Petition to call for UN recognition of Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG) underway
A petition is started on Change.org by “Nang Si Si Win NUG support group Australia” to call for the recognition of Myanmar’s government in exile, the National Unity Government (NUG) by the United Nations General Assembly.
When we first encountered the petition, it was around 7000 signed. Currently as of the writing of the article, nearly 72,000 people have signed the petition (just 5 hours prior)
Call for Recognition of Myanmar’s National Unity Government by the UN General Assembly
BY CRPH/NUG support group AUSTRALIA in 7 languages
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the United Nations.
It comprises all 193 Member States of the UN and provides a unique forum for multilateral discussion of international issues including global peace and security.
In early September 2021, the 76th Regular Session of the United Nations General Assembly will begin, and the President of the UNGA will appoint the members of the Credentials Committee.
The role of the Credentials Committee is to report to the Assembly regarding the credentials of the body’s representatives.
This year, the Credentials Committee will have to assess whether the democratically elected National Unity Government (NUG) of Myanmar, or the State Administrative Council (SAC), established by the military junta, is the legitimate representative of the people of Myanmar.
We, the undersigned, urge the Credentials Committee to acknowledge that the Myanmar military, represented by the SAC does not represent the people of Myanmar.
They have overturned the results of a democratic election, displayed grotesque violence and murdered almost 1,000 innocent people with the numbers continuing to grow.
The Myanmar military junta has unlawfully detained thousands of civilians and has tortured and killed political prisoners in prison.
They have carried out illegal airstrikes on civilian villages and towns killing hundreds more, resulting in over one million displaced people seeking refuge.
The Military junta has confiscated COVID19 vaccinations and has jeopardized the COVID19 treatment program for the Myanmar people.
They have reallocated vaccines to military officers and have discriminately provided COVID19 care only to the senior military generals and the people who work for them.
The Military junta is not the legitimate representative of the Myanmar people.
We, the undersigned, strongly appeal to the Credentials Committee and the General Assembly at large to instead recognize the democratically elected National Unity Government to represent the people of Myanmar in the UN General Assembly in September 2021.
The NUG has received the people’s mandate and is working towards federal democracy for the people of Myanmar including all ethnicities and religious backgrounds, having unanimous support from Myanmar diasporas around the world.
The National Unity Government of the Union of Myanmar has established the Ministry of Human Rights for the very first time in the history of Myanmar.
We, as Myanmar people strongly call the Credentials Committee to report to the Assembly that the National Unity Government is the legitimate government of Myanmar representing the people of Myanmar.
The petition is written in 7 different languages: English, Burmese, Thai, Italian, Korean, French, Bahasa Indonesia
DPA Notes: Although we do think they should have added Spanish/Portuguese and Arabic as Spanish is the 4th most spoken language with Arabic being the 6th – both have multiple countries speaking those languages. Chinese is also glaringly missing – although there is only 2 countries with Chinese as the main language of communication – the number of chinese speakers in the world would have helped to pushed the petition numbers higher
But should this be granted a vote in the UNGA, it would be catastrophic for the Myanmar military government, as a huge number of countries that had previously voted in the resolution, calling for a halt in arms sales and denouncing the military takeover, as it’s legitimacy will be hugely undermined.
Most of the democratic countries, cannot recognise the military government in a matter of principles, there is a good chance a huge number of these countries, especially those part of the western hemisphere, will be voting in favor of recognising the NUG.
Neighboring countries like Bangladesh, India and Thailand is likely to vote abstain or even reject the resolution, in view of the unlikelihood that the NUG would ever step foot in Myanmar given the absolute power the military wield in the country without credible opposition/resistance.
Other ASEAN countries, are likely to abstain to avoid antagonizing a potential future partner that they have to deal with, while China and Russia predictably will be rejecting the resolution.
All in all, we predict a massive abstain wave, and the resolution to be passed marginally with slightly more yay than nay vote (but even this would be a diplomatic victory for the NUG and a humiliating setback for the military government).
Tangibly speaking, we won’t expect much to change in the status quo, unless in an unexpected turn of event where, most of the countries voted to recognize the NUG – then perhaps there would be some progress for Myanmar’s situation – for better or worse.