation of human rights in Myanmar
Note by the Secretary-General
The Secretary-General has the honour to transmit to the General Assembly the report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Thomas H. Andrews, submitted in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 52/31.
Summary
The people of Myanmar continue to suffer from a deteriorating human rights and humanitarian crisis. An illegitimate military junta would like the world to believe that only it can restore peace and stability to the country. The opposite is true. The coup of February 2021 has been followed by ever greater levels of human rights violations, violence, oppression, lawlessness and poverty.
Junta forces have responded to losses on the ground with a widespread campaign of violence against civilians that has included an escalation in air strikes on villages and the burning of tens of thousands of homes. Displacement and human suffering continue on a massive scale and have been exacerbated by the landfall of Cyclone Mocha in May 2023 and shameless restrictions imposed by the junta on humanitarian aid. Nearly 20,000 political prisoners are now behind bars, where many endure torture and appalling conditions. The Rohingya continue to face systematic human rights violations in Myanmar and rapidly deteriorating conditions in refugee camps in Bangladesh.
In the present report, the Special Rapporteur describes conditions in Myanmar that should be of grave concern to Member States. However, he also describes developments that offer a path forward for a more effective international approach to the crisis. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights recently made a public call for “new thinking” to address the crisis in Myanmar. The present report cites timely examples of new thinking and new action, including the sanctioning of aviation fuel and key financial institutions relied on by the junta. The Special Rapporteur makes a series of recommendations and urges Member States to continue to strengthen and coordinate actions to support the people of Myanmar, who have demonstrated remarkable courage and tenacity in defending human rights and seeking an end to this crisis.