Mizzima 

A joint statement of 514 civil society organisations (CSOs) said that the current approach of UN OCHA will embolden the Myanmar junta to further its war of terror across the nation. 

On 22 August, 514 CSOs published the statement in response to the report of UN OCHA after three-day visit of its chief to Myanmar, including a meeting with coup leader Min Aung Hlaing in capital Naypyitaw. It was covered on the front pages of state-owned newspapers as a propaganda exercise of regime in an attempt to gain international recognition and legitimacy. 

The joint statement published by the CSOs said that the visit of UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, lacked significant achievements although he tried to negotiate humanitarian access across Myanmar, including to Rakhine State following the deadly Cyclone Mocha. 

The CSOs also asked UN OCHA and other UN humanitarian agencies to cut ties with the illegal criminal junta which is weaponizing aid and is the root cause of human suffering in Myanmar, and to officially engage and partner with legitimate stakeholders of Myanmar and civil society service providers to deliver humanitarian assistance. 

The joint statement also pointed out that UN OCHA’s statement omitted that the Military Council is the root cause of the escalating humanitarian crisis, while it committing violence and atrocities, or weaponizing humanitarian assistance, blocking access to Cyclone Mocha’s victims. 

The statement mentioned, “We further note OCHA’s recognition of the Myanmar military’s unconstitutional body of the ‘State Administration Council’ in its statement which is inconsistent with the language used by the UN Security Council and UN General Assembly in their resolutions.”  

These CSOs also suggested that to fulfill its mandate and principles to do no harm, UN OCHA must immediately pivot to delivering aid in collaboration or partnership with local humanitarian and civil society groups, ethnic service providers, diaspora communities, local administration forces of the Spring Revolution, members of the Civil Disobedience Movement, Ethnic Revolutionary Organizations, and the National Unity Government who have been effectively providing life-saving services on the ground, including through cross-border channels.