United Nations published this video item, entitled “Myanmar Situation Deteriorating – United Nations Press Conference (21 October 2021)” – below is their description.
Press Conference by Christine Schraner Burgener, Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Myanmar, on the situation in Myanmar.
“Over eight months since the military takeover, the overall situation in Myanmar continues to deteriorate sharply with the conflict intensifying in many parts of the country,” the outgoing UN Special Envoy on Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener said on Thursday (21 Oct).
Briefing reporters in person in New York, ahead of her last briefing to the UN General Assembly in the role of the Special Envoy on Myanmar, the Swiss diplomat said “the situation is really bad in Myanmar,” adding that “the repression of the military has led to more than 1180 deaths.”
“The Tatmadaw, the army, uses a range of tactics against civilian populations, including burning villages, looting properties, mass arrests, torture and execution of prisoners, gender-based violence and random artillery fire into residential areas,” Burgener said. “Clearly, in the absence of international action violence has been justified as the last resort, while criticism has been mounting domestically and internationally,” she said.
The Myanmar military, the Tatmadaw, seized the control in February 2021, deposing the democratically elected members the ruling party and declaring a year-long state of emergency.
Since then, according to Special Envoy Burgener, the number of internally displaced people in the country increased by 219 000 from 370 000 before the coup and the UN is providing assistance to three million people, up from one million before the coup.
Burgener said her recommendation to the international community is to give no signals or make movements towards accepting the government installed by the military since she sees the level of power that Tatmadaw holds in the country as a main root cause of instability.
“Clearly, we are now in a critical time not to allow the Tatmadaw taking the upper hand and to go back to business as usual. And therefore, we have to be careful and because the Tatmadaw in my view, and ACC are not ready for compromise. They didn’t react on our proposal for a dialogue, which means always, dialogue means compromises on all sides. So, in my view, I assess this as no interest in a compromise, or in a dialogue,” Special Envoy said.
United Nations YouTube Channel
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