26 March 2025
1. As a matter of principle, Myanmar always opposes country-specific resolutions. The following observations are prepared for the benefit of member states to have a balanced view. Since the resolution has been tabled by the European Union for over thirty years, Myanmar only includes its observations on new elements and it does not mean that Myanmar agrees the remaining ones.
2. Reference is made to PP9, PP10. There is no casualty among international humanitarian workers in Myanmar as the work of UN agencies and international organizations with field presence in States and Regions have been facilitated by the Government considering security situations. The Government imposes no restriction on access while certain organizations request relocation for their own security concerns. On the other hand, there are organizations which experienced abduction and looting of aid by terrorist organizations as over 30 aid workers were abducted in 2024. Over 70 medical facilities in 47 townships were destroyed by the terrorist groups. The paragraphs do not match the reality on the ground and failure to denounce the terror groups further misleads the viewers. Furthermore, the lack of condemnation of these acts risks misinforming the international community.
3. Reference is made to PP11 and PP42. Country-specific mandates without the consent of the concerned-country only bring mistrust and suspicion between that country and mandate holders. Highly politicized nature of duplicated mandates created by a group of countries waste scarce resources of the United Nations.
4. Reference is made to PP14, PP20, PP31. Myanmar, like several other countries, implements military service as part of its national defense strategy. The Government has announced since February 2024 that anyone who has the knowledge of forced recruitment can file the complaint with the Central Body for summoning People’s Military Servants which set up hotline numbers to do so. There are instances of punitive measures against those who fail to follow the recruitment procedure.
5. Reference is made to PP16 and OP21. Myanmar has established several national mechanisms to prevent violence against children including six grave violations and its national plan in this regard is renewed annually. Myanmar stands ready to work with any United Nations agencies. On 19 March 2025, Myanmar discharged a total of 93 underage recruits following the verification process with the United Nations Country Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting. The paragraphs do not reflect the developments on the ground.
6. Reference is made to PP22. Neither the Human Rights Council nor sponsors of the resolutions have authority to restrict or disturb business activities within a sovereign country.
7. Reference is made to PP23 and PP25. While Myanmar has been providing extensive information on labour related matters to the ILO and its member states, it does not see any relevancy to include the paragraphs in the resolution.
8. Reference is made to PP 29. While Myanmar, with genuine political will, stands ready to commence repatriation of the verified displaced persons, it does not agree the figure contained therein. While Myanmar remains firmly committed to repatriating verified displaced persons from Rakhine State, it does not recognize the invented term “Rohingya” as it has never existed in legal and historical records of the country.
9. Reference is made to PP33, PP34, PP36. Myanmar does not recognize the statements made by International Criminal Court since it is not a party to the Rome Statute. Furthermore, Myanmar encourages countries acting as judges to address their own challenges while no country has perfect human rights record.
10. Reference is made to OP9 and OP10. Myanmar stresses that the alleged violations contained in the paragraphs cannot be substantiated while some irresponsible country-specific mandate holders have been making such accusations to entertain the desire of the sponsors of their mandates. In addition, it is for the Security Council to make such recommendations. While Myanmar has the right to protect its people and their properties, it denounces the attempt of the sponsors of the resolution to disturb normal arms trade between sovereign countries for the benefit of terrorist organizations.
11. Reference is made to OP11, OP12, OP13. Despite not joining the Ottawa Convention, Myanmar is a country which consistently opposes the use of anti-personnel mines. The Mine Risk Education Working Group was established in 2012, led by the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, in coordination with other related ministries, including the Ministry of Defence, UNICEF, INGOs and NGOs. Currently, the mine risk reduction advocacy programs are being implemented by state-level mine risk education working groups in Kachin, Kayah, Kayin and Northern Shan State, working together with UNICEF, INGOs and NGOs. Myanmar organized a total of 36 workshops and meetings on mine risk education across various states and regions from 2014 to 2024. Related ministries and NGOs conducted Knowledge, Attitude, Practice (KAP) surveys on the risks of unexploded remnants of war (ERW) in 69 villages located in mine risk areas such as Kayah, Kayin, Rakhine, Tanintharyi and Mon states and Eastern Bago region. Concerning the Humanitarian Demining, ten officials of the Myanmar military engineering office attended two mine clearance trainings provided by the International Mine Clearance Center of the Russian Federation in 2021, and 127 military officials participated in the meetings, trainings and workshops related to humanitarian demining organized in 13 countries. Humanitarian mine clearances were undertaken in 15 villages of Waingmaw, Chipwi, Momauk, Sadong townships of the Kachin State for resettlement of the people from IDP camps. Mine clearance was conducted for a total of 1,836 times and destroyed 40,629 mines from 2011 to present. Allegations contained in these paragraphs does not reflect the factual developments.
12. Reference is made to OP19. Security forces have been exercising maximum restraint in their counter-terrorism operations in line with Rules of Engagement while over 8,700 people including civil servants, women and children were killed by attacks and assassinations of the terrorist groups. The military is not conducting operations where terrorists are not active. OP19 covers up the atrocities committed by such groups and it has shed the light on the political agenda of the sponsors under the pretext of human rights.
13. Reference is made to OP46. Myanmar stands ready to engage with the United Nations, including the appointment of UN Resident Coordinator in Myanmar. Myanmar calls upon the sponsors of this resolution to identify who are reluctant or unwilling to fully cooperate and engage with Myanmar.
14. Reference is made to OP54, OP57 and OP58. Myanmar opposes the extending of the unhelpful mandate of the so-called Special Rapporteur which has lasted over three decades without any contribution to promotion and protection of human rights in Myanmar but created polarizations, divisions and mistrust among the population of Myanmar. It is also the case for the additional mandate of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Myanmar adding another burden on all including the country-concerned, United Nations and its member states for exactly the same work with the so-called Special Rapporteur. Similarly, so-called IIMM has been exploiting tremendous resources against Myanmar.
15. Since these mechanisms were created for political reasons to put enormous pressure on the country-concerned, Myanmar has no alternative but to reject the resolution as a whole.
Permanent Mission of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar
Geneva
26 March 2025