More than 860 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) called on the UN General Assembly on Monday to abolish the post of special envoy to Myanmar, which they believe served to legitimize the military junta that took power in 2021.
The request, sent in a letter, comes after the current UN Special Envoy for Myanmar (former Burma), Noeleen Heyzer, visited the country last week and met with the head of the military junta, Min Aung Hlaing, at Nay Pyi Taw.
The long history of attempts by the UN to reach peace agreements with the Burmese army through special envoys has never produced significant results, but has given legitimacy to the perpetrators of heinous international crimes,” reads the letter signed by 864 NGO.
Thus, civil organizations ask the UN General Assembly to eliminate the mandate of the position of special envoy to Myanmar in the session that will be held in September and to take measures so that the Burmese military responds for the abuses and crimes that have occurred in the country. . .
“We also appeal to the UN Secretary-General [António Guterres] take a direct role in Myanmar and take decisive action to show its serious commitment to resolving the devastating humanitarian and human rights crises” in the country, the document says.
The letter was signed by NGOs from Myanmar and other countries, of which around 320 refused to make their names public.
Signatories include organizations with a long history of activism such as the Progressive Voice, the Karen Peace Support Network, the Chin Human Rights Organization and ALTSEAN-Burma, among others.
NGOs denounce that the military junta, which took power in February 2021, used Heyzer’s visit as a diplomatic achievement and used it as propaganda in the official media, images of the UN envoy and Min Aung Hlaing shaking hands.
They also criticize that the UN envoy was unable to meet with the deposed leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who is still in prison, and that she did not mention the Government of National Unity, made up of politicians and activists, in her statement. in favor of democracy.
“The junta is a terrorist organization under Myanmar local laws and the international definition. The UN must apply the mandate of the UN Charter to protect the Burmese people from the growing violence of the military junta”, say the activists.
In his statement after the visit, Heyzer indicated that he asked Min Aung Hlaing to stop the violence in the country, in addition to the return of civilian and democratic rule, and also that Aung San Suu Kyi be allowed to return home.
The special envoy, who expressed concern for civilians displaced by the conflict in Myanmar, said her visit did not represent the “legitimacy” of the Burmese military junta.
The Burmese army justified the February 2021 military coup with electoral fraud in the November 2020 vote, in which Suu Kyi’s party won, as it had done previously in 2015, with the endorsement of international observers.
Source: Observadora
