The United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar said Wednesday the international community needs to take a different approach to resolve the crisis in the country.
“I’m worried that the deepening crisis in Myanmar has become invisible to much of the world and that some governments are beginning to think that the junta’s tyranny is inevitable,” Tom Andrews told reporters in Indonesia. “This narrative is exactly what the junta wants and needs to prevail.”
Andrews said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations should not engage with Myanmar’s military rulers due to a lack of progress on implementing a five-point peace plan agreed to two years ago.
“It is time to consider alternative options to break the deadly stalemate. I urge ASEAN to take measures to hold the junta accountable for its grave human rights violations and blatant disregard for implementation of the Five-Point Consensus,” Andrews said.
Myanmar’s military seized power on February 1, 2021, alleging massive election fraud after their political party gained only 33 of 498 contested parliament seats. Since then, the U.N. human rights office says at least 3,000 civilians have been killed, more than 17,500 detained and more than a million displaced as the military pursues its brutal crackdown to retain power.
VOAs Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters
