3 December 2022
The Governing Council at its 210th session decided not to recognize the Myanmar military junta, showing solidarity with the elected MPs by noting the junta would organize elections by August 2023 but the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) will be continued to attend IPU Assemblies in an observer capacity – this decision was made by last 209th session. It also acknowledged that for the moment those MPs were not able to function as a fully-fledged parliament.
The Committee on Human Rights of Parliamentarians submitted decisions to the Governing Council for adoption on the situation of 413 parliamentarians in 13 countries including Myanmar.
The Committee to Promote Respect for International Humanitarian Law (IHL) heard a brief update on recent developments and refugee crisis situations in Myanmar. The Committee strongly expressed a call for wars to stop, for international humanitarian law to be respected and for humanitarian assistance to be provided in support of refugees and internally displaced populations. It called on parliaments to discuss support for such efforts as there was a strong need to build multilateral cooperation to respond to these dramatic situations. Committee members also highlighted the need to provide support to host countries.
The Committee described about the situation in Myanmar in its report as follows:
“Over 1 million refugees and asylum-seekers from Myanmar have fled to neighbouring countries (943K in Bangladesh, 48K in India, [estimated] 5K in Thailand). Over 1.3 million are internally displaced within Myanmar. The security situation has continued to deteriorate; in Rakhine and Chin States (South), incidents of arbitrary arrests and detention, increased checkpoints on roads and waterways and restrictions on the transportations of goods have been reported, leading to shortages of food, medicine and other essential items, movement restrictions and barriers to life-saving healthcare and livelihoods. Movements of people and goods are largely impacted by shortages of goods, including food, medicines and fuel, as well as security checkpoints, armed clashes and landmines. UNHCR continues to negotiate for access within Myanmar to conduct needs assessments and deliver core relief items.”
The 145th IPU General Assembly and related meetings were held in Kigali, Rwanda from 11 to 15 October 2022.
A full the result of 145th IPU Assembly and related meetings are available here: https://www.ipu.org/file/15800/download
