On the 12th January, the governments of China and Russia exercised their veto power to refuse a US draft resolution which seeks to put more pressure on Myanmar for its humanitarian and political repression issues. The draft, presented before the 15 Security Council members on last Friday, saw China, Russia and South Africa voting against it, while Qatar, Indonesia and Congo Republic abstained. Those in favour were Belgium, France, Ghana, Italy, Panama, Peru, Slovakia, the UK and the US.
The US draft resolution, which was co-sponsored by Britain, urges Myanmar to stop military attacks against civilians in ethnic minority regions, address humanitarian needs of its people, release all political prisoners - particularly the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi who has been under house arrest for 10 of the past 16 years - and to allow the National League for Democracy (NLD) and other political parties to operate freely.
Before placing his vote on the proposal, Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Wang Guangya said the issue of a poor humanitarian record and political repression in the military-ruled Myanmar is mainly an internal affair of a sovereign State. He argued that the present domestic situation in Myanmar does not pose a threat to international or regional peace and security, as similar problems exist in many other countries as well.
Vitaly Churkin, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations echoed China's position. He said: "We find attempts aimed at using the Security Council to discuss issues outside its purview are unacceptable".
Myanmar’s Ambassador Kyaw Tint Swe insisted on the fact that the draft resolution was based on “patently false” information and, above all, that the Council was clearly exceeding its mandate by considering the issue.
But such a position clearly raises the question to know up to which point the Security Council must consider that the degradation of the situation of the rights human in an area does not have a direct incidence on international peace and security…
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