Bonjour!
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dear respected members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Defenses and Armed Forces of the Senate, the Parliament of France, I cannot thank you enough for giving me this great opportunity to represent my people and country of Myanmar before the French Parliamentarians. I am so moved by seeing and hearing the strong support from the People, Parliament and Government of France for the liberation and freedom of the people of Myanmar from the hands of the military junta and for the building of an inclusive Federal Democratic Union of Myanmar for All of the people of Myanmar regardless of race, religion, gender, culture, background and ethnicities.
The brave people of Myanmar and the National Unity Government of Myanmar greatly appreciate the People, Parliament and Government of the French Republic for your solidarity with us at this darkest of hours in the history of our country. I once again would like to reiterate our sincere gratitude for your leadership in the EU, UN and at G7 on behalf of the people of Myanmar. Thank you for the recognition of CRPH and NUG as representing the voices of the people of Myanmar and thank you for joining countries that have imposed an arms embargo in solidarity against the ruthless military junta in Myanmar. While the future of Myanmar is in the hands of the brave people of Myanmar, we need the strong and continued support, friendship and recognition from the people, Parliamentarians, and Government of France and its international alliance. Your support and recognition are absolutely crucial in stopping the crimes against humanity in Myanmar and ending the military General’s reign of terror against the innocent people of Myanmar who’s only ‘crime’ is expressing their fundamental rights as human beings. The defense and armed forces are established in the countries around the world to protect their people and to defend freedom and democracy, but the defense and armed forces in Myanmar are doing the opposite. They are using their battlefield weapons to destroy our freedom and democracy by killing the innocent people of Myanmar and bringing destruction to civilian homes, villages, towns and cities across the Nation of Myanmar.
Under the hands of terrorist-turned-armed forces leader, Min Aung Hlaing and his military junta gang, the innocent people of Myanmar have been facing the crises of crimes against humanity, Covid-19 and a great humanitarian catastrophe. Under the brutality of the military junta in Myanmar, Covid-19 cases are rising rapidly and out of control – the country is quickly becoming a failed state; the economy is collapsing along with the healthcare system, education system, and all basic services in the country are failing quickly. Food insecurity is rising sharply, violence and killing continues day and night. The 54 million people of Myanmar are facing the darkness of crimes against humanity, death and destruction which are becoming both systematic and widespread.
Since the failed coup was instigated on the 1st of February, 2021 in Myanmar, the military junta forces have murdered over 915 people, including 72 children, unlawfully arrested and detained more than 6,200 innocent Myanmar people including our elected leaders, our State Counsellor, Daw San Suu Kyi, Mr. President U Win Myint and dozens of brave journalists, hunting down more
than 2,000 innocent civilians and forcing them to flee from illegal arrest warrants. All these charges are a farce which has nothing to do with rule of law, but has everything to do with the destruction of our freedom, democracy and prolonging of the military junta reign of terror in Myanmar.
On the 16th of June, 2021, the military junta committed another crime against humanity by burning down the entire village of Kinma (over 250 homes) and burning elderly people to death who were trapped inside their homes. This is not a first, however, as this military junta is guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing against the Rohinga our brothers and sisters, the people of Karen, Kachin, Kayah, Shan, Mon, Rakhine, Chin States which account for over 40% of the population of Myanmar. We have made our policy and position strong and clear to bring justice for our Rohingya brothers and sisters and to hold the military generals accountable for the crimes against humanity that they have committed against the people of Myanmar. There shall never again be impunity for these criminals.
According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), 1.2 million civilians are currently displaced by the violence caused by the military junta’s reign of terror. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is predicting that over half of the population of Myanmar (approximately 27 million people) will be living in poverty within a year. The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) is predicting that more than 6.4 million people in Myanmar are going to face starvation by the end of October 2021. We cannot allow the normalization of 1.2 million Myanmar people being violently forced to flee from their homes because of a military dictator’s thirst for power. We cannot allow the normalization of 6.4 million Myanmar people being forced into starvation; we cannot allow the normalization of 27 million people in Myanmar being forced into extreme poverty because of the greed of military Generals in Myanmar.
The brutal military junta forces are attacking civilian homes, properties, villages, towns and cities across Myanmar with heavy battlefield weapons. They have occupied churches, schools, community halls and hospitals to use as barracks and supply depots. These junta forces are replacing textbooks and pencils with the terror of fear, violence, guns and bullets; replacing Bibles and hymnals with intimidation, oppression, mortars and bombs; and replacing life-saving hospital equipment with weapons of torture, destruction and death.
It is not normal that classrooms are being occupied by junta soldiers, and that the school children are being forced to flee for their lives; nor is it normal that places of worship and community centers are being occupied by the junta forces, and that the communities, pastors, monks, and leaders are being forced to flee for their lives. It is not normal that our hospitals, colleges, universities, banks, and economy is crashing due to this military reign of terror. It is not normal that our teachers, tutors, professors, doctors, nurses, midwives, engineers, scholars and civil servants are being forced to flee for their lives because of their peaceful movement of CDM which is more powerful than all the military junta’s acts of terrorism against the people of Myanmar.
The crimes against humanity and war crimes we have seen enacted in Kinma, Bago, Shwebo, Demoso, Mindat, Mandalay, Yangon and many other parts of Myanmar have shown strong evidence that the military junta in Myanmar is openly committing crimes against humanity and war crimes against the civilian population in Myanmar. Since the 22nd of February, 2021, we have received over 400,000 emails, with over 151,000 emails containing the evidence of crimes against humanity, and a total of 310,000 videos and photos documenting the atrocities of the military junta in Myanmar. 427 strong cases are being opened by human rights lawyers documenting crimes against humanity with 28,005 victims. Each case is being thoroughly researched and verified through both private and public resources, with efforts to provide evidence-based cases to international accountability mechanisms such as the ICJ and ICC. Each case includes a case ID, date and location, case type, abuse type, detail of case notes and sources. We will build an online mausoleum to show the world about the crimes against humanity being committed by this brutal military junta in Myanmar. When the time comes, a physical mausoleum will be built inside the country as a remembrance of these victims and heroes of democracy, and also to prevent more crimes against humanity, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and genocides from happening again on the soil of Myanmar.
These acts of terrorism by the military junta in Myanmar are leading the whole Nation into a civil bloodbath, a great civil war and another genocide. Day after day, these nationwide peaceful protests, boycotts and strikes, known as the CDM movement, which are completely non-violent yet have been cracked down on by the oppressive military junta with bloodstained heavy battlefield weapons that have been secured from China, Russia and other countries with the money that has been stolen from our revenue of gas and oil enterprises, and our natural resources. Therefore, the people of Myanmar are left with no other way, and no other choice but to do everything they can to defend themselves from these murderers who are roaming at large into innocent civilian homes, villages, towns and cities across the country. These civilians have formed People’s Defenses Forces – PDFs, Civilians Defense Forces – CDFs and Ethnic Armed Organizations – EAOs. All these members of EAOs, PDFs, and CDFs are simply protecting and defending themselves from the discharges of heavy battlefield weapons against them, and defending their love ones, people, homes, villages and cities from being destroyed by the military junta ‘SAC’ forces.
The citizens of Myanmar have initiated strong domestic sanctions against the junta through this peaceful movement of CDM, strikes and other acts of civil disobedience. We are boycotting junta produced goods, and a large percentage of civil servants are refusing to support the junta’s work. The sanctions that have been imposed thus far by France and the International Community have been a helpful start in showing a strong support for both our domestic efforts and the will of the people. However, greater help and support from the people, Parliament and Government of France and its allies from the international community is of vital importance.
It has been two months since ASEAN adopted its five consensus points on Myanmar, yet nothing has been done on the ground. The 76th United Nations General Assembly has adopted the resolution in which 119 countries from around the world spoke loud and clear, and sent a strong message to the brutal military junta in Myanmar. The United Nations- world health organization (WHO), United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Labor Organization (ILO), the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC), the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention have also rejected the Myanmar military Junta representatives from attending the conventions, sessions and assemblies of the agencies. The World Bank and International Monitoring Fund (IMF), Asia Development Bank (ADB) all have stopped their activities in Myanmar and refuse to work under this military junta. The military junta in Myanmar has shown again and again that it has no respect for ASEAN’s five points, the UN resolution or the light sanctions.
We have three core requests to present to the People, Parliament and Government of France and its allies from around the world:
Please engage with the National Unity Government as the sole legitimate representative of the people of Myanmar. We are comprised of leaders elected in Myanmar’s democratic November elections as well as leaders of ethnic states and regions. The people of Myanmar recognize us as the sole legitimate government and our hope is that you will also work with us as the sole legitimate government of Myanmar as well. This is the first time in the history of Myanmar that there has been a National Unity Government with the full support of the people. We need the endorsement, recognition, acknowledgement and engagement from the Government of France and the free countries and leaders from around the world who believe in freedom, justice, and democracy. This is the first time in our history that elected members of Parliament, Political Parties, Ethnic Leaders, Ethnic Armed Organizations, and grass roots Civil Society Organizations have come together as one united people to oppose the common enemy – this military dictatorship. This is the greatest opportunity of the century. We must seize upon this window of opportunity to stop the crimes against humanity and put an end to this brutal military junta reign of terror once and for all, and begin the building of an inclusive Federal Democratic Union of Myanmar for ALL the people of Myanmar.
We need help addressing the growing Humanitarian Crisis. We need aid. The National Unity Government knows how to get aid to where it needs to go. A humanitarian crisis is growing due to conflict and the spread of COVID-19, vaccines so far have been held by the military and distributed first to them and their family. Myanmar’s economy is in collapse and millions are already, or at risk of being, without water, food, sanitation, shelter, and medicine. In the short term, we need aid for;
(1) FOOD SECURITY (2) HEALTH AND, (3) SHELTER, but in the longer term we need aid also for (4) EDUCATION.
Please help us put more financial pressure on the junta. It is critical for the nations of the world who stand with us to band together in a coordinated campaign and coalition for further sanctions that would cut the flow of revenue to this murderous regime. We are respectfully requesting that the Government of France ensure that no funds from any entity under the control of France, whether public or private, be allowed to continue to be transferred to the Junta, its business entities, leaders, or their families. The largest source of revenue to the junta, the oil and gas sector, remains largely unscathed by the international community. Coordinated and targeted sanctions and legislation would make a clear legal obligation for companies to stop the flow of this revenue to the junta. We implore the Government of France to implement sanctions as soon as possible, which would help stop funding from Total Energies to the junta completely. We must not continue to allow this illegal junta to spend the wealth of the people of Myanmar in murdering the people of Myanmar. Therefore, the Government of France and the International Community must continue to place sanctions against Myanmar Oil and Gas and all state-owned enterprises, including the transfer of dual use technology, and impose an international arms embargo and a strict no-fly-zone above the territory of Myanmar by whatever means necessary. These measures are critically vital to prevent great civil war and another genocide in Myanmar.
When these three key requests are met with your support and recognition, we, the frontline defenders of freedom, liberty and democracy in Myanmar will be able to put an end to the military dictatorship and the genocidal military which has become a cancer to the nation and the people of Myanmar, and to replace it with an ethical and inclusive armed force that belongs to and is comprised of the people of Myanmar, and is led by the civilian government. Together we will begin to build a new Myanmar and an inclusive Federal Democratic Union of Myanmar for ALL the people of Myanmar regardless of Race, Religion, Gender, Culture, Ethnicity and Background, and where all human rights are equally respected, protected and promoted for ALL. Myanmar will become a country where power and resource sharing will be based on the principles of equality and self-determination, and where the three branches of Parliament, Judiciary and Executive will function independently; we will become a country where all the rights and laws will be protected and respected by the new federal democratic constitution for the people of Myanmar. This will be done in an inclusive manner and only with the consensus of ALL of our people. A constitutional convention and referendum will be held on the permanent draft constitution which will belong to the people of Myanmar for all generations to come.
Therefore, this is the battle and revolution that we must win. There is no turning back! We will win in our struggle to liberate Myanmar from the brutal military junta, and we will emerge as an inclusive new Myanmar that is committed to federal Democracy, Human Rights, and to being a responsible partner in the Global Community. This is the struggle between light and darkness, justice and injustice, good and evil, peace and violence, stability and instability, freedom and tyranny, fairness and unfairness, life and death, federal democracy and military dictatorship, the brutal military junta and the 54 million peaceful people of Myanmar – We will never give up and we will never surrender. We shall prevail! We will obtain the light, justice, good, peace, prosperity, stability, freedom, fairness, and a federal democracy. We, the 54 million people of Myanmar, will prevail. We will win!
Merci!, Sincerely,
H.E. Dr. Sasa
Union Minister of the Ministry of International Cooperation & NUG Spokesperson
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