UN rapporteur slams international community for failing Myanmar
(MENAFN) The UN’s special rapporteur on Myanmar’s human rights situation warned on Wednesday that the international community has failed to adequately respond to a growing crisis in the country.
Speaking after presenting his report to the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee, Tom Andrews said the situation has deteriorated sharply since the February 2021 coup. "The humanitarian conditions in Myanmar are significantly worse this year than when I reported them to the United Nations last year," he said, highlighting that nearly 22 million people now need humanitarian assistance, with 16.7 million experiencing severe food insecurity.
Andrews noted that the second quarter of 2025 recorded "more airstrikes on civilian targets than any previous quarter since the coup." Citing World Food Program data, he added that "57% of families in central Rakhine state cannot meet their basic food needs," up from 33% in December 2024.
"I am here to implore the members of the United Nations to step up and take action that it has simply failed to do," Andrews said. "The humanitarian conditions are getting worse, and the availability of support from the international community is getting worse, and that is just a complete disaster."
He pointed out that the number of people designated to receive aid has been cut from 6.7 million to 4.8 million—far fewer than the 22 million currently in need.
With Myanmar’s military junta planning general elections on December 28, Andrews criticized the polls as a "sham" and a "fraud." "You cannot have a free and fair election when you arrest, detain, imprison and torture the leaders of the political opposition," he said.
Andrews also urged the international community to address continuing violence against the Rohingya Muslim minority, emphasizing that "accountability has to be insisted upon."
Myanmar, governed by a military junta since 2021, is currently facing proceedings at the International Court of Justice over the alleged genocide of the Rohingya population.
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