An Open Letter to the UN Security Council and Individual UN Member States
We, the undersigned organizations, call on the United Nations Security Council and UN member states to urgently institute a coordinated, global arms embargo on Myanmar in response to the February 1, 2021 military coup that has deprived the people of Myanmar of the right to democratically elect their government. Our concerns are heightened by ongoing violations of human rights and the security forces’ history of grave abuses against peaceful critics of military rule, as well as against the Rohingya and other ethnic minority groups.
Under the commander-in-chief, Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the Myanmar military has detained the elected civilian leaders of the country, nullified the results of the November 2020 democratic elections, and installed a junta, the State Administration Council, under a manufactured “state of emergency.” Since February 1, the junta has increasingly used excessive and at times lethal force at demonstrations; threatened and arbitrarily detained activists, journalists, students, and civil servants; and imposed rolling internet shutdowns that put lives at risk.
Days after the coup, UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated, “We will do everything we can to mobilize all the key actors and international community to put enough pressure on Myanmar to make sure that this coup fails.” The UN special rapporteur on Myanmar has called for targeted UN sanctions on the military and an arms embargo, while the deputy high commissioner for human rights has voiced support for targeted UN sanctions on the coup leaders.
In that spirit, we urge the Security Council to immediately impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Myanmar. Such a resolution should bar the direct and indirect supply, sale, or transfer of all weapons, munitions, and other military-related equipment, including dual-use goods such as vehicles and communications and surveillance equipment, as well as the provision of training, intelligence, and other military assistance. The embargo should be accompanied by robust monitoring and enforcement mechanisms.
Any sale or transfer of military-related equipment to Myanmar could provide the means to further repress the people of Myanmar in violation of international humanitarian and human rights law.
Until the Council acts, individual UN member states should adopt measures at the national and regional levels to block sales and other transfers of weapons and materiel to Myanmar, with the goal of extending an arms embargo to as close to a global scale as possible.
For decades, the Security Council’s response to crimes by the Myanmar security forces has been inadequate, emboldening the military to continue committing abuses without fear of serious consequences. The current crisis demands a change in course.
On February 4, the Security Council spoke with a single voice to demand the release of all those arbitrarily detained and the protection of the country’s democratic institutions. Council members should use that newfound consensus to take swift and substantive action. An arms embargo would be the centerpiece of a global effort to shield the people of Myanmar from a return to abusive and autocratic rule.
The time to act is now.
Signatories
- Access Now
- Advocacy Forum-Nepal
- AFL-CIO
- All Arakan Students’ and Youths’ Congress
- Arakan Information Center
- Arakan Rivers Network
- Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights
- ARTICLE 19
- ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
- Asia and Pacific Alliance of YMCAs
- Asia Democracy Network
- Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR)
- Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
- Asian Human Rights Commission
- Asian Migrant Centre
- Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL)
- Asian Resource Foundation
- Association of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters
- Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation (AWAM)
- Australian Centre for International Justice
- Australian Lawyers for Human Rights
- BALAOD Mindanaw
- Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan
- Brotherhood For Democracy (BFD)
- Burma Campaign UK
- Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN)
- Burmese Rohingya Association in Japan
- Burmese Rohingya Community in Australia
- Bytes For All
- Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR)
- Cambodian Food And Service Workers Federation (CFSWF)
- Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC)
- Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO)
- Canadian Rohingya Development Initiative
- Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (CENTRAL)
- Center for Peace Education, Miriam College
- Center for Social Integrity
- Centre for Human Rights and Development
- Centre for Peace and Justice, Brac University
- CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
- Climate Change Working Group-Myanmar
- Colorful Girls
- Community Resource Centre Foundation (CRC)
- Cross Cultural Foundation
- CSW
- Dawei Pro Bono Lawyer Network
- Democracy, Peace and Women Organization
- DHEWA (Development for Health, Education, Work, and Awareness) Welfare Society
- Equality Myanmar
- Equitable Cambodia
- European Rohingya Council
- Federal Association of Vietnamese Refugees in the Federal Republic of Germany
- Fortify Rights
- Free Rohingya Coalition
- Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
- Global Justice Center
- Global Witness
- Htoi Gender and Development Foundation
- Human Rights First
- Human Rights Foundation of Monland
- Human Rights Law Centre
- Human Rights Office-Sri Lanka
- Human Rights Watch
- Human Rights Without Frontiers
- Info Birmanie
- Innovation for Change Network
- Institute for Asian Democracy
- Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion
- International Campaign for the Rohingya
- International Movement of Catholic Students (IMCS), Asia Pacific
- International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID)
- International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT)
- Jewish Alliance of Concern Over Burma
- Jubilee Australia
- Justice for All/Burma Task Force
- Justice for Myanmar
- Kachin State Women’s Network
- Karapatan Alliance Philippines
- Karen Human Rights Group
- KontraS Aceh
- Loka Ahlinn Social Development Organization
- Maldivian Democracy Network (MDN)
- MAP Foundation
- Medical Association for Prevention of War (Australia)
- Mekong Migration Network
- Mennonite Central Committee
- MeSheWe
- Mother Nature Cambodia
- Myanmar Human Rights Alliances Network (MHRAN)
- National Campaign for Sustainable Development Nepal
- Never Again Coalition
- New School for Democracy
- No Business With Genocide
- Nonviolence International
- Odhikar
- Olof Palme International Center
- OutRight Action International
- PAX
- Pax Christi Aotearoa New Zealand
- Pax Christi Australia
- Pax Christi International
- Pax Christi Korea
- Pax Christi Philippines
- People’s Empowerment Foundation
- People’s Watch
- Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA)
- Progressive Voice
- Prosecute; don’t perpetrate
- Public Association “Dignity”
- Pusat KOMAS
- Refugees International
- Restless Beings
- Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
- Rohingya Association of Canada
- Rohingya Human Rights Initiative
- Rohingya Today
- Rohingya Women Education Initiative
- Rohingya Youth for Legal Action
- Smile Foundation
- Swedish Burma Committee
- Taiwan Association for Human Rights
- Taiwan Forever Association (台灣永社)
- Tampadipa Institute
- The Arakan Project
- The May 18 Memorial Foundation
- The PLAN: Public Legal Aid Network
- The Swedish Rohingya Association
- Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of Victoria and Tasmania
- US Campaign for Burma
- Viet Tan
- Vietnamese Women for Human Rights
- Voice of Rohingya
- Win Without War
- World Federalist Movement/Institute for Global Policy
- World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
- YMCA Mandalay
- Youth Resource Development Program (YRDP)