Thank you to President Guaido for inviting me to this event, and Senator Menendez for moderating. I am honored to be here with my fellow human rights defenders from across the world. I recognize that I am in somewhat of a privileged position, safer from the horrors ravaging my people than others, and I take it as my responsibility to continue to shed light on the impunity of the Myanmar military.

I speak not only of the terror of the past 10 months since the coup, but also of the systematic crimes against humanity perpetrated by the military for the last half of a century. For decades, we have seen them weaponise starvation, sexual violence, and disease. We have also seen them consistently hack away at democracy, rewriting the Constitution in 2008 to hamstring any democratic government, and then discarding it once it no longer suited their needs. As I speak, Myanmar’s democratically elected leader remains in detention, and members of our democratically elected parliament are exiled around the world, unable to protect the Myanmar people, and struggling to keep up the resistance with our limited resources. 

In the days leading up to this event, the military has shown that they are still capable of crimes beyond words, despite international condemnation. On December 7th, 11 Burmese citizens as young as 14 years old were taken by soldiers, tied together, tortured, and burned to death, just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Two days earlier, a military vehicle drove at full speed through a crowd of protestors, leaving five dead and many injured. The military’s intent is clear: create as much fear and panic as possible. The junta cannot see the civilians of Myanmar as citizens they must serve, but as subjects or threats to be crushed beneath their heels. 

At this Democracy Summit, the international community has come together because they see that losses like that of my country are happening around the world — because an attack on Myanmar’s democracy is an attack against democracy everywhere. But our actions do not match the urgency of the threat we all face, nor do they do justice to the voices of the Myanmar people protesting on the streets, striking from their civil service jobs, and braving harsh conditions to bring footage and critical information to the world. Most countries at this summit continue to recognize the military junta as a legitimate government, and its leader Min Aung Hlaing as a legitimate statesman. Countries continue to sell them weapons, and corporations continue to work with corrupt military-linked firms, helping the army line its pockets with the stolen wealth of the Myanmar people. 

For years before the February coup, international organizations and states sought to engage with the Myanmar military, thinking that through trainings and dialogue that the generals would become more receptive to change. I am a simple country doctor with little political training. Yet few would argue with me that these engagements have borne little fruit. 

In 1990, the international community, too, refused to recognize Myanmar’s elected government, But all that did was let the military dictate the terms of, and roll back, Myanmar’s democratic transition. The military dictatorship must be eradicated.

Every day that the NUG is refused recognition is a day that we are unable to secure vital aid for our people. Every day that we are refused recognition means that the military sustains access to the money and weapons that they need to perpetrate crimes against humanity. Every day that we are

refused recognition means more innocent lives are lost and the fight for democracy becomes harder for the Myanmar people. There is no better place in the world to begin turning the tide back toward democracy, and there would be no bigger betrayal to the spirit of democracy than abandoning the Myanmar people again. 

This is not a natural disaster. Manmade suffering can be undone with manmade actions.The world is one body: when one part of the earth suffers from injustice, the other side has the responsibility to extend its freedom. Please share with us your freedom while there’s still time. Thank you.

Sincerely,

H.E. Dr. Sasa
Union Minister of Ministry of International Cooperation
Spoke Person of Nation Unity Government
Former Special Envoy to United Nations