DILI (TOP) – The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) will meet this week in New York and has to take an important decision: should the military dictators in Myanmar be seated? The global unions are saying "no" - and demanding recognition of the National Unity Government instead. They're also demanding accountability for the many crimes being committed by the regime and calling for an arms embargo and economic sanctions.
When the coup occurred in February last year, José Ramos-Horta, now president of the republic of Timor-Leste, previously asked western countries and China to work together to find a solution to this case.
Ramos-Horta, a Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1996, strongly condemned the behavior of the military regime in Myanmar against Suu Kyi, who won the Peace Prize in 1991.
President Horta explained that over the years he has kept reminding the international community to understand the difficulties, Aung San Suu Kyi, the dire situation, was pressured by hardliners in the military and ethno-nationalist Buddhist monks.
“The topic of my speech this year at the UN general assembly is to inform the international community that the general situation in Timor-Leste has been good and stable, but also there are some other things to talk about the world situation, the big problem is the Ukraine and Russia war, but I will speak about the Myanmar case," President Horta told The Oe-Kusi Post (TOP) at President Nicolau Lobato international airport in Comoro-Dili, Wednesday, September 14, 2022.
In February 2021, he stated to TOP that, Aung San Suu Kyi must draw a very fine line to survive for five years, trying to consolidate her strength and democracy.
“She was totally ostracized, humiliated, by the Western liberal media, politicians, universities and others. And the military is watching with joy how the Nobel icon is being destroyed in the West. Now what? I recommend full sanctions, sanctions targeted at the military, ”Horta told The Oe-Kusi Post (TOP) in Dili, Tuesday, February 2, 2021.
Meanwhile, the US President Joe Biden said the military launched a "direct attack on democracy".
“In a democracy, force should never seek to overrule the will of the people or attempt to erase the outcome of a credible election,” Biden's statement that TOP accessed in the Asia Pacific Media Hub.
Biden said, for almost a decade, the people of Burma have been steadily working to establish elections, civilian governance, and the peaceful transfer of power.
“That progress should be respected”.
He asked the international community should come together in one voice to press the Burmese military to immediately relinquish the power they have seized, release the activists and officials they have detained, lift all telecommunications restrictions, and refrain from violence against civilians.
“The United States is taking note of those who stand with the people of Burma in this difficult hour. We will work with our partners throughout the region and the world to support the restoration of democracy and the rule of law, as well as to hold accountable those responsible for overturning Burma’s democratic transition”.
The United States removed sanctions on Burma over the past decade based on progress toward democracy. The reversal of that progress will necessitate an immediate review of our sanction laws and authorities, followed by appropriate action.
“The United States will stand up for democracy wherever it is under attack”.
This statement was issued after the Myanmar military sacked 24 ministers and appointed 11 new ministers under the new government, following the takeover of power and the imposition of a state of emergency on Monday, February 1, 2021.
All power has been handed over to Myanmar's top military commander, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, according to a military TV statement. The coup followed the absolute victory of Suu Kyi's party in the elections.
Last November, the so-called military rife with fraud. Suu Kyi urged her supporters to "not accept this" and "protest against the coup".
In a letter written before she was arrested, Suu Kyi said the military's move again brought the country back to dictatorship.
Meanwhile the military, in its latest statement, said they would reform the Election Commission and examine the voter list.
As quoted from the official military website, they claim to hold elections and hand over power to the winning party. Myanmar's military said the detention of a number of Myanmar political leaders was carried out in "response to election fraud".
Myanmar was ruled by the military until 2011, when Suu Kyi's democratic reforms ended army's rule.
Suu Kyi spent nearly 15 years in detention between 1989 and 2010. She is considered a pillar of democracy and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. However, her image collapsed because he was deemed to have done little in the issue of handling Rohingya Muslim refugees.
In elections in November last year, the NLD won enough seats in parliament to form a government, but the military considered the vote fraudulent.
2021 has been a dark time for Myanmar. One of the ASEAN countries has been in turmoil since the military coup on February 1 and is still going on today.
The coup reversed years of progress towards democracy in Myanmar in recent years. Myanmar has been under strict military rule for five decades, leading to isolation and sanctions.
When this reversal of power occurred, many countries and international organizations temporarily blocked the flow of funds to the country. Myanmar was reported to be short of cash which caused many residents to queue for ATMs.
Not only that, the military junta arrested Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, as well as Myanmar's president Win Myint. It is known that Suu Kyi was detained by the junta for violating several things, including fraud in the last election.
The military junta is also tough on pro-democracy citizens. They were not only arrested but also died at the hands of the authorities.
The Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners (AAPP) noted that there were around 1,105 people killed by the military junta's atrocities as of last September. Not a few Myanmar citizens also fled to neighboring countries, such as Thailand, to avoid living languishing under the leadership of the military junta.
On the other hand, Myanmar's civilian government which was overthrown in a military junta coup began to reportedly form its own "army". Previously the pro-Aung San Suu Kyi politicians had formed a shadow government and called themselves the "National Unity Government (NUG)".
NUG has the support of several ethnic militias in Myanmar. They unite to defeat the junta's well-trained army.
As a result of this civil war wasp, dozens of people died in the incident that occurred in early May 2021. Gunfights took place in the forest along the Monywa-Kalaywa highway, Mount Kyauktawgyi near the village of Chaungma, as well as in the forest near the village of Thaminchan in the township.
Most recently in December 2021, a Myanmar court sentenced Suu Kyi to four years in prison. He is said to have instigated citizens to oppose the military junta and violate the Covid-19 rules.
After being arrested by the military junta, Suu Kyi was faced with a dozen charges, including corruption, violating the state secrets law and telecommunications. Her supporters call the accusations against the 76-year-old woman baseless. The cases were deliberately designed to end her political career.
Since the 2021 coup that toppled Myanmar's democratic government, the military junta has killed more than 2,000 civilians including trade unionists and children, arrested more than 14,000, and displaced more than 1 million people.
This year, in a new wave of violence and impunity, the military junta has publicly executed 4 democracy activists, and is planning to execute 41 more political prisoners. The dictatorship has also sentenced State Councillor Aung San Suu Kyi to three years in prison with hard labour and dismissed the international community's demand for peace talks, including what it has committed under the ASEAN’s five-point consensus.
And the military junta's brazen atrocities continue. On 13 September 2022, on the opening day itself of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the military junta arrested 5 trade unionists from the Confederation of Trade Unions of Myanmar (CTUM). According to reports, the unionists were badly beaten, with one suffering from a gunshot wound.
This has to stop. In the spirit of solidarity and democracy, Global Unions call on the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to adopt the credentials of the National Unity Government (NUG). Reaffirm Mr. Kyaw Moe Tun as the Permanent Representative of Myanmar to the United Nations. Hold the military junta accountable for its crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court (ICC) based on a UN Fact Finding Mission in 2018. And urge the Security Council to adopt an arms embargo on Myanmar based on the UNGA Resolution 75/287, and economic sanction on the military junta.
