On Sunday, Pope Francis called for humanitarian aid to be allowed into the country and for houses of worship to be offered as sanctuary to those fleeing violence. And China and Russia - two of Myanmar’s largest suppliers of weapons - were among the countries that abstained from the vote. However, the resolution, which is nonbinding, is unlikely to make any immediate difference in the crisis currently plaguing Myanmar, and it stops short of imposing an outright arms embargo on the southeast Asian nation, which borders Thailand. Such a unified response by the General Assembly was not deployed in response to other significant military power grabs in recent years, including multiple national crises in Thailand. The UN has taken a similar step only three times since the end of the Cold War, according to Richard Gown, UN director of the International Crisis Group, after military coups in Haiti, Burundi, and Honduras, in 1991, 1993, and 2009, respectively. With the support of 119 countries, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution that calls on Myanmar’s military junta to restore the democratic transition and calls on all member states “to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar.” The international community has spoken. “The international community does not accept the coup, and it does not recognize any legitimacy to the regime that emerged from it,” Gonzato said Friday in a statement. The resolution was lauded by members of the international community, including deputy head of the European Union delegation Ambassador Silvio Gonzato, who greeted it as “a rare and significant expression of the General Assembly condemnation in the face of a gross violation of fundamental democratic norms and neglecting the clearly expressed wish of a people.” The opportunity to reverse the military takeover is narrowing.” “The risk of a large-scale civil war is real,” Christine Schraner Burgener, the UN special envoy on Myanmar, said after the vote.
In addition to condemning the junta and calling for the return of a democratic government in Myanmar, the resolution also urges “all Member States to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar.” The UN approved the resolution by a vote of 119 to 1, with 36 countries abstaining. While significant, the vote itself revealed complicated geopolitics that may stymie a more forceful international response to the situation. The condemnation comes as UN officials express concern that the nation is on the brink of civil war, and as humanitarian conditions worsen for civilians. More than four months after the military seized power in Myanmar, the United Nations General Assembly took the rare step on Friday of voting to formally condemn the February 1 coup and called for an end to arms dealing with the country.
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