Myanmar delegation votes against the resolution on Myanmar tabled by OIC & EU at the Third Committee of the 73rd UNGA

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the European Union (EU) tabled a draft resolution entitled the “Situation of human rights in Myanmar” at the Third Committee of the 73rd United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 16 November 2018.

As the resolution was one-sided, biased, hopelessly unconstructive and politicized, and failed to reflect positive political and socio-economic developments in Myanmar, the Myanmar delegation called for a vote on the resolution. Myanmar Permanent Representative Ambassador U Hau Do Suan delivered a general statement before the vote and responded on the outcome after voting.

In his general statement, the Permanent Representative stated Myanmar’s total rejection of the draft resolution by calling for the vote on the resolution as a whole, citing the following four main reasons:

Firstly, tabling a country-specific resolution at the General Assembly on the human rights situation of a particular country that is currently under active consideration of UN Human Rights Council is procedurally unwarranted;

Secondly, the whole exercise of tabling country-specific human rights resolution is a politically driven attempt to exert pressure on selected countries;

Thirdly, the draft resolution in question itself is a clear manifestation of the hostility and dictatorial intent of the co-sponsors towards a soft target. The draft resolution was submitted to the Secretariat without calling a single open consultation with other interested members other than the co-sponsors, thus is in violation of established practice of the General Assembly. There was complete lack of transparency. Although the draft resolution is labeled “Situation of human rights in Myanmar”, 90 percent of the draft is devoted to the rights of Muslims in Rakhine. It contains sweeping allegation of human rights violations from the report of the Human Rights Council Fact-finding Mission on Myanmar which is not evidence-based. The eight-page long extraordinary human rights plus draft resolution contains 28 Preamble paragraphs and 20 Operative paragraphs in which not a single paragraph can be found welcoming or acknowledging the relentless efforts made by the Government of Myanmar to find sustainable solutions to the issues of Rakhine State.

In addition, the draft fails to reflect positive political and socio-economic developments in Myanmar. There is no mention of the Government’s tireless efforts for national reconciliation and peace, for building a democratic federal union, no supporting for such endeavour. The objective of the draft resolution, based on sensational narratives, seems to garner international pressure against Myanmar. It sows the seeds of mistrust and further polarization among different communities in Rakhine as well as between Myanmar and the international community. It is imbued with retributive and punitive undertone than seeking solution, understanding and reconciliation.

Moreover, the draft resolution deliberately ignored the threat of terrorism which is the real cause of present humanitarian problem. The so-called Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) attacks on security stations in Northern Rakhine State in October 2016 and August 2017 had caused the most tragic humanitarian situation in Rakhine State and resulted in large number of people fleeing to the Bangladesh side of the border as well as to safe places in the southern Rakhine. The ARSA has been, reportedly, supported by foreign terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda, ISIL, and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). This deliberate omission of the role of ARSA terrorists in the draft resolution calls for great concerns with regard to the true intention and sincerity of the co-sponsors of the draft resolution.

Fourthly, the United Nations’ handling of Myanmar human rights issues in the past three decades has been an evident application of double standards, in total disregard of established principles, including impartiality, objectivity, non-selectivity, non-politicization and non-interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state.

After the resolution was adopted with a majority vote, the Permanent Representative Ambassador U Hau Do Suan made a response expressing his delegation’s deep appreciations to all delegations that expressed their principled position of opposing the country-specific resolution and to the politically motivated one-sided and discriminatory draft resolution against Myanmar. He further thanked those who stood firm with Myanmar in voting against the draft resolution, who remained abstain, and who did not participate in the voting to demonstrate their courage to resist the attempt of major groupings.

The Permanent Representative responded that the Third Committee had adopted a total of 24 resolutions on the situation of human rights in Myanmar since 1991. He said since ARSA terrorist attacks in August 2017, the Security Council had held 15 sessions devoted to the situation of Rakhine State. During the same period, the Human Rights Council held 7 sessions on the rights of Muslims in Rakhine and adopted 3 resolutions. Today, Myanmar is under the scrutiny of at least 7 UN mechanisms (HRC, Special Rapporteur, FFM, the Ongoing Independent Mechanism, SESG, UNGA-Third Committee and Security Council).

The Permanent Representative pointed out that UN Budget allocation for the four special mechanisms (Special Rapporteur, Special Envoy of SG, FFM and newly created the Ongoing Independent Mechanism) for the years 2018-2020 amount to US$ 28,608,600. For the OIM alone, it would require 62 staff headed by an ASG with an annual budget of US$26,733,800. The UN could have used its scarce resources for helping the poor and the vulnerable around the world who needed it most.

He advised the Committee that adoption of yet another ill-intentioned, selective and politically motivated resolution will not help the Government’s efforts to resolving the issue of Rakhine State, but would rather lead to further polarization and escalation of tensions among different religious communities in the country. It will only aggravate mistrust between the people of Myanmar and the international community. The United Nations must promote and advocate for peace, harmony and reconciliation, not hatred, mistrust or polarization.

In conclusion, the Permanent Representative reiterated, “The people of Myanmar are united as ever under the leadership of State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar’s relentless efforts to building peace, the rule of law, national reconciliation and development for all 54 million people. We shall strive with unswerving determination to achieve democracy with the support and good will of our friends near and far”.