HRC 53: Volker Türk Statement on Myanmar

HRC53: SR Thomas Andrews - ID on Myanmar 06 July2023

12:51

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748.3 MB

06-07-2023

Edited News | OHCHR

HRC 53: Volker Türk Statement on Myanmar

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Shotlist Story

Exterior shot: Palais des Nations, Geneva.
Wide shot: wide shot room 20
Soundbite (English)— Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, (OHCHR): “This Council has heard report after report on the human rights situation in Myanmar. With each successive update, it is almost impossible to imagine that the people of Myanmar can endure more suffering. Yet the country continues its deadly freefall into even deeper violence and heartbreak. -A regime imposed by generals for the last two and a half years has snatched away the optimism that Myanmar’s people once held for peace, democracy, and a more prosperous future,”
Cut away: Room 20
Soundbite (English)— Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, (OHCHR):“Civilians live at the whim of a reckless military authority that relies on systematic control tactics, fear and terror in the hope of enforcing its ever-diminishing control. Civilians also bear the devastating brunt of the grotesque violence, including against older people, people with disabilities and infants. The situation has become untenable.”
Cut away: Room 20
Soundbite (English)— Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, (OHCHR): “Every day, the military’s ruthless so-called “four cuts” strategy continues to wreak destruction. Entire villages are razed and burned to the ground, collectively punishing civilians, by depriving them of shelter, food, water, and life-saving aid. Since the coup began, the military has scorched at least 70,000 homes across the country, 70 percent of which were in Sagaing region. Over 1.5 million people have been forcibly displaced with minimal access to humanitarian aid.”
Cut away: Room 20
Soundbite (English)— Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, (OHCHR): “The report I present to the Council today focuses on the systematic denial by the military of life-saving humanitarian aid for civilians. They have put in place a raft of legal, financial, and bureaucratic barriers to ensure people in need do not receive and cannot access assistance.”
Cut away: Room 20
Soundbite (English)— Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, (OHCHR):” This obstruction of life-saving aid is deliberate and targeted, a calculated denial of fundamental rights and freedoms for large swathes of the population.”
Cut away: Room 20
Soundbite (English)— Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, (OHCHR): “I deplore the direct attacks on humanitarian staff. Local organizations, which provide the vast majority of humanitarian aid, face the greatest risks in carrying out their work. Up to 40 humanitarian workers have been killed and over 200 arrested since the coup.”
Cut away: Room 20
Soundbite (English)— Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, (OHCHR): “This Council needs to consider how to bring to light the business interests that support the military and keep them afloat.”
Cut away: Room 20
Soundbite (English)— Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, (OHCHR): “It is of the utmost urgency that we restore all conditions necessary for Myanmar’s people to find a way out of the heartache, and to live their lives in freedom and safety.”

“This Council has heard report after report on the human rights situation in Myanmar. With each successive update, it is almost impossible to imagine that the people of Myanmar can endure more suffering. Yet the country continues its deadly freefall into even deeper violence and heartbreak. -A regime imposed by generals for the last two and a half years has snatched away the optimism that Myanmar’s people once held for peace, democracy, and a more prosperous future,” Türk said.

The High Commissioner described the regime imposed by generals for the last two and a half years as having snatched away the optimism that Myanmar’s people once held for peace, democracy, and a more prosperous future.

“Civilians live at the whim of a reckless military authority that relies on systematic control tactics, fear and terror in the hope of enforcing its ever-diminishing control. Civilians also bear the devastating brunt of the grotesque violence, including against older people, people with disabilities and infants. The situation has become untenable,” he said.

The High Commissioner spoke of brutal attacks by the military in border regions, with increasing numbers of people crossing international frontiers in search of safety and protection. More than one million Rohingya remain in neighboring Bangladesh where they live in the world’s largest refugee camp in deplorable conditions. The conditions for their return to Myanmar are still non-existent. And the military continues to carry out atrocities in their home state of Rakhine, where they are denied citizenship.

Credible sources indicate that as of yesterday, 3,744 individuals have died at the hands of the military since they took power, and 23,670 have been arrested. These figures represent the minimum that can be documented and verified - the true number of casualties is likely to be far higher.

“Every day, the military’s ruthless so-called “four cuts” strategy continues to wreak destruction. Entire villages are razed and burned to the ground, collectively punishing civilians, by depriving them of shelter, food, water, and life-saving aid. Since the coup began, the military has scorched at least 70,000 homes across the country, 70 percent of which were in Sagaing region. Over 1.5 million people have been forcibly displaced with minimal access to humanitarian aid,” Türk said.

Incessant airstrikes and artillery shelling are destroying homes and stealing lives. In the first six months of this year, my Office reported a 33 percent increase in indiscriminate airstrikes compared to the first half of last year, with rising attacks on civilian targets, including villages, schools, hospitals and places of worship.

Artillery attacks have also dramatically increased, with over 563 this year, representing already 80 percent of the total attacks last year. My Office also continues to document repeated violations of the most brutal forms: sexual violence, mass killings, extra-judicial executions, beheadings, dismemberments, and mutilations.

The High Commissioner also appealed to all countries to cease and prevent the supply of arms to the military and to take targeted measures to limit access by generals to foreign currency, aviation fuel and other means that enable attacks on Myanmar’s people.

“The report I present to the Council today focuses on the systematic denial by the military of life-saving humanitarian aid for civilians. They have put in place a raft of legal, financial, and bureaucratic barriers to ensure people in need do not receive and cannot access assistance.

This obstruction of life-saving aid is deliberate and targeted, a calculated denial of fundamental rights and freedoms for large swathes of the population,” Türk said.

In mid-May, when Cyclone Mocha made landfall with devastating effect in Rakhine, Chin, Magway and Sagaing, the military actively prevented independent needs assessments, and obstructed access to information. They suspended all travel authorisations in Rakhine State, eventually allowing distribution of aid to resume if it was not cyclone-related.

“I deplore the direct attacks on humanitarian staff. Local organizations, which provide the vast majority of humanitarian aid, face the greatest risks in carrying out their work. Up to 40 humanitarian workers have been killed and over 200 arrested since the coup,” he said.

“This Council needs to consider how to bring to light the business interests that support the military and keep them afloat,” the High Commissioner stated.

The High Commissioner said the path out of this crisis must be anchored in accountability for the grave human rights violations and other violations of international law that are occurring. He urged the Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court.

“It is of the utmost urgency that we restore all conditions necessary for Myanmar’s people to find a way out of the heartache, and to live their lives in freedom and safety,” he said in conclusion.

ENDS

For more information and media requests, please contact:

Ravina Shamdasani - + 41 22 917 9169 / ravina.shamdasani@un.org or Marta Hurtado - + 41 22 917 9466 / marta.hurtadogomez@un.org or Jeremy Laurence + +41 22 917 9383 / jeremy.laurence@un.org

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Teleprompter

Thank you, Mr Vice President, Members of the Council, the **** Commissioner has provided you with an accurate and very sobering update on the deteriorating conditions in Myanmar.

Last year, I presented you with a conference room paper on the human rights of Myanmar's children, warning that unless conditions changed, these children would become a lost generation.

I deeply regret to report that many of those dire warnings have come to pass.

By the end of last year, more than 800 children had been killed or maimed since the coup began, most victims of indiscriminate attacks by hunter forces.

387 children are currently being held behind bars as political prisoners, 51 children are being held as hostages for the purpose of putting pressure on their parents and others.

More than 660,000 children are now displaced and 5.8 million children require humanitarian assistance.

These tragic developments and the **** Commissioner's report beg 2 important questions #1 what can be done to change the course of this tragic downward trajectory?

And #2 is the international community meeting its fundamental obligation to help the victims of these atrocities.

The people of Myanmar need and deserve action by UN member states, action that supports their heroic efforts to save their country and denies the junta the three things that it needs to continue its brutality #1 weapons #2 money and #3 legitimacy.

I am worried that the political will that is necessary to sustain this action could be waning, that some governments appear ready to move on to accept the Hunter's illegitimate claim to power.

And I fear that some are ready to cover their eyes as the Hunter attacks civilians, burns villages and imprisons thousands of political prisoners.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Mr Vice President, it is imperative that this trend be reversed.

The military junta of Myanmar must be disabused of any notion that time is on its side, that it need only wait out a fickle and distracted world.

Member States must be prepared to step up and stop, or at least slow access to what the junta needs to continue Myanmar's nightmare.

First, weapons.

I recently issued a conference room paper entitled The $1 Billion Death Tray that documents how the junta has imported more than $1 billion in weapons and weapons related materials since the military coup.

This was done with the full knowledge that these weapons could be used to **** thousands of innocent people to commit probable war crimes and crimes against humanity.

This is unconscionable.

Singapore is among the nations mentioned in my paper and I am pleased to report that the Government of Singapore is now investigating the reports.

Findings that 138 Singapore suppliers based suppliers were involved in the transfer of $254 million worth of weapons related materials.

I recently met with the Singapore government officials with whom I shared further details of these transactions and look forward to the outcome of their investigations.

If these shipments were to be stopped, the junta's commitment of war crimes and crimes against humanity would be significantly disrupted.

Second, money, foreign currency enables the Hunter to purchase arms, supply its weapons, factories and fuel jets and helicopters.

It is essential that the international community act in a coordinated manner to deprive the Hunter of these funds.

The European Union has provided important leadership in this regard by sanctioning the Hunter's largest source of revenue, Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, or Mogi.

the United States recently announced that it has imposed sanctions on the Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank and Myanmar Investment and Commercial Bank.

These are very important steps that could have far reaching impact if we build upon them.

But as important as these steps are, more must be done.

the US and others should join the EU by imposing sanctions on Mogi, while all should join the US in opposing sanctions on Myanmar financial institutions.

Indeed, greater coordination among those governments that have imposed sanctions and their cooperation in the enforcement of these sanctions would be highly significant.

Third, legitimacy.

Projecting an appearance of legitimacy is also critical to the junta.

Time and again we have seen the military propagandise, any engagement with foreign diplomats or international bodies.

The junta would like to signal to the people of Myanmar that it is a respected member of the international community and like it or not, it is here to stay.

The leader of the junta, senior General Min Online and senior level Hunter officials are now prohibited from participating in ASEAN summits and foreign ministers meetings.

This body has condemned the coup.

I was recently in Indonesia where President Widodo has called for an even wider prohibition on hunter participation in ASEAN.

These principal positions are now being challenged both within and beyond ASEAN.

However, some regional governments appear ready to engage the junta as if it were the legitimate government of Myanmar, as if it was not murdering its own people.

Now the commander in chief of the Myanmar Air Force that continues to **** and maim untold numbers of innocent people with jet fighters and helicopter gunships has been named chair of the ASEAN Air Chiefs Conference.

This despite being responsible for probable war crimes.

I frankly cannot imagine any justification for this inexplicable policy.

It is a classic lose lose proposition.

The people of Myanmar lose because the hunter will use this designation to legitimise forces that continue to brutally attack them.

ASEAN loses by being directly associated with the atrocities of a ruthless military.

Mr Vice President, those responsible for these atrocities should not be serving in leadership positions in ASEAN.

They should be serving prison sentences for their crimes.

The second question I would like to address is whether the international community is meeting its fundamental obligation to help the victims of these human rights violations and atrocities.

There is no group that has suffered more from the military's brutal attacks than the Rainga Muslim minority in 2016 and 17 genocidal attacks led by the military forced over 700,000 to cross the border into Bangladesh, literally running for their lives.

Make no mistake, the Rainga were attacked not because of anything that they had done, but because of who they are and the God who they pray to.

More than a million are now trying to survive in refugee camps in Bangladesh, but because of a lack of support from the international community, Rohingya children are being denied food and nutrition that they desperately need.

41% of Rohingya children are suffering from stunted growth and more than half are anaemic.

And this was before the World Food Programme was forced to cut already meagre food rations by 17% in April and an additional 20% in June.

Mr Vice President, this is unconscionable and should be unacceptable to everyone in this Chamber.

How is it possible that more than halfway through 2023, the Rainga Humanitarian Crisis Joint Response Plan is only 27% funded?

The Rainga are prohibited from working and are completely dependent upon this aid.

They are being forced to survive on rations that are valued on $0.27 per day.

A mother in the camps was in tears when she tried to describe to me the painful process of having to decide what foods she would no longer be able to feed her children.

And as she told me, this is not just about hunger and malnutrition.

Cuts in food rations are causing a rise in tension and violence in these camps.

During my recent visit to Indonesia, I spoke with Rohingya refugees who had travelled to Archer.

Given that life in Bangladesh had become so untenable.

Last year more than three 3500 were eager undertook sea journeys across the Bay of Bengal in the Adaman Sea, a 360% increase over the year before.

Over 340 of them perished.

And ladies and gentlemen, I fully expect having discussed the crisis in the camps and the situation in this in this area, that we could see a significant increase in the number of those seeking these boats to put themselves and their families in these boats and seeking refuge.

This is truly a great, great tragedy.

The Rainga refugees are being put in an impossible situation.

They have an impossible choice.

Either stay and watch their children suffer from hunger and malnutrition or a go and participate in what is described as a pilot repatriation programme conjured up by the the junta and and the government of Bangladesh.

Where you would put your family right where you started, surrounded by military forces who committed genocidal attacks against you, or put your life and the life of your family into the hands of smugglers.

Mr.

President, it is incredibly important that we address this crisis and that we address this now.

I was very impressed with the Organisation of Islamic Countries focus of this issue before this Chamber.

What they have, their resolution that they put forward that was just tabled yesterday is commendable, but it is insufficient.

Rainga children cannot eat resolutions.

Last month, I spoke to the OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission and I've appealed to individual OIC countries for support of these Rohingya children.

I implore them to support their concern and and address their concern for the Rohingya not just with resolutions before this Council but by investing the dollars necessary to make this fund whole.

Only one of the 57 OIC countries supported any provided any money for this joint response plan last year, Only one.

Mr.

President, we can and must do better.

I realised that there are other issues and challenges before this Council but I believe that we are at a critical juncture and that it is time to refocus and re engage in the Myanmar the crisis.

I am a resource for you.

I will continue to provide you with information that I hope will be that you will find helpful.

And I hope that together we can engage in the action required to address this crisis because action is precisely what the Myanmar people need and deserve.

Thank you, Mr Vice President.