Urge the UN to intervene in Myanmar with a peace keeping force

The Government should urge the United Nations to rapidly send a peace keeping force to Myanmar to protect the people of that country from the violence and repression currently being metered out by the military dictatorship that has taken control.

Reports from Myanmar show that the military dictatorship are prepared to use lethal force against its own population. Everyday we see increasing numbers of deaths and injuries carried out by the self-imposed dictatorship. If the military and police forces in that country are not forced to exercise restraint then the situation is likely to get rapidly worse. We cannot allow the situation to develop into a full scale civil war, or genocide, or ethnic cleansing. Firm decisive action is required now.

We share your deep concern about the events unfolding in Myanmar and are monitoring the current situation closely. The UK Government condemns the military coup in Myanmar, violence against the people of Myanmar, and the detention of members of the civilian government and civil society, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint.

We are deeply concerned by the appalling violence inflicted on the people of Myanmar by the Myanmar Security Forces, including against children. The violent crackdown on peaceful protestors must end. My thoughts go out to all those who have been killed and injured whilst protesting for democracy. People’s right to peaceful protest should be respected. We urge the military to exercise utmost restraint and respect human rights and wider international law.

The UK has led a strong, coordinated international response, including through our G7 Presidency and our leadership role on Myanmar at the UN Security Council. On 10 March, the UK secured a Presidential Statement at the UN Security Council, which condemned the violence against peaceful protestors. On 4 February, we also convened a UN Security Council Press Statement. We co-led a Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) on 12 February securing a consensus resolution on the coup. We secured a strong resolution at HRC46 on 24 March, passed again by consensus. Further, we secured G7 statements on 3 and 23 February. On 5 May, we secured G7 Foreign and Development Ministers’ Meeting Communiqué that condemned the coup in the strongest terms and called on the military to restore Myanmar to the path to democracy. This was reiterated in the Communiqué from the G7 Leaders’ Summit on 13 June.