The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs on behalf of the EU and the governments of the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Switzerland, Timor-Leste and the UK issued a joint statement on Monday to address the human rights and humanitarian crisis in Myanmar.
I find it increasingly ridiculous that the embassies of democracies continue to issue nearly identical “concerned” statements year after year, saying, in this case:
“We urge the military regime and all armed actors in Myanmar to de-escalate violence, respect international humanitarian law and international human rights laws, protect civilians, and allow full, safe, and unimpeded humanitarian access so that life-saving aid can be provided to all people in need, including women, children, and members of ethnic and minority populations.”
“We reiterate our full support for ASEAN [the Association of Southeast Asian Nations]’s central role in finding a resolution to the crisis, including the work of the ASEAN Chair and Special Envoy, consistent with the Five Point Consensus, and acknowledge the important role of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Myanmar.”
As if “all armed actors”—shorthand for ethnic revolutionary organizations and People’s Defense Force groups, revolutionary forces who are actually defending the civilian population, liberating the country and providing as much assistance, local governance and order as they are able to do amid the junta’s ongoing campaign of terror—are responsible for “abducting and forcibly recruiting children”, “killing and injuring civilians”, “destroying civilian infrastructure”, “burning homes”, “attacking humanitarian workers and facilities”, “restricting humanitarian aid”, and ultimately “driving the worsening human rights and humanitarian crisis”.
In a situation where the military junta has been waging a full-scale war of terror against the civilian population across the entire country for nearly four years, how can anyone pretend that granting “humanitarian access” to a few “safe areas” will solve anything? It would be a mere drop in the ocean of catastrophe and ever-growing need caused by the junta’s atrocities and destruction.
For God’s sake, the junta must be stopped by cutting off its access to money, diplomatic recognition, and weapons, while finally providing concrete and meaningful assistance to the people of Myanmar, who are successfully defending themselves and liberating their communities from the junta’s terror.
ASEAN’s Five Point Consensus has delivered no results—not a single inch of improvement—in four years, and neither the ASEAN Chair nor its Special Envoy, nor the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Myanmar, will achieve anything, just as they have accomplished nothing so far.
Should we be grateful that the EU and the governments of the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Switzerland, Timor-Leste and the UK are still “concerned”? Is being “concerned” better than doing nothing?
Honestly, I no longer know.
Igor Blazevic is a senior adviser at the Prague Civil Society Centre. Between 2011 and 2016, he worked in Myanmar as the head lecturer of the Educational Initiatives Program.
