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Open letter: Special Envoy’s conflicts of interest signal urgent need for investigation and complete end of mandate

March 17, 2025/in Member statements, Press Releases and Statements

To: United Nations Secretary-General United Nations General Assembly Open letter: Special Envoy’s conflicts of interest signal urgent need for investigation and complete end of mandate 17 March 2025 We—the undersigned 290 Myanmar, regional, and international civil society organizations—call on United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to urgently open an investigation into conflicts of interest over the […]

UN chief: Discussing humanitarian aid corridor from Bangladesh to Myanmar

March 17, 2025/in News

Amid fighting in Rakhine state, immediate ‘dignified return’ for refugees is difficult, he says. DHAKA, Bangladesh — The United Nations is discussing the possibility of a humanitarian aid corridor to Myanmar from Bangladesh in an effort to create equitable conditions for Rohingya refugees to eventually return, the U.N. chief said in Dhaka on Saturday. However, […]

Open letter: Special Envoy’s conflicts of interest signal urgent need for investigation and complete end of mandate

March 17, 2025/in Member statements, Press Releases and Statements

UN chief: Discussing humanitarian aid corridor from Bangladesh to Myanmar

March 17, 2025/in News

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Open letter: Special Envoy’s conflicts of interest signal urgent need for investigation and complete end of mandate

March 17, 2025/in Member statements, Press Releases and Statements

To:

United Nations Secretary-General

United Nations General Assembly

Open letter: Special Envoy’s conflicts of interest signal urgent need for investigation and complete end of mandate

17 March 2025

We—the undersigned 290 Myanmar, regional, and international civil society organizations—call on United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to urgently open an investigation into conflicts of interest over the business activities of UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar Julie Bishop and make the findings public. We also call on the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to immediately end the mandate of the Special Envoy, and on the Secretary-General to assume a leadership role in addressing the crisis in Myanmar directly.

We are alarmed by the Special Envoy’s business activities and connections to the mining industry and Chinese state-owned companies with possible or confirmed commercial interests in Myanmar, including Shenghe Resources and China Communications Construction Company. Her involvement with Chinese state-owned companies raises serious concerns about the impartiality and independence required to engage with China as the Special Envoy on Myanmar. Such conflicts of interest actively endanger the human rights of the Myanmar people as China remains a top source of military support and false legitimacy for the illegal military junta. The Chinese government is evidently aiding and abetting the junta’s ongoing crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Myanmar people.

The UN’s response thus far is wholly unacceptable. As the appointing authority, the UN Secretary-General bears a significant responsibility to the people of Myanmar to ensure the integrity and impartiality of the Special Envoy. That the UN would allow the Special Envoy tasked with addressing the Myanmar crisis to continue given such blatant commercial interests that jeopardize the lives of the people of Myanmar, is unconscionable.

The Special Envoy’s conflicts of interest are the latest reminder that the UN’s decades of peace-brokering attempts through special envoys and “dialogues” have produced absolutely no meaningful, positive change for the people of Myanmar. Instead, this ongoing approach continues to embolden the junta to commit atrocity crimes with complete impunity and harm the people of Myanmar. Given the outdated and ineffectual mandate, civil society organizations have previously called for the UN to abolish the position. The UN must transform its destructive approach into principled, ethical, and concerted efforts that fully respect the human rights of the Myanmar people and support their collective will to dismantle military tyranny.

This moment must finally mark the end of the UN’s relegation of responsibility on the crisis in Myanmar. We urge the UNGA to immediately revoke the mandate of the Special Envoy, particularly given the current Special Envoy’s conflicts of interest that jeopardize the lives of the Myanmar people.

We call on the Secretary-General to immediately open an investigation regarding these conflicts of interest and publish the findings. The Secretary-General must urgently take the lead to end the military junta’s terror campaign, ensure accountability for the perpetrators under international law, and robustly support the Myanmar people’s revolution to build sustainable peace and an inclusive federal democracy.

For more information, please contact:

Mulan, Blood Money Campaign; bloodmoneycampaign21@protonmail.com

Naw Aung, Defend Myanmar Democracy; communication@defendmyanmardemocracy.org

Naw Cherry, Karen Peace Support Network; kpsn14@gmail.com

Khin Ohmar, Progressive Voice; info@progressive-voice.org

UN chief: Discussing humanitarian aid corridor from Bangladesh to Myanmar

March 17, 2025/in News

Amid fighting in Rakhine state, immediate ‘dignified return’ for refugees is difficult, he says.

DHAKA, Bangladesh — The United Nations is discussing the possibility of a humanitarian aid corridor to Myanmar from Bangladesh in an effort to create equitable conditions for Rohingya refugees to eventually return, the U.N. chief said in Dhaka on Saturday.

However, the Rohingya refugees sheltering in Bangladesh could not make and immediate, “dignified return to their homeland in Myanmar’s Rakhine state amid the continued fighting there, added U.N. Secretary General António Guterres at a media briefing.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and Bangladesh Foreign Adviser Md. Touhid Hossain speak to reporters in Dhaka, March 15, 2025. (Jesmin Papri/BenarNews)

“We need to intensify the humanitarian aid inside Myanmar to create a condition for that return to be successful,” Guterres said on the penultimate day of his four-day visit to Bangladesh.

Setting up a humanitarian aid channel “is obviously a matter that would require authorization and cooperation,” he said without further specifying.

Humanitarian corridors are designated and secure routes that allow for the safe passage of humanitarian relief, according to Southeast Asian NGO Fortify Rights.

The NGO said this week that the Bangladesh government and the rebel Arakan Army comprising ethnic Rakhine should immediately facilitate humanitarian aid and cross-border trade to reach war-affected civilians the state.

U.N. chief António Guterres at a photo exhibition in Dhaka for the 50th anniversary this year of Bangladesh joining the United Nations, March 15, 2025. (Chief Adviser GOB via Facebook)

“The crisis in Myanmar demands urgent global attention and action,” said Ejaz Min Khant in a statement Wednesday.

“A humanitarian corridor between Myanmar and Bangladesh would be a lifeline for civilians impacted by the conflict.”

The statement said Bangladesh should also lift restrictions on border trade with Myanmar “to help ease access to basic commodities for civilians in Rakhine state.”

The NGO noted that Bangladesh’s interim leader, Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus had said in an interview aired earlier this month on Sky News that his government was in ongoing negotiations with the Arakan Army to create a “safe zone” for Rohingya refugees to return to Rakhine.

Bangladesh’s Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain, who also spoke at the joint media briefing, said the establishment of a humanitarian channel was not discussed with the U.N. chief during his visit.

“This is much more of an operational matter, which we will of course deal [on] with the local offices of the U.N.,” Hossain said.

Nearly a million Rohingya, a persecuted minority Muslim community in Myanmar, live in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar in southeastern Bangladesh.

Almost 800,000 of them crossed into neighboring Bangladesh to flee a deadly Myanmar military crackdown in 2017.

Their return to Rakhine has been prolonged after civil war broke out in Myanmar following the military coup of February 2021.

U.N. human rights experts had said on Thursday that the Myanmar junta had not been allowing in relief supplies, with the situation “particularly critical in Rakhine,” which is home to the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities.

Rakhine State was “on the brink of famine,” with two million people at risk of starvation, the statement added citing another U.N. agency.

Meanwhile, heavy fighting continues in Rakhine between the Myanmar military and the rebel Arakan Army, Guterres said on Saturday.

“There is a consensus that it would be extremely difficult in such a situation for an immediate and dignified return of the Rohingya,” he told the mrdia in Dhaka on Saturday.

Guterres further noted that in the past, the relationship between the ethnic Rakhine and the Rohingya has not been an easy one.

“So I think it is important to engage with the Arakan Army in order for ensure full respect of the rights of the Rohingya population in Rakhine,” the U.N. chief said.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres observes a traditional tool used by Rohingya to thresh rice, March 14, 2025. (Press Wing of the Chief Adviser)

The Arakan Army founded in 2009 is fighting to “liberate” Rakhine towards its goal of self-determination. It has made significant gains over the past year to root out the military and now controls a majority of Rakhine’s townships, reported radio Free Asia, a news service affiliated with BenarNews.

Comprising mainly Rakhine Buddhists, the Arakan Army claimed it respects the rights of Rohingya. But experts have said there was plenty of evidence that the Arakan Army carried out mass arson attacks on Rohingya villages in May and August last year.

Guterres again made an impassioned plea to donor nations for more humanitarian aid for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, whose food ration is set to be cut by more than half starting next month due to a funds shortage.

“With the announced cuts in financial assistance, we are facing the dramatic risk of having only 40% in 2025 of the resources available for humanitarian aid in 2024,” he said.

“This would have terrible consequences starting with the drastic reduction of food rations. That would be an unmitigated disaster. People will suffer and people will die.”

He said that by offering the Rohingya refuge, Bangladesh had shown its humanitarian spirit.

“By offering Rohingya refugees sanctuary, Bangladesh has demonstrated solidarity and human dignity, often at significant social, environmental and economic cost,” he said.

“The world must not take this generosity for granted.”

RFA News

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ND Burma

ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.

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