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The UN has called on member states “to stop the flow of weapons to Myanmar” and release Aung San Suu Kyi and other imprisoned leaders, delivering a symbolic but strong global reprimand to Min Aung Hlaing’s military junta.
The UN general assembly adopted the resolution by majority vote with 119 countries in support on Friday. Only one country – Belarus – voted against the resolution, with China, Russia and 34 other countries abstaining. China has argued that external pressure could exacerbate the situation, but has not ruled out an arms embargo in the future.
The text is not binding and its language was softened during negotiations with some of Myanmar’s regional neighbors. But diplomats and human rights groups said the effort marked, however, an attempt by the international community to isolate the Board at a time when some countries were seeking links with the generals.
“This is a setback for the board,” said Richard Gowan, UN director of the International Crisis Group, adding that it was “very unusual” that the general assembly (the UN’s political body of 193 member states) weighs a coup. “Generals and their allies will find it harder to tell the world that their takeover is now just a fact of life that everyone should accept.”
Louis Charbonneau, UN director of Human Rights Watch, said the UN Security Council should now “strengthen” and impose a global arms embargo on Myanmar, with “very strong” approval. “Friday at the general assembly.
The 15-member UNSC, whose decisions are binding on member states, discussed Myanmar on Friday, but so far has not considered an arms embargo.
“Today’s vote seems to indicate that China has not yet launched the board,” Charbonneau said, adding that he hopes Beijing will not block the UNSC arms embargo.
The crisis in Myanmar was caused by the military overthrow of Aung San Suu Kyi’s government on February 1 after a staggered victory for his National League for Democracy in the November elections.
At least 865 people have been killed and more than 6,000 detained since the coup, according to the Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners (Burma), a human rights group.
Myanmar’s army has suppressed massive peaceful protests in the weeks following the coup. More recently, violence has expanded to include clashes between anti-regime urban troops and guerrillas or armed organizations in some of the country’s ethnic minority states.
The leader of Myanmar went to trial this week in Naypyidaw, where he faces multiple criminal charges that his lawyers and human rights groups say were fabricated to prevent him from seeking charges again.
Human rights groups and civil society activists in Myanmar had urged the UN to take action and described an arms embargo as one of the steps the world community could take to do its utmost to stop the bloodshed. in the country.
However, so far diplomats have considered that a Security Council resolution had little chance of happening because permanent members China i Russia, the two main arms suppliers of Myanmar’s army, have veto power.
The vote comes at a time when some Myanmar residents are opening contacts with board officials, angering anti-coup activists who want the world to isolate the board and take revenue from it.
Asean, the ten-member Southeast Asian group to which Myanmar belongs, held an online meeting of defense ministers this week attended by a regime official, which was also attended by Lloyd Austin. U.S. Secretary of Defense. Asean members were split in Friday’s UN vote, with Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand abstaining and the majority, including Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam, backing.
The UN, China, and Asean have been targets of anti-coup protesters Asean flag burned in a protest in Yangon this week. The blog in April agreed to one five-point consensus in slowing down violence in Myanmar, but infuriated the anti-copyist camp by inviting Min Aung Hlaing to the summit at which it was agreed.
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