We Will Stop Arms Sales to Junta Myanmar at All Costs: UN Special Rapporteur
Translator
Editor
8 July 2023 17:27 WIB
What about Singapore?
There is no evidence of Singapore sending weapons to Myanmar and there is no evidence of Singapore being involved. What we found was that Singapore-based companies were transferring materials that can be used in manufacturing weapons and we linked those materials to specific weapons that are manufactured in Myanmar.
What is Singapore’s response?
We want this report to be a resource for all countries, including those who were named, and we have been in communication with Singapore to make sure that they know that we want to be of help to them.
How many areas are controlled by the junta at the moment?
It is not very clear. I can say with confidence that the junta has no control over the entire country and in fact, there is significant evidence that they only control half the country. We have different analyses. I mean, we have to be careful about what we say. If we say the junta does not control a certain area, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is controlled by the PDF (People’s Defense Force), right? What we can say is that based on the evidence I’ve seen; they are losing ground. As a result, they deployed increasing air power to attack villages because air power allows them to strike indiscriminately and kill innocent people. We often talk about these statistics of who controls what percentage, but these are real human beings, real families.
(PDF is an armed wing of the National Unity Government (NUG), Myanmar’s shadow government formed by members of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy.)
What did you do as a special rapporteur?
We try to document and report (the conditions) to the Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly because this has become an invisible crisis. We know that at least 3,600 innocent people have been killed. There are around 19,000 political prisoners. We know that 58,000 homes, schools, and clinics have been destroyed by the junta. We know that nearly half the country is falling apart and it is getting worse. We are tracking these numbers as best as we can, and reporting them to HRC and GA. We are focusing on the real-life impact behind these numbers.
Read the Full Interview in Tempo English Magazine
