DILI (TOP) – This September, the United Nations General Assembly is preparing to make an important decision about who will represent Myanmar at the United Nations (UN).
The military junta are lobbying to have its representative installed as a way to gain legitimacy for its illegal government.
The global pro-democracy movement is backing current representative U Kyaw Moe Tun. He was appointed to the UN by the Myanmar government in 2018. After last year's military coup, he has continued to represent the people of Myanmar and has spoken out against the military leaders.
According to a petition from the Global Pro-Democracy Movement Network on Action Network there have been 330,692 who signed this petition with strongly appeal to the United Nations General Assembly Credentials Committee and the General Assembly to deny the credentials of the representative proposed by the Myanmar military Junta and to allow the incumbent Permanent Representative of Myanmar who was appointed by the legitimate government of Myanmar, U Kyaw Moe Tun to continue his representation of the people of Myanmar at the 77th United Nations General Assembly in September 2022.
U Kyaw Moe Tun has the trust of the people of Myanmar.
On 26 February 2021, just days after the Myanmar military staged a coup, Kyaw Moe Tun bravely stood up for the people of Myanmar, for democracy and human rights, in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly. “We will continue to fight,” he said, “for a government which is of the people, by the people, for the people.” Since then, H.E Kyaw Moe Tun has been accurately representing the cause of the people of Myanmar to the world.
The people of Myanmar do not accept the illegitimate military coup of February 1, 2021.
In the nineteen months since then, the majority of the people of Myanmar and all ethnic groups have been resisting the junta, bravely risking their lives, shelter, and livelihoods. The junta has been committing atrocity crimes and crimes against humanity, systemically killing, raping, arbitrarily arresting, torturing indiscriminately, and burning crops, towns and civilian properties, places of worship, schools, and hospitals with the intent to terrorize the people into subjugation.
The UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) has collected more than three million information items from almost 200 sources proving that military and security forces in Myanmar have been committing human rights violations, and serious violations of international humanitarian law.
Therefore, the Myanmar junta/State Administration Council (SAC) has no legitimacy or moral right to issue credentials. The credentials of the junta’s proposed representative must be rejected, especially since he is sent to replace a true representative of the people.
The people of Myanmar desperately require a voice who will speak on their behalf at the UN. To leave an entire nation of over fifty million people without a voice against horrendous state terrorism is morally reprehensible. We request on the strongest terms that the voice we trust, the incumbent Kyaw Moe Tun be allowed to represent the people of Myanmar.
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 recommend the adoption of the credentials of the National Unity Government (NUG). Reaffirm 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. 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.
