Item 4: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar

Organisation: Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)

Speaker: Claire Denman

Thank you, Madame President.

CSW welcomes the report of the Special Rapporteur and thanks the Rapporteur for his important work.

CSW fully shares the Rapporteur’s concerns regarding the coup in Myanmar and the arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance of hundreds of political prisoners.

We are also concerned by the subsequent crackdown on anti-coup protesters which has resulted in severe violations of multiple articles of the ICCPR, including the killing of dozens of people.

We echo the Rapporteur’s calls for the military junta to relinquish the power that it assumed though an illegal coup, and to stop the use of excessive and lethal force against the people of Myanmar.

CSW is particularly concerned by the coup’s potential impact for Myanmar’s ethnic nationalities and religious minorities.

Mr Rapporteur, as your report notes, the military already stands accused of severe violations of human rights against many of these groups, including the Rohingya, Kachin, Shan, Chin, Karen and Ta’ang.

Now, with the military coup, without even the veneer of democratisation, there are genuine concerns that they could escalate their operations against these groups.

We therefore echo the Rapporteur’s call for a nation-wide ceasefire, and urge Member States to hold the military to account for egregious violations of human rights across the country.

Finally, CSW remains convinced that the international community must move beyond welcome condemnations of the military coup, to swift and concrete action.

We therefore continue to call for robust sanctions, targeting the military and their enterprises, while avoiding measures that would affect the people or country.

We also call for the imposition of a global arms embargo.

Thank you.