A United Nations agency is crying foul, saying reports by media controlled by the Myanmar junta that it will help the regime conduct a pre-election census in October next year are false.
“The UNFPA … is unable to support the 2024 census in Myanmar,” the regional office of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) told The Irrawaddy by email, citing UN “internal operating guidelines” and “the current political and conflict context in Myanmar” as its reasons.
The statement follows reports in junta-controlled media that immigration and population minister Myint Kyaing met with UNFPA resident representative to Myanmar Ramanathan Balakrishnan on December 11 in Naypyitaw to discuss the planned census.
The reports said the pair discussed a plan for the UN agency to support the junta’s census.
Talks also included a plan for the Thailand-based UNFPA Asia-Pacific Regional Director to visit Myanmar in the near future as well as “conditions for continued cooperation between the ministry and UNFPA in census activities,” junta media reports said.
The pro-junta media Popular News went further, saying the UNFPA would provide as much support and cooperation as possible for the junta to conduct its census.
Junta officials have said a national census is a prerequisite for national elections.
It is widely believed, however, that the junta will use the census to step up monitoring of its opponents, including thousands of civil servants, doctors and teachers who have not returned to work to protest the 2021 coup.
The UNFPA told The Irrawaddy that its position has not changed since it announced in September that it would not support the junta’s census. It was responding to questions from The Irrawaddy.
The office confirmed that Balakrishnan did meet with Myint Kyaing, but said the meeting was just a customary exit meeting, explaining that Balakrishnan’s duties in Myanmar are expiring because he is leaving the country this month.
Deputy junta chief Soe Win, who chairs the central commission tasked with conducting the census, has said the regime would do it by itself and it will not seek technical or financial assistance from international organizations as was done previously.
“The census and household registration must be enumerated on a self-reliant basis by spending the state budget through the collaborative efforts of ministries,” Soe Win said during a meeting of the commission in August.
When Myanmar carried out its first national census in more than 30 years in 2014, the UNFPA and several development partner countries provided technical and financial support.
However, in September, the junta’s immigration minister Myint Kyaing visited Beijing and sought its help for conducting the census. In October, the junta began a pilot census in 20 townships across the country.
Junta officials have said a national census must be completed before fresh elections, which the government has hinted may come in 2025.
The UNFPA’s Asia and Pacific Regional Office also said that the planned UNFPA Regional Director’s visit to Myanmar, which was noted in junta media reports, underscores its continued commitment to the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and young people in Myanmar.
The regional director will have talks with various stakeholders, including UNFPA staff, implementing partners and staff with bilateral donors when the official visits, the UNFPA told The Irrawaddy. Its regional director will also meet with junta officials to address constraints on existing programs and operations, and will also push for visas to be issued for staff waiting for them, the agency said.
