CSOs urge UN Security Council to impose arms embargo on Myanmar junta

By Admin 28 Jun 2024

DMG Newsroom
28 June 2024, Sittwe

Eighty-nine Myanmar, regional, and international civil society organisations (CSOs) issued a joint open letter to the United Nations Security Council on Friday, urging the UN body to impose an arms and aviation fuel embargo against Myanmar's military regime.

"In recent months, the Myanmar military junta's war of terror against Myanmar people and its fighting with the Arakan Army (AA) have resulted in horrendous human rights violations and international crimes in Rakhine [Arakan] State," said the open letter.

Among the CSOs that joined the open letter are Justice for Myanmar (JFM), the Burma Woman's Union (BWU), Generation Wave and Athan.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reported to the Human Rights Council on June 18: "The military has lost control over a considerable amount of territory, so it is resorting to increasingly extreme measures."

The CSOs urged the UN Security Counsel to immediately convene an emergency meeting and coordinate an intervention to halt surging violence and atrocities.

Amid ongoing military defeats in multiple theatres across the country, the regime has been targeting civilian populations with indiscriminate air and artillery strikes, inflicting casualties daily.

One politician said: "Fighting has been escalating between the regime and ethnic armed organisations. The regime is suffering from defeats on every battlefield. So, it is mainly relying on airstrikes. Innocent civilians are being killed. The international community should put harsher pressures on the regime, which is committing war crimes."

The regime is also targeting residential areas in townships seized by the Arakkha Army (AA) in Arakan State, causing additional civilian casualties and property damage.

One Mrauk-U resident said: "Aircraft fly over the town every day. They also strafe, killing civilians and children. We urge the military not to fire shots at non-military targets."