November 2023
Dear Constituent,
Thank you for contacting me about Myanmar (formerly Burma).
Myanmar's November 2020 elections, albeit far from perfect, constituted a significant milestone on the country's path from military dictatorship to democracy, and make the military coup of February 2021 - the effects of which are still being felt - especially regrettable.
Indeed, the coup continues to bring acute suffering to the people of Myanmar, having plunged the country into deep political, economic and humanitarian crises. The UK strongly condemned the actions of the Myanmar military at the time, and has continued to condemn the military’s campaign of human rights violations, including credible reports of torture, burning of villages, indiscriminate airstrikes, mass killings and the use of sexual violence.
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) officials also consistently raise these issues with their international counterparts, including at the UN, G7 and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), in an attempt to bring an end to the crisis. For instance, at the UN Security Council on 21 December 2022, the UK led the adoption of the first resolution on Myanmar, which demands an end to violence and urges the military regime to fully implement the ASEAN Five Point Consensus and release all those arbitrarily detained. More recently, in April 2023, the UK co-sponsored a resolution on the human rights situation in Myanmar, which condemns the regime's human rights violations and renews the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar.
It is essential that we see a peaceful restoration of democracy in Myanmar and the UK, using every means at its disposal, is working to facilitate this outcome. In addition, I am assured that the UK will not hesitate to take further action should the military junta not reverse its present course.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
Best wishes,
Angela Richardson MP
Member of Parliament for Guildford, Cranleigh and our villages