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 ASEAN, in an attempt to bring an end to the crisis. For instance, on the anniversary of the coup on 1 February 2022, the FCDO coordinated a joint Foreign Minister-level statement calling for de-escalation and a return to democracy, and 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 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Five Point Consensus and release all those arbitrarily detained.
It is essential that we see a peaceful restoration of democracy in Myanmar and HMG, 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.
The executions of pro-democracy and opposition leaders are reprehensible acts of violence that further exemplify the Myanmar military regime’s total disregard for human rights and the rule of law. I strongly condemn this action, and my thoughts are with the families and loved ones of those executed.
HMG, in a joint statement with allies, has called on the military regime in Myanmar to immediately end the use of violence and to refrain from further
arbitrary executions. In addition, the UK has urged the regime to release all those unjustly detained, grant full and independent access to prisons, and fulfil its obligations under the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ Five-Point Consensus to seek peace through dialogue. I will, of course, follow developments closely.
Like you, I am very concerned about the imprisonment of former President of the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC), Reverend Hkalam Samson. The UK condemns the arbitrary detention of politicians, civil society members and journalists by the military regime. Indeed, on 18 April, the UK Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief called for his immediate release and for the release of all those arbitrarily detained in Myanmar and I know my ministerial colleagues at the FCDO continue to monitor the situation in Myanmar closely.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.