Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Pictures Media Radio.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Policy and Rights show. Gosh, welcome to Policy
Speaker 2: that human joys. All right, welcome back to Policy and
Speaker 2: Rights here depicting its Media Radio. I'm your host, Michael Cloggs.
Speaker 2: Let's discuss Me and Mar. We're going to have a
Speaker 2: recording from the Human Rights Council, part of the United Nations,
Speaker 2: as they discuss the humanitarian efforts and the humanitarian situation
Speaker 2: in Me and Mar itself.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 2: Me and R is an ancient country in some ways,
Speaker 2: during some of its colonial time, was also known as Burma.
Speaker 2: In of course, right now it is known as Me
Speaker 2: or Mar, and it has struggled politically, It has struggled economically,
Speaker 2: and it is as far as the people itselves are concerned,
Speaker 2: it is struggling to support the needs that they want.
Speaker 2: Simply put, they want the same thing as all the
Speaker 2: rest of us want freedom, the right to think what
Speaker 2: you want to think, and the right to choose what
Speaker 2: we want to choose. There are some interesting caveats to that,
Speaker 2: but we won't get into that right this very second.
Speaker 2: We do want to talk about Me or Mart itself.
Speaker 2: In the past few years that have led to what
Speaker 2: we see today with the political unrest and unbalanced that
Speaker 2: we actually see there today, that is leading the United
Speaker 2: Nations Human Rights Council to actually be taking a strong
Speaker 2: look at it and to actually have a special repertoire
Speaker 2: to come and discuss what is happening in me or
Speaker 2: Mar today. So let's go back to February one of
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one, the day of parliament was set to
Speaker 2: convene Mira. March's military detained Zoe Kil and other members
Speaker 2: of the ruling party and they handed power to the
Speaker 2: chief Meinhunyi Yi and declared the state of emergency for
Speaker 2: one year and began closing the borders, restricting travel and
Speaker 2: electronic communications nationwide. The military announced it would replace the
Speaker 2: existing election commission with a new one, and the military
Speaker 2: media outlet indicated new elections would be held in about
Speaker 2: one year. Through the avoiding making any official commitment to that,
Speaker 2: the military expelled the n LD party members of the
Speaker 2: parliament from the capital, and by the fifteenth of March
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one, the military leadership continued to extend the
Speaker 2: martial law into more parts of hegan while security forces
Speaker 2: killed thirty eight people in a single day of violence.
Speaker 2: By the second day, thousands of protesters were marching in
Speaker 2: the streets and the protests erupted nationwide, largely hailing commerce
Speaker 2: and transportation. Despite the military taries, arrests, killings of protesters,
Speaker 2: the first few weeks of the coup found a growing
Speaker 2: public participation in including of the civil civil servants, teachers, students, workers, monks,
Speaker 2: and religious leaders, even normally disinfect affected ethnic minorities. The
Speaker 2: coup immediately was condemned by the United Nations. The US
Speaker 2: threatened sanctions and military military and its leaders, including a
Speaker 2: freeze of one billion dollars in assets from the US, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia, Vietnam, Thailand,
Speaker 2: the Philippines, China. UH retained criticizing the military c coup.
Speaker 2: And let's put this way, basically, the whole world was
Speaker 2: against this military cou coup that actually happened. The outsiders
Speaker 2: looking in international development partners and non UH government and
Speaker 2: government hinted the suspension of partnerships with mir Mar. Banks
Speaker 2: were closed on social media UH communication platforms including Facebook, Twitter,
Speaker 2: UH blah blah blah. The protesters appeared UH in miror
Speaker 2: Mar embassies in UH foreign countries, A National Unity government
Speaker 2: then declared the formation of a armed Wing UH by
Speaker 2: UH the fifth of May one, a date often cited
Speaker 2: to starting the full scale civil war, and ever since
Speaker 2: then Meanmoir has been in some state of violence or
Speaker 2: civil war. So now we need to know what is
Speaker 2: happening with human rights and what and what other countries
Speaker 2: are actually doing to help the people themselves get back
Speaker 2: to normality, get back to what is it that they
Speaker 2: would preferred doing rather than protesting and having military violence
Speaker 2: running up and down their streets. And this is this
Speaker 2: is where we are today and why we're We have
Speaker 2: a special repertoire from the United Nations speaking about what
Speaker 2: is happening in me, Mr okay, so along with we're
Speaker 2: going to flip this over to to Canada now, and
Speaker 2: we have Mark Karney, Prime Minister of Canada as he
Speaker 2: is speaking with Anita and non In in the background
Speaker 2: about what's happening with NATO. And of course by twenty
Speaker 2: thirty five, Canada is now promising to reach the five
Speaker 2: percent threshold of GDP spending on national defense. Part of
Speaker 2: this is of this push to increase the NATO country
Speaker 2: stockpile is according to the ongoing threat from the Russian
Speaker 2: Federation and of course trying to protect all of the
Speaker 2: Arctic countries that would be a threat if the Russian
Speaker 2: Federation were to attempt something. We already know that they
Speaker 2: moved south and they went after, of course Ukraine, and
Speaker 2: they're saying that that they're trying to free the Dundas
Speaker 2: region and they're trying to free Crimea. But is that
Speaker 2: really all that they're trying to do, especially with leadership
Speaker 2: under Vladimir Putin, who, for lack of words, is just
Speaker 2: trying to boluster what it is he thinks Russia should
Speaker 2: be allowed to have. Sanctions, of course, have been placed
Speaker 2: against them where there's limited sale of of resources from
Speaker 2: Russia and back into Europe. The European Union is on
Speaker 2: board with that and working with with NATO of course
Speaker 2: to limit some of those sales in order to starve
Speaker 2: Russia of money so that they have a harder time
Speaker 2: producing weapons and supplying their army. But still conflict continues.
Speaker 2: Let's look at it at something else here just for
Speaker 2: a couple of seconds, and then we're gonna we're we're
Speaker 2: going to push forward to hear what Mark Karni had
Speaker 2: to say at NATO, and then we'll hear from the
Speaker 2: United Nations Human Rights Council. We have two different different
Speaker 2: sides here at this point. We have one where we're
Speaker 2: trying to stop war by supplying humanitarian efforts and in
Speaker 2: order to quell the people so that they stop fighting
Speaker 2: with each other in the end the civil war. We're
Speaker 2: trying to do this through diplomacy and peaceful means. The
Speaker 2: other end of it is we're going to build a
Speaker 2: stronger military to end a war or to prevent a
Speaker 2: war from happening. Would it not be easier or would
Speaker 2: it not be a better path? And maybe not an
Speaker 2: easier path. Maybe the easier path is actually stockpile of
Speaker 2: the military is like I'm stronger than you are, so
Speaker 2: you better not attack me kind of mentality. But a
Speaker 2: better path might be to offer understanding and to unite
Speaker 2: all of the countries around the world and some sort
Speaker 2: of a peaceful resolute that would lower the borders so
Speaker 2: that people could pick and choose where they wanted to live,
Speaker 2: regardless of passports or anything like that. Just saying that
Speaker 2: there's got to be a better way of getting along
Speaker 2: in our world without having to flex muscle to do
Speaker 2: it in a way that shows that hey, we're open
Speaker 2: to selling our differences without throwing punches.
Speaker 4: Hello MESSI that that ven i okay lot in context,
Speaker 4: Bulson the lord montiene punt f faso shote collective a
Speaker 4: filmy said verici dera cond newse some Also, this NATO
Speaker 4: summit is similarly taking place at a transformational moment for Canada.
Speaker 4: For the allies of NATO, the international rules based system
Speaker 4: on which the Alliance has relied upon is under unprecedented pressure,
Speaker 4: and the threats that are facing individual member states are evolving.
Speaker 4: They differ both in their form and severity, and at
Speaker 4: the same time, Canada's own relationship with NATO is appropriately evolving.
Speaker 4: Put it in a bit of context. For over a century,
Speaker 4: For over a century, Canada has been a net exporter
Speaker 4: of security to Europe, and now with those evolving threats worldwide,
Speaker 4: the threats to our own sovereignty are becoming more acute.
Speaker 4: With increasingly open Arctic waters and rapid advancers in cyber
Speaker 4: and AI and quantum, with advanced missile capacities, we can
Speaker 4: no longer rely on our geography to protect us. As
Speaker 4: the global landscape shifts, the collective security created by the
Speaker 4: Alliance remains the strongest and the most effective way of
Speaker 4: protecting Canadian sovereignty and protecting the security of Canadians. So,
Speaker 4: together with our allies, we must ensure that NATO remains strong, unified,
Speaker 4: and ready to confront the threats not just of today
Speaker 4: but of tomorrow. And so in this pursuit, Canada is
Speaker 4: helping to ensure that the Alliance and the peace that
Speaker 4: it can help protect prevail. In order to do so,
Speaker 4: we must invest in our strength, because Canada's leadership must
Speaker 4: be defined not just by the strength of our values,
Speaker 4: but by the value of our strength. That's why earlier
Speaker 4: this month, Minister of Minister of Defense, the Chief of
Speaker 4: the Defense Staff, and I unveiled Canada's plan to rebuild,
Speaker 4: rearm and reinvest in the Canadian armed forces to protect
Speaker 4: first and foremost Canadians, to protect our interests, and also
Speaker 4: to help protect our allies. In doing so, we are
Speaker 4: reaching NATO's two percent target this year. We've arrived at
Speaker 4: this summit looking forward with the plan to help lead
Speaker 4: with new investments to build our strength. This morning, Canada,
Speaker 4: or just now, I guess it went into the afternoon,
Speaker 4: Canada and our allies agreed to a new defense industrial
Speaker 4: There's a new Defense Investment Pledge which secures Canada's strategic
Speaker 4: and security goals. As part of that, Canada has already
Speaker 4: beginning working towards a target of three and a half
Speaker 4: percent of GDP by twenty thirty five by expanding our
Speaker 4: plan to invest in the Canadian Armed Forces, to modernize
Speaker 4: our military equipment and technology, to help build up our
Speaker 4: own defense and security industries, as well as to diversify
Speaker 4: our defense partnerships.
Speaker 3: We're also working to ensure.
Speaker 4: That we are spending one and a half percent of
Speaker 4: our GDP in defense and security related infrastructure, so that
Speaker 4: means airports, infrastructure, to support the development and exportation of
Speaker 4: critical minerals, telecommunications and emergency preparedness systems. These investments serve
Speaker 4: our defense as well as protecting the readiness and resilience
Speaker 4: to protect Canadians. At the core of our defense investment,
Speaker 4: of course, are the men and women of the Canadian
Speaker 4: Armed Forces, and as I speak to you today, Canadian
Speaker 4: troops are participating in NATO deterrence and defense missions across
Speaker 4: Central and Eastern Europe, as well as building capacity in
Speaker 4: the Middle East as part of Operation Reassurance Canada's leading
Speaker 4: a fourteen nation strong multi national brigade with over two
Speaker 4: thousand Canadian armed forces in Latvia. We're working with our
Speaker 4: allies and partners across Europe to train Ukrainian soldiers who
Speaker 4: are defending their homeland from Russia's illegal and barbaric invasion.
Speaker 4: These are the women and men we are investing in
Speaker 4: the forces we will expand with new incentives and new
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Speaker 4: have enormous industrial capacity, but that will grow significantly as
Speaker 4: our allies seek to increase their military readiness. They will
Speaker 4: buy more equipment and technology made in Canada by Canadian
Speaker 4: workers in shipyards, in labs and shop floors. Right across
Speaker 4: our country will make the drones, the icebreakers, the aerospace
Speaker 4: technology is and much more that's needed to build a
Speaker 4: more secure world.
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Speaker 4: is helping to ensure and through our discussions, I'm very
Speaker 4: pleased to discussions and how they evolved that the new
Speaker 4: NATO targets of five percent of GDP. Those new NATO's
Speaker 4: targets are tailored to address new threats and challenges, and
Speaker 4: the capabilities required to meet this moment have been the
Speaker 4: driving factors for those targets. Importantly, the trajectory and the
Speaker 4: balance of the new NATO Defense Pledge will be reviewed
Speaker 4: in twenty twenty nine. To ensure that the commitments align
Speaker 4: with the global security landscape. Throughout Canada's history, there have
Speaker 4: been turning points when the world's fortunes have been in
Speaker 4: the balance, and each time Canada has chosen to step
Speaker 4: up to lead on the path of democracy and freedom.
Speaker 3: We're once again at one of those moments.
Speaker 4: If we want the world of tomorrow to be shaped
Speaker 4: by our values, Canada must be ready. If we want
Speaker 4: a more secure world, we need a stronger Canada that
Speaker 4: works with our allies, and today is a very important
Speaker 4: step to build both.
Speaker 3: Hutch and I look forward to your questions. Thank you,
Speaker 3: Prime Minister.
Speaker 4: We're not going to begin the question period.
Speaker 1: We'll begin with Steve Chase.
Speaker 3: First question period. Hi, Steve Chase for the Global Mail.
Speaker 5: I want to ask you to what extent you have
Speaker 5: social license, to what extent you think you have public
Speaker 5: support for what defense experts are saying would be the
Speaker 5: largest increase in defense spending since.
Speaker 3: The Second World War.
Speaker 5: We're talking seven percent increases a year to reach that
Speaker 5: fifty billion number, it's going to crowd out other investments.
Speaker 5: It's got to crowd out requests for healthcare transfer increases.
Speaker 3: So to what extent do you think you have public
Speaker 3: support for this.
Speaker 4: Well, thanks for the question, Steve. Let me answer this
Speaker 4: in two ways. So the first is to provide some
Speaker 4: context to the overall five percent. Number one and a
Speaker 4: half percent of that five percent is what's called a
Speaker 4: defense Industrial pledge, And as I describe very briefly in
Speaker 4: my remarks, it's much more detail in the public documents,
Speaker 4: and we can go into more detail back the Minister
Speaker 4: of National Defense can go into an exhaustive detail here,
Speaker 4: but that the industrial element of that much of this
Speaker 4: we are already doing. This is about building the resilience.
Speaker 4: What do we do to build the resilience of the country.
Speaker 4: How much are we spending on our ports, on our
Speaker 4: transportation infrastructure, How much are we spending in order to
Speaker 4: develop our critical minerals. What do we do to make
Speaker 4: sure we have a resilient telecommunications system. These are things
Speaker 4: that actually we as government, both federal and provincial governments.
Speaker 4: These are responsibilities we have today to Canadians, and responsibilities
Speaker 4: that by and large we are fulfilling. Now we're going
Speaker 4: to do a more proper accounting of that, a more
Speaker 4: strategic set of investments in that. So, yes, we'll find
Speaker 4: gaps we'll be transparent about that and we'll make up
Speaker 4: those gaps. So the overall context of the net increase
Speaker 4: in defense spending is much less than the headline from
Speaker 4: two to five. First point, very important point, but we
Speaker 4: have to show that and we have to be delivered
Speaker 4: and strategic about it, and we will. The second thing
Speaker 4: is what happens in terms of the I'll call it
Speaker 4: the two to the three and a half that number.
Speaker 4: We absolutely need to establish the political and social to use,
Speaker 4: the social license, the public support for that. It needs
Speaker 4: to be as I indicated my remarks, including my remarks
Speaker 4: in that room. First and foremost, we are protecting Canadians.
Speaker 4: We are protecting Canadians against new threats. I wish we
Speaker 4: didn't have to, but that is but we do have
Speaker 4: to and it is our core responsibility as government. And
Speaker 4: those threats we see them the evolving threat environment, most
Speaker 4: clearly in the Arctic, but it's also through the Arctic
Speaker 4: into Canada, and so we're taking our greater responsibilities around that.
Speaker 4: We have to be clear about what we're doing in
Speaker 4: order to achieve it. Last point, we're focused on the outcome,
Speaker 4: the result protecting Canadians. We're driven by that not by
Speaker 4: with all due respects, sitting in the NATO building, by
Speaker 4: NATO accountants, and that's part of what's relevant for this
Speaker 4: twenty twenty nine review.
Speaker 3: We're going to focus on those new threats.
Speaker 4: We're going to take more of it directly in our
Speaker 4: responsibility because they are a responsibility of threats on our
Speaker 4: soil in our marine areas, and we're possible. We're going
Speaker 4: to work with our partners, but we're also going to
Speaker 4: assess how well we've done, first and foremost to Canadians
Speaker 4: whom we serve, but also to our partners. There'll be
Speaker 4: a review and they'll be an adjustment.
Speaker 3: At that point.
Speaker 6: And thank you for joining us today at this press conference.
Speaker 6: Our speaker today is mister Tom Andrews, the Special Reporter
Speaker 6: on the human rights situation in Yenmar. He will be
Speaker 6: brief you today on his latest report to the Human
Speaker 6: Rights Council. We will begin with opening remarks from the
Speaker 6: Special Reporter, followed by before moving too questions, mister Andrews,
Speaker 6: you have the floor.
Speaker 7: Thank you, tony okay? Is that good? Yeah?
Speaker 8: Turning it on makes a lot of difference. Well, thank
Speaker 8: you very much everyone for your interest in your attendance.
Speaker 8: I am very pleased to return to Geneva, where I
Speaker 8: will have the honor of engaging with the Human Rights Council,
Speaker 8: along with the High Commissioner and representatives of Me and
Speaker 8: Mar civil society organizations in an enhanced interactive dialogue on.
Speaker 7: The crisis in Me and Mar later this week.
Speaker 8: Today, I'd like to talk about some of the distressing
Speaker 8: facts that are emerging out of Me and More, and
Speaker 8: I'd also like to address what is even more distressing,
Speaker 8: the trajectory of these facts and what lies beneath them.
Speaker 8: And I'd like to circle that trajectory back to the
Speaker 8: United Nations and its member states, the Human Rights Council,
Speaker 8: and really to all of us. The facts in Me
Speaker 8: and Mar are dismal. More than sixty eight hundred people
Speaker 8: have been killed since the coup, more than twenty two
Speaker 8: thousand political prisoners behind bars, most of whom are guilty
Speaker 8: of only exercising their fundamental rights, including speaking out and
Speaker 8: participating in demonstrations opposing a brutal military juntu. Before the coup,
Speaker 8: there were three hundred thousand people internally displaced in Me
Speaker 8: and More. Now there are more than three zero point
Speaker 8: five million, nearly one point five million refugees from Me
Speaker 8: and Mar are currently living in other countries. Nearly a
Speaker 8: third of the population of Me and Mar are facing
Speaker 8: acute food insecurity. Twenty one point nine million people are
Speaker 8: in need of humanitarian aid. As if this misery were
Speaker 8: not enough, a seven point seven magnitude earthquake struck Me
Speaker 8: and Mar on the twenty eighth of March. I was
Speaker 8: on the Thai Me and Maar border at the time
Speaker 8: when it struck. We know that at least thirty eight
Speaker 8: hundred people were killed and more than five thousand were injured,
Speaker 8: but the true numbers are likely much much higher. More
Speaker 8: than two hundred thousand were displaced by the earthquake three
Speaker 8: months after it struck. There are many who can continue
Speaker 8: to sleep on the streets. Hunger or lack of access
Speaker 8: to water and sanitation facilities haunt many communities. They are
Speaker 8: forced to grapple with extreme heat, drenching rains, and infectious diseases. Meanwhile,
Speaker 8: the Hunter has taken the same approach with earthquake relief
Speaker 8: that it takes to all humanitarian aid, generally block the
Speaker 8: delivery of aid to opposition controlled areas, an attempt to
Speaker 8: force all donors and agencies to deliver aid only into
Speaker 8: its own hands. I have spoken with humanitarian workers that
Speaker 8: have been physically blocked at checkpoints and prevented from delivering
Speaker 8: aid to earthquake impacted communities, and experienced their frustration and
Speaker 8: their anger. The Hunter has reportedly evicted earthquake survivors from
Speaker 8: their shelters, leaving those whose homes were destroyed with nowhere
Speaker 8: to go. The Hunter proceeded to break a so called
Speaker 8: humanitarian ceasefire almost immediately after declaring one, and repeated the
Speaker 8: same cynical ploy again. Meanwhile, they've been attempting to exact
Speaker 8: as much legitimacy as possible from engaging with foreign donors,
Speaker 8: covering the pages of state media with pictures of foreign
Speaker 8: aid workers posing with Hunter officials. Let me note, as
Speaker 8: I have in the past, that the Hunter needs three
Speaker 8: things to sustain itself, money, weapons, and legitimacy. We need
Speaker 8: to do more to support the people of me and
Speaker 8: mar by denying the Hunter all three, and there will
Speaker 8: be opportunities and an obligation to do so this year.
Speaker 8: By denying any recognition of the Hunter's so called election,
Speaker 8: and I'll put that in quotes, that it is planning
Speaker 8: for later this year. UN member states should call this
Speaker 8: exercise for what it is, a charade and a fraud.
Speaker 8: Now it is making the deepening crisis in me and
Speaker 8: Mar worse for those inside of Me and Mar and
Speaker 8: those who have fled Me and Mare.
Speaker 7: Is the dismal, deadly.
Speaker 8: Trajectory of the global retreat of international support. The Rainga
Speaker 8: in IDP camps in central Rakine face severe food ration cuts.
Speaker 8: Severe food ration cuts that hit them in April.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 8: The World Food Program was able to partially restore these
Speaker 8: cuts in June, but they're facing the fact that existing
Speaker 8: resources will not be adequate to meeting a desperate need.
Speaker 8: With out renewed funding, most of the more than one
Speaker 8: hundred thousand refugees in Thailand will not receive any aid
Speaker 8: starting in August, just a few weeks from now. Food
Speaker 8: distribution for more than one million refugees in Bangladesh will
Speaker 8: stop in October without additional funding. Health clinics in refugee
Speaker 8: camps have shut down, leaving patients scrambling to find care
Speaker 8: or face the consequences of going without treatment. I met
Speaker 8: many refugees when I was on the border following the earthquake,
Speaker 8: including persons with disabilities needing medical treatment. I met a
Speaker 8: five year old boy who needed life saving heart surgery
Speaker 8: and his mom. They were among the very lucky ones
Speaker 8: who were able to get access to life saving health
Speaker 8: care services, services that may very soon no longer be available.
Speaker 8: The fact is halfway through twenty twenty five, the ME
Speaker 8: and MAR Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan is only twelve
Speaker 8: percent funded. The RAINGO Humanitarian Crisis Joint and Response Plan
Speaker 8: is only twenty two percent funded.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 8: Leading the way of this dismal trajectory downward has been
Speaker 8: the United States, and to be fair, the devastating impact
Speaker 8: of US cuts reflects in part the leadership rule that
Speaker 8: the United States has historically played in making sure that
Speaker 8: these vitally important services were adequately funded, at least in
Speaker 8: the past, and Americans can be proud of that. But
Speaker 8: the US contribution to the ME and MAR Humanitarian Needs
Speaker 8: and Response Plan was thirty percent last year. So far
Speaker 8: it is five percent this year, thirty percent to five percent.
Speaker 8: The US contribution to the Ringa Humanitarian Crisis Joint Response
Speaker 8: Plan was fifty two percent in twenty twenty four. In
Speaker 8: twenty twenty five it is six percent. US foreign assistance
Speaker 8: commitments to ME and MAR was two hundred and thirty
Speaker 8: seven million dollars in twenty twenty four, two hundred and
Speaker 8: thirty four million in twenty two hundred and thirty seven million.
Speaker 7: In twenty twenty four.
Speaker 8: It is eight point five million in twenty twenty five,
Speaker 8: two hundred and thirty seven million to eight point five million.
Speaker 8: Now it is fair to ask why other governments had
Speaker 8: not done more in the past. It's a fair question,
Speaker 8: and whether they should step up and take a larger
Speaker 8: share of the burden today. I believe a reasonable answer
Speaker 8: to the second question is yes, as communities or businesses
Speaker 8: who are dependent on a large source of revenue, no,
Speaker 8: it is great as long as these large sources keep up,
Speaker 8: but devastating when they cut back or worse.
Speaker 7: Cut out.
Speaker 8: A diversified source of revenue generates stability and security. In
Speaker 8: the case of those impacted by the crisis in ME
Speaker 8: and MAR, it can indeed be the key to survival. Unfortunately,
Speaker 8: not only have many governments failed to step up to
Speaker 8: fill the gaps left by US cuts, many have announced
Speaker 8: their own reductions in aid. We are going, ladies and gentlemen,
Speaker 8: in the wrong direction. Of course, the UN Human Rights
Speaker 8: Council is also being impacted by a retreat in support
Speaker 8: by a UN member states. There has been considerable discussion
Speaker 8: here in Geneva about what is been described as a
Speaker 8: liquidity crisis of the Human Rights Council. The fact is,
Speaker 8: the Human Rights council liquidity crisis is really a political crisis.
Speaker 8: It is a leadership crisis. It is a communication crisis.
Speaker 8: It is a moral crisis. The Human Rights Council shines
Speaker 8: a spotlight on human rights and assaults on those rights.
Speaker 8: Its members express sentiments and past resolutions addressing a wide
Speaker 8: range of human rights issues. But action as well as
Speaker 8: words are necessary. Making investments to defend human rights and
Speaker 8: fund critical aid. Establishing funding adequate funding for these critical
Speaker 8: budgets is critically important.
Speaker 7: Action matters. It is critical that governments walk the wall
Speaker 7: at issue here.
Speaker 8: Do human rights matter? And if human rights do matter,
Speaker 8: if human decency matters, If saving the lives of children
Speaker 8: in Me and mar who are in desperate need of
Speaker 8: help matter, then those who believe it matters should be
Speaker 8: willing to invest a modest amount of resources to save lives,
Speaker 8: stop the immense and growing level of suffering, create stability
Speaker 8: and enhance security for all. It is a very, very
Speaker 8: wise investment. Now, the fact is there are political forces
Speaker 8: that are pushing relentlessly to reject the very idea of
Speaker 8: human rights. We see this all over the globe, and
Speaker 8: they're pushing to ignore or vilify those who are victimized
Speaker 8: by brutality, to deny or dismiss the factors that drive desperation,
Speaker 8: forcing victims out of their homes, out of their villages,
Speaker 8: or out of their countries. That reject the basic idea
Speaker 8: that nations can and should work together across national borders
Speaker 8: to save those whose lives would otherwise be lost. This
Speaker 8: is who we are at our best, and it is
Speaker 8: also in our own interest to stand up to forces
Speaker 8: that drive instability, cruelty, and violence. This is a very
Speaker 8: dangerous trajectory that we are now on. The fear card,
Speaker 8: the grievance card, the vilification card are potential political tools
Speaker 8: and weapons, and they're being used in many areas of
Speaker 8: the world. But we have seen these cards played before
Speaker 8: and we know where their trajectory leads. The United Nations
Speaker 8: itself was created on the ashes of the devastation that
Speaker 8: these types of cards generated nearly a century ago. The
Speaker 8: downward trajectory that we are currently on will continue until
Speaker 8: leaders are willing to stand up for human rights and
Speaker 8: set priorities and budgets that reflect the best and not
Speaker 8: the worst of us. When we do what is necessary
Speaker 8: to communicate to citizens of all walks of life.
Speaker 7: Why this matters.
Speaker 8: When people of conscience stand up and say enough is enough.
Speaker 8: Communication is where you members of the media can play
Speaker 8: a decisive role. The Human Rights Council has been called
Speaker 8: the conscience of the United Nations. Now more than ever,
Speaker 8: the United Nations and world leaders to need to hear
Speaker 8: and heed the voices of conscience because the stakes could
Speaker 8: not be higher. I just want to say that there
Speaker 8: is good news in the fact that we know what
Speaker 8: happens when action is taken. We can see the results.
Speaker 8: There's been a one third reduction in the flow of
Speaker 8: weapons flowing into the hands of the military hunter using
Speaker 8: the international financial system because of actions that have been
Speaker 8: taken by member states. We know how vital civil society
Speaker 8: is in me and more and will be some of
Speaker 8: those representatives of civil society will be addressing the Council
Speaker 8: on Friday. And we know that the private sector has
Speaker 8: been stepping up as well to take action when we
Speaker 8: release the report, a report on why and how the
Speaker 8: private sector and the public sector have been providing the
Speaker 8: means by which the Hunter has been arming itself through
Speaker 8: the international financial system. Singapore took action that reduced ninety
Speaker 8: percent of the weapons flowing from Singapore into ME and more.
Speaker 8: And in Thailand, Bankhawk Bank cut off its relationship with
Speaker 8: the Hunter controlled me and mar Economic bank that facilitates
Speaker 8: the flow of this financing and translates it into the
Speaker 8: weapons that are being used to commit gross human rights violations.
Speaker 8: These are specific actions that are extremely positive and very fruitful.
Speaker 8: And by the way, these actions don't cost money. They
Speaker 8: simply require political will. But it is a political will
Speaker 8: that we need to generate all around the world. The
Speaker 8: stakes could not be higher.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you, mister Andrews.
Speaker 6: The Special Rubert will now take questions. Please state your
Speaker 6: name and organization before asking a question. We'll start with
Speaker 6: journal us in the room.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 9: Nina Larson with AFP, Thanks for this interesting briefing. I
Speaker 9: was hoping you could say, provide a few more details
Speaker 9: about about the specific impact on the ground that you're
Speaker 9: you're seeing from from the cuts to aid and also
Speaker 9: you mentioned the the earthquake response. I know that the
Speaker 9: junta has extended the ceasefire. How I mean, is there
Speaker 9: is there any sign that that things have improved on
Speaker 9: the ground in terms of of the violence or do
Speaker 9: you see them continuing air strikes if you could just
Speaker 9: talk a little bit more about that.
Speaker 7: Thank you, Okay, thank you, very good question.
Speaker 8: You know, we saw just an acceleration of air strikes
Speaker 8: in April, following the earthquake and following their declaration of.
Speaker 7: A so called seasfire. And by the way, that ceasefire
Speaker 7: that they declared followed the seaspire that was.
Speaker 8: Announced the unilateral ceasefire announced by resistance forces, So they
Speaker 8: were kind of shamed into doing something and announcing this ceasefire,
Speaker 8: but it was a cynical ploy. It meant nothing because
Speaker 8: in fact, the actions were extremely devastating, and I talked
Speaker 8: to two doctors, I talked to those who were eyewitnesses
Speaker 8: of devastated villages that had been hit by these air strikes.
Speaker 7: You know, there was someone was telling me that young
Speaker 7: people were.
Speaker 8: Running as they should, out of their homes and going
Speaker 8: out into fields to protect themselves from the earthquake, only
Speaker 8: to see and hear aircraft above, so they had to
Speaker 8: turn around, uh and and go inside.
Speaker 7: Because of the of that of that threat.
Speaker 8: So, I mean, it was just an extraordinary experience for
Speaker 8: these in this case, these young people, people all over
Speaker 8: the all over the country. You know, we we know,
Speaker 8: and we've we've documented and and my reports will continue
Speaker 8: to document as I've outlined the extent to which this
Speaker 8: devastation continues. But what is important to note is the
Speaker 8: trend lines as I've been as I mentioned, are going
Speaker 8: absolutely in the opposite direction. The Hunter's attacks on villages
Speaker 8: have been actually increasing. Air assaults have been increasing, and
Speaker 8: what we found is that as it's more and more
Speaker 8: dangerous for ground troops to be moving because of the
Speaker 8: presence of resistance forces and tactics that have been used
Speaker 8: to intercept those those those ground forces or intercept supply lines,
Speaker 8: the use of aircraft has been increasing and the use
Speaker 8: of bombing have been increasing and and and the reason
Speaker 8: that that is so devastating is not just the volume
Speaker 8: the increase that we've been documenting, but also because of
Speaker 8: the indiscriminate nature of these of these aerial attacks and
Speaker 8: how they have been hitting schools, monasteries. We've documented that
Speaker 8: they have hit centers for internally displaced persons. I met
Speaker 8: a dad who lost his two only two children, two daughters,
Speaker 8: after he brought them to an IDP center for safety
Speaker 8: because the IDP center was was was hit. I've talked
Speaker 8: to parents whose children were injured in attacks at a school.
Speaker 8: So this is devastating and it's increasing. The numbers are
Speaker 8: the numbers are bad, but the reality on the ground
Speaker 8: this experiences is devastating. And I also just want to
Speaker 8: put also in kind of brackets. There's a lot we
Speaker 8: don't know. It's very difficult, as I'm sure you know,
Speaker 8: of getting information quickly and accurately. Now, we have people
Speaker 8: around the country that have been very courageous in providing
Speaker 8: us with information and testimony, but they take great risk
Speaker 8: in order to do that, and we know that the
Speaker 8: numbers that we're seeing are less than what is actually
Speaker 8: happening because of that fact.
Speaker 9: Sorry, just on the people you mentioned now who are
Speaker 9: taking great risks to get you information, how are you
Speaker 9: I mean, the impact that you were talking about this
Speaker 9: liquidity crisis at the Human Rights Council and the fact
Speaker 9: that things seem to be I assume that you know
Speaker 9: money is in short supply when it comes to these
Speaker 9: investigations now, and I guess there's a bit of uncertainty
Speaker 9: about how much how much you can continue the work
Speaker 9: and how much effect it might have with everything with
Speaker 9: the liquidity crisis. How do you talk to the people
Speaker 9: on the ground who are providing you with this information
Speaker 9: at great risk of themselves in light of you know,
Speaker 9: the developments that you're seeing.
Speaker 8: No, it's really hard, it's really hard. I mean, they're
Speaker 8: risking everything and and they've lost so much. And the
Speaker 8: fact is is that the look, you know, we we
Speaker 8: manifest values in action, including budgets. How much money we
Speaker 8: put up to do things reflects our values. And the
Speaker 8: message that we're sending in terms of those values is
Speaker 8: not a good one. That we're not valuing these human lives,
Speaker 8: these people who are who who's taking such such risk
Speaker 8: to save their country, where we're sending them absolutely the
Speaker 8: wrong message.
Speaker 7: And the and the.
Speaker 8: Insane thing is is that it doesn't take a lot
Speaker 8: of money, you know, and when you compare the cost
Speaker 8: of the devastation that is that that that that's out there,
Speaker 8: and the great risk of the instability and insecurity that
Speaker 8: can follow. I mean it's not an I think an
Speaker 8: accident that as these commitments of recent sources for things
Speaker 8: like human rights and humanitarian aid have been decreasing, defense
Speaker 8: budgets have been increasing. So you're you're creating a world
Speaker 8: that is much less secure and much less stable. You're
Speaker 8: fueling it by not making your commitments to things that
Speaker 8: can actually reduce that instability, and then you're forced to
Speaker 8: spend even more money on weapons of war to confront
Speaker 8: this insecurity and instability.
Speaker 7: And we've seen this movie before. I mean, this very
Speaker 7: institution was created.
Speaker 8: On the ashes of the devastation of what can happen
Speaker 8: when these forces are allowed to take off.
Speaker 7: And they're taking off right now. We can see it
Speaker 7: happening right now. And you know, I get it.
Speaker 8: I was in politics for a dozen years in the US,
Speaker 8: and you know, when you when you're when you're traveling
Speaker 8: and you're talking to citizens, you know it's it's not
Speaker 8: the easiest case in the world to make to send
Speaker 8: we need to send and invest money overseas, but we
Speaker 8: have to make that case, and we have to you know,
Speaker 8: and really, if if the people of my former congressional
Speaker 8: district met the little boy who's whose heart condition. Uh
Speaker 8: as surgery was going to determine life or death. They
Speaker 8: want that that that boy to have that surgery, you know,
Speaker 8: they they want these families to be able to to survive.
Speaker 8: They'd understand completely what happens when you've lost everything and
Speaker 8: the only hope is to gather your family together and
Speaker 8: move to safety. They'd understand this. But we need to
Speaker 8: communicate that to people. And we need to counter this
Speaker 8: political movement, this, this vilification, this fear card, this these
Speaker 8: these forces of darkness that are descending in areas around
Speaker 8: the world.
Speaker 7: We need to fight that.
Speaker 8: We need to stand up for these principles and values.
Speaker 8: The member states of the United Nations and the Human
Speaker 8: Rights Council can only do as much as the political
Speaker 8: climate in their countries are going to allow, and so
Speaker 8: leaders have to step up to influence that climate. Civil
Speaker 8: society has to step up, Faith based organizations have to
Speaker 8: step up. We all have to step up to address
Speaker 8: that climate. And we're not doing it. We're not doing it.
Speaker 3: So I have the.
Speaker 8: Honor of being on the front lines of what's happening,
Speaker 8: what the consequences of this is, and I'm doing my
Speaker 8: best to convey that to people. But we all have
Speaker 8: to take the action necessary to mitigate that immense suffering
Speaker 8: that I'm witnessing.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I follow up, there might be other people. I
Speaker 9: just to follow up on what you were just saying.
Speaker 9: Right today, there's a big NATO meeting where countries are
Speaker 9: getting together to discuss, as you're mentioning, defense budgets, and
Speaker 9: these are some of the same countries that have slashed
Speaker 9: their funding for humanitarian need and foreign need. If you
Speaker 9: could just say something about about this push to increase
Speaker 9: defense budgets to five percent that they're discussing today.
Speaker 7: We need to be addressing the causes.
Speaker 8: Of instability and insecurity, and we're failing to do that,
Speaker 8: and so it is a much wiser investment in it.
Speaker 8: It is a much more reasonable investment to mitigate the
Speaker 8: causes of instability and security rather than be putting more
Speaker 8: and more money into dealing with the consequences of that
Speaker 8: insecurity and instability. It's an imbalance here that's going on.
Speaker 8: It's these trajectories of defense spending going this way and
Speaker 8: human rights and humanitarian spending going in absolutely the opposite direction.
Speaker 8: This leads to disaster, and that's the trajectory that we
Speaker 8: are on that is why this is so dangerous. The
Speaker 8: conversations in NATO, I know are going to be are
Speaker 8: not going to include what I'm talking about, but they should,
Speaker 8: they really really should.
Speaker 6: Thank you. I will take the questions from those online.
Speaker 10: Thank you very much.
Speaker 7: Okay, So.
Speaker 10: The reduction of USA that you have mentioned is very dramatic.
Speaker 10: Would you dare to say that the US has abandoned
Speaker 10: the Rhindia people and also the other opposition in Me
Speaker 10: and Mar also by banning the entry of Me and
Speaker 10: Mar citizens to the USA, and also, if I may,
Speaker 10: I think you mentioned in in other reports or other
Speaker 10: interventions that Me and Mar junta was losing ground. I
Speaker 10: don't think you haven't mentioned. Now does it mean that
Speaker 10: it's regaining control and what this would mean for the
Speaker 10: future of Me and Mar and the possibility of the
Speaker 10: democracy coming back to the country.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 7: Well.
Speaker 8: I can tell you that the United States is not
Speaker 8: alone in moving in the wrong direction when it comes
Speaker 8: to humanitarian aid and supporting democracy and human rights in
Speaker 8: Me and more other countries are following following suit. But
Speaker 8: my point was that the United States, having been such
Speaker 8: a leader in investments in humanitarian aid and human rights,
Speaker 8: the traumatic cuts that have been made by the United
Speaker 8: States is that much more devastating. So the impact is
Speaker 8: that much more devastating because of the volume that we
Speaker 8: started out with with US funding. So you need to
Speaker 8: put that in context. And I think it's fair for
Speaker 8: the United States to say, well, look we've been we've
Speaker 8: been providing the world with a greater share than what
Speaker 8: we should be. There should be more balanced. Other countries
Speaker 8: should be stepping up. It's a fair argument, and we can.
Speaker 7: Have that discussion.
Speaker 8: But the fact is is that we're all going in
Speaker 8: the wrong direction and instead of stepping up, countries are
Speaker 8: stepping stepping back. And of course the United States we
Speaker 8: just talked about NATO has been pressuring NATO countries to
Speaker 8: step up when.
Speaker 7: It comes to defense spending.
Speaker 8: Well, I think it's really important that NATO countries in
Speaker 8: all countries step up when it comes to humanitarian aid
Speaker 8: and investments in human rights. And what made it all
Speaker 8: the worse is not just the volume of you know,
Speaker 8: you go from the very very significant of the two
Speaker 8: hundred and thirty seven million dollars from the United States
Speaker 8: and two in twenty twenty four down to eight point
Speaker 8: five million. That is devastating, but What is made that
Speaker 8: worse is because it happened so abruptly and so chaotically,
Speaker 8: and people couldn't prepare, they couldn't make adjustments, they couldn't
Speaker 8: look to see where other resources might come from. So
Speaker 8: it was the it was the cuts and the chaos
Speaker 8: around those cuts that made things so devastating. I mean,
Speaker 8: I was there when that earthquake happened, and I was
Speaker 8: there as as the mobilization of support and aid to
Speaker 8: desperate people was was underway. Uh, and the United States
Speaker 8: was miss missing in action when in the past it
Speaker 8: would be taking a lead in not only providing resources,
Speaker 8: but but coordinating the provision of resources.
Speaker 7: And and it broke my heart to see that expertise
Speaker 7: on the ground. They're ready to go and not being used.
Speaker 8: Because of the chaos that followed those of those devastating cuts.
Speaker 8: So it was the amount, and it was the chaos
Speaker 8: and and and and and the stakes of that were
Speaker 8: quite were quite devastating. Oh and let me the second
Speaker 8: part of the question was, UH, with respect to the
Speaker 8: resistance and and the progress that has been made on
Speaker 8: the ground.
Speaker 7: You know, I don't want to I want to be
Speaker 7: really clear here. There there is.
Speaker 8: I think, well, we're it's very difficult to protect anything.
Speaker 8: Of course, the case in Syria is a good example.
Speaker 8: Who would have thought that that change happened as as
Speaker 8: dramatically as it did. But the fact is is that
Speaker 8: the the military hunter, while it is loathed by the
Speaker 8: people of me and more believe me, and while it
Speaker 8: has lost considerable it's lost territory, and it's lost soldiers
Speaker 8: and military facilities and and so forth, there's no no
Speaker 8: question at all. It's the reason why they have this
Speaker 8: forced military conscription program. They're they're losing, they're losing ground
Speaker 8: literally and figuratively, but they have significant resources available to them,
Speaker 8: financial resources and weapons that are being provided to them
Speaker 8: from abroad. And as long as those resources continue to flow,
Speaker 8: they're going to continue to reak significant havoc.
Speaker 7: And they're not and they're not hesitant to do so.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 6: We have a follow up question online.
Speaker 10: Thank you for your answers. Just another short question. In
Speaker 10: the beginning, you mentioned a very interesting numbers, including the
Speaker 10: number of dead in the conflict, which sometimes is difficult
Speaker 10: to get these numbers. Do they come from your own
Speaker 10: investigation or you have official sources? For example, these sixty
Speaker 10: three thousand people that you mentioned that have died in
Speaker 10: since the coup.
Speaker 8: Thinking, yeah, no, these these come from a variety of sources,
Speaker 8: but they're vetted sources.
Speaker 7: They're they're very reliable and and and they're understated of
Speaker 7: any of anything.
Speaker 8: I mean, this is when I when I mentioned these numbers,
Speaker 8: there are at least uh these numbers of people, and
Speaker 8: you get arranged. I mean, some some come out with
Speaker 8: with with higher numbers than than these, but but these
Speaker 8: are these are vetted numbers.
Speaker 3: But but.
Speaker 8: You know, sixty eight hundred people killed, twenty two thousand
Speaker 8: political prisoners behind bars, and just think about that and
Speaker 8: the fact that they're declaring there's going to be an
Speaker 8: election uh in in in the end of the year,
Speaker 8: and they're looking for a basically, they want to find
Speaker 8: an exit ramp to the international pressure. They're trying to
Speaker 8: create this mirage of an election exercise that will create
Speaker 8: a legitimate civilian government. But you know, you cannot have
Speaker 8: an election when you imprison and torture and execute your opponents,
Speaker 8: when it is illegal to report the truth as a journalist,
Speaker 8: when it's illegal to speak out and criticize the hunter.
Speaker 8: And it's really important that countries reject this idea of
Speaker 8: an election and and and not allow the military hunted
Speaker 8: to to attempt to get away with this this fraud.
Speaker 8: I mean that doesn't cost any money to do so,
Speaker 8: but it's a It would be extremely helpful if the
Speaker 8: the UN member states were to make it very clear
Speaker 8: that that this is going to be recognized not as
Speaker 8: an election but as a fraud.
Speaker 7: That would go a long way.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 6: Are there any other questions in the room or online?
Speaker 6: I here hand up online? Is it an old hand
Speaker 6: or is there a question?
Speaker 10: No, I have a question if nobody else wants to
Speaker 10: to to ask. It's about the weapons. You mentioned that
Speaker 10: countries like Thailand and Singapore have been able to reduce.
Speaker 10: It looks like these countries are more channels, you know
Speaker 10: that rather than providers of weapons. Do you know or
Speaker 10: can you mention which which countries which governments could be
Speaker 10: selling the weapons to to the junta.
Speaker 7: Thank you?
Speaker 8: Well, yes, I and i've i've I've documented this and
Speaker 8: we continue to to monitor the traffic. The traffic flow
Speaker 8: and some of those numbers you know have changed and
Speaker 8: modified over the the past few years. But what has
Speaker 8: been remaining pretty consistent is that Russia is the single
Speaker 8: largest source of weapons for the Military Hunter, and China
Speaker 8: is the second largest source of weapons for the Military Hunter.
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