Joint Call for a Global Arms Embargo on Myanmar: An Open Letter to the UN Security Council and Individual UN Member States
25 February 2021 10:28 pm

25 February 2021

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

1. Access Now
2. Advocacy Forum-Nepal
3. AFL-CIO
4. All Arakan Students’ and Youths’ Congress
5. Arakan Information Center
6. Arakan Rivers Network
7. Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights
8. ARTICLE 19
9. ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
10. Asia and Pacific Alliance of YMCAs
11. Asia Democracy Network
12. Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR)
13. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
14. Asian Human Rights Commission
15. Asian Migrant Centre
16. Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL)
17. Asian Resource Foundation
18. Association of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters
19. Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation (AWAM)
20. Australian Centre for International Justice
21. Australian Lawyers for Human Rights
22. BALAOD Mindanaw
23. Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan
24. Brotherhood For Democracy (BFD)
25. Burma Campaign UK
26. Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN)
27. Burmese Rohingya Association in Japan
28. Burmese Rohingya Community in Australia
29. Bytes For All
30. Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR)
31. Cambodian Food And Service Workers Federation (CFSWF)
32. Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC)
33. Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO)
34. Canadian Rohingya Development Initiative
35. Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (CENTRAL)
36. Center for Peace Education, Miriam College
37. Center for Social Integrity
38. Centre for Human Rights and Development
39. Centre for Peace and Justice, Brac University
40. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
41. Climate Change Working Group-Myanmar
42. Colorful Girls
43. Community Resource Centre Foundation (CRC)
44. Cross Cultural Foundation
45. CSW
46. Dawei Pro Bono Lawyer Network
47. Democracy, Peace and Women Organization
48. DHEWA (Development for Health, Education, Work, and Awareness) Welfare Society
49. Equality Myanmar
50. Equitable Cambodia
51. European Rohingya Council
52. Federal Association of Vietnamese Refugees in the Federal Republic of Germany
53. Fortify Rights
54. Free Rohingya Coalition
55. Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
56. Global Justice Center
57. Global Witness
58. Htoi Gender and Development Foundation
59. Human Rights First
60. Human Rights Foundation of Monland
61. Human Rights Law Centre
62. Human Rights Office-Sri Lanka
63. Human Rights Watch
64. Human Rights Without Frontiers
65. Info Birmanie
66. Innovation for Change Network
67. Institute for Asian Democracy
68. Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion
69. International Campaign for the Rohingya
70. International Movement of Catholic Students (IMCS), Asia Pacific
71. International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID)
72. International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT)
73. Jewish Alliance of Concern Over Burma
74. Jubilee Australia
75. Justice for All/Burma Task Force
76. Justice for Myanmar
77. Kachin State Women’s Network
78. Karapatan Alliance Philippines
79. Karen Human Rights Group
80. KontraS Aceh
81. Loka Ahlinn Social Development Organization
82. Maldivian Democracy Network (MDN)
83. MAP Foundation
84. Medical Association for Prevention of War (Australia)
85. Mekong Migration Network
86. Mennonite Central Committee
87. MeSheWe
88. Mother Nature Cambodia
89. Myanmar Human Rights Alliances Network (MHRAN)
90. National Campaign for Sustainable Development Nepal
91. Never Again Coalition
92. New School for Democracy
93. No Business With Genocide
94. Nonviolence International
95. Odhikar
96. Olof Palme International Center
97. OutRight Action International
98. PAX
99. Pax Christi Aotearoa New Zealand
100. Pax Christi Australia
101. Pax Christi International
102. Pax Christi Korea
103. Pax Christi Philippines
104. People’s Empowerment Foundation
105. People’s Watch
106. Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA)
107. Progressive Voice
108. Prosecute; don’t perpetrate
109. Public Association “Dignity”
110. Pusat KOMAS
111. Refugees International
112. Restless Beings
113. Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
114. Rohingya Association of Canada
115. Rohingya Human Rights Initiative
116. Rohingya Today
117. Rohingya Women Education Initiative
118. Rohingya Youth for Legal Action
119. Smile Myanmar
120. Swedish Burma Committee
121. Taiwan Association for Human Rights
122. Taiwan Forever Association (台灣永社)
123. Tampadipa Institute
124. The Arakan Project
125. The May 18 Memorial Foundation
126. The PLAN: Public Legal Aid Network
127. The Swedish Rohingya Association
128. Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of Victoria and Tasmania
129. US Campaign for Burma
130. Viet Tan
131. Vietnamese Women for Human Rights
132. Voice of Rohingya
133. Win Without War
134. World Federalist Movement/Institute for Global Policy
135. World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
136. YMCA Mandalay
137. Youth Resource Development Program (YRDP)

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For a PDF version of this statement, click here