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GENEVA: The United Nations Security Council should impose a “global arms embargo” and targeted sanctions against Myanmar’s military, a senior UN rights expert said on Thursday (March 4), expressing alarm over the brutal repression of protests against the coup.
In a new report, Thomas Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of rights in Myanmar, called on the international community to “act urgently and decisively” to support those demanding a return to democracy in the country.
“The stakes could not be higher,” he said.
The UN Security Council, he said, should “urgently impose a global arms embargo” and “impose specific economic sanctions against the Myanmar military and its sources of income.”
It should also refer the situation in the country to the International Criminal Court “to investigate and possibly prosecute heinous crimes that have occurred, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the report said.
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Meanwhile, the UN and the international community must deny the military junta recognition as the legitimate government of the country, the expert said.
“I urge the members of the (Security) Council to consider the relentless brutality that we are witnessing in Myanmar,” he said in a statement.
Myanmar has been in an uproar since the military took power on February 1, ending a decade-long experiment with democracy and unleashing a massive uprising that the junta has increasingly sought to quell with lethal force.
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Wednesday was the bloodiest day yet, and the UN said at least 38 people were killed, as online footage came out of Myanmar showing security forces firing into crowds and blood-covered bodies with gunshot wounds in head.
The UN Security Council is due to discuss the crisis on Friday, as international pressure mounts.
Western powers have repeatedly hit generals with sanctions, and 41 states have imposed arms embargoes on Myanmar.
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“TERRIFIED”
Andrews’ report covered the period through March 1, so it did not include the escalation of violence in recent days.
But he had already said on February 17 that he was “terrified” by events in the country and warned that “we could be on the verge of the military committing even greater crimes against the people of Myanmar.”
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The US citizen said in his report that he had applied for access to Myanmar as soon as he was appointed to his post last year, when Aung San Suu Kyi was still in charge of the civilian government.
But his request was denied with reference to the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Andrews said it was clear that “the people of Myanmar are experiencing the illegal overthrow of their government and the brutal repression of an authoritarian military regime.”
He praised that they had “stood up in opposition as a diverse but powerfully unified whole.”
“The nonviolent civil disobedience movement is proving remarkably effective, drawing its organic power from the unwavering and democratic desires of the people,” he said.
“In fact, it seems that Myanmar has never been more unified.”
He called on the international community to “live up to this moment in history by following the example and inspiration of the people of Myanmar”, expressing the hope that “justice, dignity and human rights will prevail.”
