Government Response

The Government responded to this petition on Thursday 17th June 2021

The UK has led a strong international response, including through our G7 Presidency and our leadership role at the UN Security Council. We will continue to explore all avenues to resolve this crisis.

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.

A UN peacekeeping operation would require UN Security Council authorisation. We do not believe that the necessary support exists in the Council at present. As a champion of democratic governance, the UK is working hard to keep the Myanmar crisis on the Security Council’s agenda. We will continue to press for firm and decisive action at the Security Council, and elsewhere. We will continue to use all the tools at our disposal to encourage dialogue, find a peaceful resolution to the crisis, and restore democracy.

We have now sanctioned the two key military conglomerates Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (MEHL) and Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC). On 17 May, the UK also imposed sanctions on Myanmar Gems Enterprise, a State Owned Enterprise responsible for all gems activity in Myanmar. We will continue to work to directly target the military’s financial interest. These sanctions follow the designation, in February, of nine senior military individuals, including the Commander in Chief, for their role in serious human rights violations during the coup. We are working closely with partners on further targeted and coordinated action to ensure the military is held to account.

We have provided £500,000 of additional funding to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar to bolster their capacity to collect and preserve evidence of serious human rights violations.

We have welcomed ASEAN’s efforts to resolve the crisis, and ASEAN’s ‘five point consensus’, including on the need for the immediate cessation of violence and the commencement of constructive dialogue among all parties concerned. We are committed to constructively supporting ASEAN’s efforts, including the work of the ASEAN Special Envoy.

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office