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MYANMAR: HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL CONDEMNS THE JUNTA, RESPONDS TO THE EARTHQUAKE, AND CALLS TO END SALE AND SUPPLY OF ARMS AND JET FUEL

April 4, 2025/in Press Releases and Statements

4 April 2025 Myanmar: Human Rights Council condemns the junta, responds to the earthquake, and calls to end sale and supply of arms and jet fuel UN Security Council must follow up urgently to address the crisis The consensus adoption of the latest resolution on Myanmar at the 58th session of the UN Human Rights […]

Myanmar military still bombing towns despite earthquake crisis, rebels say

March 31, 2025/in News

An armed resistance movement against Myanmar’s military-run government criticised the junta on Sunday for conducting airstrikes on villages even as the country reels from an earthquake that has killed around 1,700 people. The Karen National Union, one of Myanmar’s oldest ethnic armies, said in a statement the junta “continues to carry out airstrikes targeting civilian areas, even […]

MYANMAR: HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL CONDEMNS THE JUNTA, RESPONDS TO THE EARTHQUAKE, AND CALLS TO END SALE AND SUPPLY OF ARMS AND JET FUEL

April 4, 2025/in Press Releases and Statements

Myanmar military still bombing towns despite earthquake crisis, rebels say

March 31, 2025/in News

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MYANMAR: HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL CONDEMNS THE JUNTA, RESPONDS TO THE EARTHQUAKE, AND CALLS TO END SALE AND SUPPLY OF ARMS AND JET FUEL

April 4, 2025/in Press Releases and Statements

4 April 2025

Myanmar: Human Rights Council condemns the junta, responds to the earthquake, and calls to end sale and supply of arms and jet fuel

UN Security Council must follow up urgently to address the crisis

The consensus adoption of the latest resolution on Myanmar at the 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council reflects the international community’s collective condemnation of the Myanmar military junta’s relentless campaign of violence and atrocities. While the resolution represents progress in international efforts to hold the Myanmar military junta accountable for its crimes, it also underscores critical gaps in the global response to Myanmar’s worsening human rights and humanitarian crisis.

Condemnation of Junta’s Atrocities

The resolution unequivocally condemns the military junta for its escalating violence against civilians, including indiscriminate airstrikes and artillery attacks. It holds the junta responsible for Myanmar’s deepening crisis and for its atrocities, which have left millions in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and displaced over 3.5 million people inside the country. It leaves no doubt that the military junta has absolutely no international legitimacy and is the root cause of Myanmar’s deepening human rights and humanitarian crisis.

The resolution expresses deep concern over the junta’s ongoing human rights violations—including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, torture, sexual violence, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure—that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity under international law. It calls for an immediate cessation of all forms of violence and urges the military to release all arbitrarily detained persons.

Furthermore, the resolution highlights the plight of marginalized groups, particularly the Rohingya community, who continue to face systematic persecution and discrimination in their homeland of Rakhine State. It stresses the importance of addressing root causes of ongoing violence against Rohingya in Rakhine State and ensuring conditions necessary for their voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable return.

Obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty

In a notable development, the resolution “recalls obligations of State Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty in relation to international humanitarian law and international human rights law” under Articles 6 and 7 regarding the prohibitions of arms transfer authorization and assessment of arms export.

This key call by the Council reiterates the fact that any and all transfer, sale, and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment is not merely a matter of business transactions between states but an international obligation of UN Member States to ensure these arms do not contribute to human suffering, conflict, or violations of international law.

Impacts of Earthquake

The resolution addresses the devastating impacts, destruction, and casualties caused by the earthquake on 28 March 2025. We welcome the Council’s call for the provision of “principled humanitarian aid” to all in need, “including through organizations already operating in affected areas, in line with the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence.”

As Myanmar faces yet another catastrophe amidst the already dire humanitarian crisis caused by the junta’s campaign of terror, we call the Council’s attention to the press statement by over 265 Myanmar, regional, and international organizations. It is imperative that disaster emergency relief be channeled through local community groups and frontline responders in collaboration with legitimate Myanmar stakeholders and civil society organizations.

Given the history of aid exploitation and weaponization by the Myanmar military and its airstrikes even in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, we underscore the crucial importance of preventing manipulation of aid by the junta for political or military gain.

At this critical time, the UN Security Council must convene an emergency meeting and intervene to protect affected communities and ensure that aid reaches those with the direst need, in particular through adopting a resolution under Chapter VII.

Shortcomings in International Action

Despite these strong condemnations, the resolution falls short in several key areas.

Transfer, sale, and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment: The resolution acknowledges the serious human rights and humanitarian implications of the continuous “sale, diversion and unregulated or illicit transfers of arms and jet fuel.” However, watered-down language as a result of concessions made to achieve consensus, the resolution merely calls for the cessation of “the illicittransfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment,” failing to recognize the need to end all sale and transfer of arms and weapons to end the ongoing violence.

The failure to take action to impose a comprehensive global arms embargo or sanctions on aviation fuel for military purposes may amount to aiding and abetting the military’s continuing international crimes. As recently as yesterday, the Myanmar military launchedairstrikes on Sagaing Region and Kachin State, breaching its hours-old ceasefire declaration.

Reports by UN experts, in addition to reports by civil society, have documented transfer of arms, aviation fuel, and military equipment from and through UN Member States—namely China, Russia, India, Singapore, and Thailand—to Myanmar since 2018 including following the Rohingya genocide, and in particular since the coup attempt. Acting on the Council and General Assembly resolutions that repeatedly call for prevention of the flow of arms to Myanmar, the international community must take urgent measures to cut the supply to and access of the junta to arms and aviation fuel without delay or risk complicity in its mass atrocity crimes.

ASEAN: We are disappointed by the Council’s continued support for “the central role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations” (ASEAN) in addressing the escalating crisis in Myanmar despite its failure to make any progress in this regard over the past four years.

ASEAN’s efforts, in particular its Five-Point Consensus and insistence on the so-called “inclusive dialogue”, have been ineffective and often harmful to Myanmar people’s struggle for a human rights-centered future. To date, ASEAN has failed to recognize and address the Myanmar military as the root cause of the ongoing crisis with serious consequences for regional stability and human security. It is yet to meaningfully and officially engage with legitimate stakeholders such as the National Unity Government (NUG), ethnic revolutionary organizations, and Myanmar civil society. Furthermore, as opposed to the supposed aim of resolving the crisis, many ASEAN Member States are implicated in the transfer of arms and military equipment to the Myanmar military, contributing to the exacerbation of the crisis.

ASEAN and the UN are accountable to the people of Myanmar regarding matters of their own country. The UN’s delegation of its responsibilities to the Myanmar people to ASEAN will only prolong the Myanmar military’s mass atrocity crimes and intensify civilian casualties and suffering. This underscores the obligations of the UN and the wider international community to end its irresponsible reliance on ASEAN and to assume leadership in addressing Myanmar’s crisis.

Calls for Urgent Action

Four years since the attempted coup, Myanmar remains engulfed in violence and suffering. The will and commitment of its people to resist the military remain steadfast as they continue their struggle for federal democracy and justice. The Human Rights Council must mobilize Member States to heed their calls to implement a full ban on arms and aviation fuel sales and transfer to the junta and ensure accountability through international mechanisms such as referrals to the International Criminal Court.

The international community must move beyond rhetoric and take decisive action to end impunity for atrocity crimes in Myanmar. Only then can there be hope for peace, justice, and a future built on respect for human rights.

For more information, please contact:

Han Gyi, Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma; office@ndburma.org
Khin Ohmar, Progressive Voice; info@progressive-voice.org
The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development; communication@forum-asia.org

Myanmar military still bombing towns despite earthquake crisis, rebels say

March 31, 2025/in News

The Karen National Union, one of Myanmar’s oldest ethnic armies, said in a statement the junta “continues to carry out airstrikes targeting civilian areas, even as the population suffers tremendously from the earthquake”.

The group said that under normal circumstances, the military would be prioritising relief efforts, but instead is focused on “deploying forces to attack its people”.

A spokesman for the junta did not reply to queries from Reuters about the criticism.

Myanmar has been locked in civil war with multiple armed opposition groups since a 2021 coup when the military seized power from the elected government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Shortly after Friday’s devastating earthquake, military jets launched airstrikes and drone attacks in Karen state, near the KNU headquarters, according to the Free Burma Rangers, a relief organisation. Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan called for an immediate ceasefire to help aid distribution, following a virtual meeting with his ASEAN counterparts on the disaster.

“(Balakrishnan) called for an immediate and effective ceasefire in Myanmar which would facilitate the efforts to deliver humanitarian assistance and longer term national reconciliation, peace and reconstruction,” Singapore’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

The epicentre of the 7.7-magnitude quake was in an area held by junta forces, but the devastation was widespread and also affected some territory held by armed resistance movements.

On Sunday, the opposition National Unity Government, which includes remnants of the government ousted in 2021, said anti-junta militias under its command would pause all offensive military action for two weeks.

China, Japan and South Korea held the first trade talks in five years on Sunday, amid concerns over US President Donald Trump’s import tariffs.

Richard Horsey, the senior Myanmar adviser at Crisis Group, said some anti-junta forces have halted their offensives, but fighting continues elsewhere.

“The regime also continues to launch airstrikes, including in affected areas. That needs to stop,” he said.

The regime was not providing much visible support in quake-hit areas, he added.

“Local fire brigades, ambulance crews, and community organisations have mobilised, but the military – who would normally be mobilised to support in such a crisis – are nowhere to be seen,” Horsey said.

Reuters

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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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