UN special rapporteur urges states not to forget Burma crisis
The special rapporteur for Burma, Tom Andrews, here on September 22, 2022. AFP - FABRICE COFFRINI
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2 mins
Before the Human Rights Council, the UN special rapporteur for Burma Tom Andrews held an offensive speech to prevent the Burmese crisis from falling into oblivion by the international community... sometimes going through the box of vulgarity.
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With our correspondent in Geneva
,
Jérémie Lanche
The world needs to stop not giving
a damn about
Myanmar.
It is with these undiplomatic terms that the UN special rapporteur for
Burma
alerted the Human Rights Council to the ongoing crisis in the country.
Before a council that was three-quarters empty and swallowed up by the General Assembly, the words of
Tom Andrews
resonated in the room.
In his speech, the American denounced both the abuses of the junta, but also the abandonment of the international community, which is, according to him, quicker to react in Ukraine.
“
Unlike Ukraine, there has been no special session of the UN General Assembly and there is no task force to freeze the assets of the junta.
Actions speak louder than words.
And the contrast in these two conflicts speaks volumes for the Burmese people
,” he said.
The elections will be “
a robbery
”
The special rapporteur also returned to the attack on a school a few days ago which would have killed more than a dozen children.
He also urged states to economically and politically isolate the junta.
By refusing, for example, to recognize the elections that it wishes to organize next year.
“
It will not be an election.
It will be a robbery.
You cannot have free elections when you imprison, torture and execute your opponents
,” he said.
Visibly moved, Tom Andrews is no less realistic.
“
I know that the Security Council is not going to act,
he said,
but the States, individually, must do it
”.
“
It is very important that countries do not fall into the trap and give the impression of supporting this fraud, either by providing technical assistance or by giving advice of any kind
,” he stressed, accusing the junta of wanting to "
create a semblance of legitimacy and inevitability
".
► To read also: Air raid against a school in Burma: "There was blood everywhere, body parts ..."
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