The United Nations has failed to respond to the situation in Myanmar in a manner that reflects the gravity of the crisis caused by the military coup over the past two-and-a-half years, a group of former UN experts on Myanmar say in a new report.
The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M) said in the report released on Tuesday that UN member states, the Security Council and the General Assembly are failing to act.
The UN Country Team (UNCT) is pursuing the same failed approach of appeasing the military despite growing risks and ever-fewer results, while UN Secretary-General António Guterres has neglected his responsibilities to the Myanmar people as head of the UN Secretariat, the report added.
The junta has waged a campaign of atrocities against the civilian population in Myanmar that has left 2 million people internally displaced and up to 20 million in need of humanitarian assistance, it stated.
“Its [the junta’s] attacks have escalated in 2023 and the UN is still failing to respond,” the SAC-M said, adding that the objections of Myanmar civil society to the actions of UN officials are also being ignored.
Civil society groups have urged UN agencies as well as regional and international actors to cut ties with the junta; deliver humanitarian assistance directly to local humanitarian actors; and commit to meaningful engagement and collaboration with Myanmar’s legitimate stakeholders, including civil society organizations and local service providers.
Among its recommendations, it said the UN Security Council must enforce the junta’s compliance with Resolution 2669—which calls for an immediate end to all forms of violence—by, among other things, imposing a comprehensive arms embargo and targeted financial sanctions on the junta. It also called for the council to refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court.
The UNCT must redefine its relationship with the junta and should coordinate directly with the civilian National Unity Government, ethnic resistance organizations and resistance authorities for humanitarian access, the SAC-M said in the report.
According to the SAC-M’s records, at least 66 “official” meetings between the junta and UN representatives have been publicly reported as having taken place from the start of the coup attempt on Feb. 1, 2021 until the date of the report.
The meetings are typically reported in junta-controlled media in a way that attempts to promote the legitimacy of the junta, describing junta representatives present at the meetings as “ministers” and other “government” officials, the report stated.
“By treating the junta as the de facto authority of Myanmar, UN entities subject themselves to the junta’s arbitrary access restrictions, which directly correlate with its military and political objectives,” it said.
The SAC-M recommended supporting—but not co-opting—civil society networks engaged in the existing cross-border humanitarian response, which it said is the only effective way to reach all of those in need in Myanmar.
Musel, a local humanitarian actor with Kyay Latt Myay, a local humanitarian group working in Kayah State, said in the report that UN humanitarian provisions are not effective and have not reached people on the ground.
“In Karenni [Kayah] state, people who have been displaced due to the military attacks have not received any support from international humanitarian organizations, particularly from the UN agencies. There are some UN agencies in Karenni state, but they are only active in urban areas. They can only support where the junta allows them to reach… Therefore, I would like to urge the donors to [provide] support through cross-border [channels],” Musel added.
The SAC-M also urged the secretary-general to fulfil his responsibility as the head of the UN Secretariat to lead the development of a unifying, comprehensive and coherent UN strategy on Myanmar with clear lines of responsibility to monitor and evaluate implementation and ensure accountability for UN actions.
