WASHINGTON: The UN human rights expert for Myanmar on Wednesday called on the United States to further tighten sanctions on the country’s military rulers to include their main revenue source, the state oil and gas enterprise.
UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews, a former member of the US Congress, also said it was vital for Washington to at least maintain levels of humanitarian support for victims of the junta inside and outside Myanmar.
Andrews told a hearing of the US Congress’s Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission he was “alarmed” by reports that some donors, including the US, might reduce support for Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar and said a Joint Response Plan that includes food rations for Rohingya children in Bangladesh was only 32 percent funded so far this year.
Andrews praised Washington for imposing sanctions on the Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank in June, but said more needed to be done.
“We need to have more sanctions imposed... I urge the US to join the European Union and immediately impose sanctions on the junta’s single largest source of revenue, the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise,” Andrews said.
“If you can stop the money, you can cut their ability to continue these atrocities,” he said referring to civilian deaths at the hands of the military.
Andrews also urged Washington to work with other countries to block the junta’s access to weapons.
Last month, Washington expanded its sanctions against Myanmar to include foreign companies or individuals helping the junta to procure jet fuel it uses to launch air strikes, while estimating that the military had killed more than 3,900 civilians since taking power in a 2021 coup.
In January, the United States targeted the managing director and deputy managing director of the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise with sanctions, but has yet to go further against the firm, despite the urgings of rights groups and dissidents.
Myanmar military officials have played down the impact of sanctions and say their air strikes target insurgents.
Andrews said in a May report that Myanmar’s military had imported at least $1 billion in arms and other material since the coup and called out Russia and China for aiding its campaign to crush its opposition.
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UN rights expert urges US to go further with sanctions against Myanmar junta
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UN rights expert urges US to go further with sanctions against Myanmar junta
- Myanmar military officials have played down the impact of sanctions and say their air strikes target insurgents
European military mission set to begin in Greenland
NUUK: European military personnel were due to begin arriving in Greenland on Thursday, shortly after a meeting between American, Danish and Greenlandic officials in Washington failed to resolve “fundamental disagreement” over the mineral-rich, strategic Arctic island.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to take control of the autonomous Danish territory, arguing that it is vital for US security.
France, Sweden, Germany and Norway announced Wednesday that they would deploy military personnel as part of a reconnaissance mission to Greenland’s capital Nuuk.
“Soldiers of NATO are expected to be more present in Greenland from today and in the coming days. It is expected that there will be more military flights and ships,” Greenland’s deputy prime minister Mute Egede told a news conference on Wednesday, adding they would be “training.”
“The first French military personnel are already on their way. Others will follow,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on X.
The deployment of a 13-strong Bundeswehr reconnaissance team to Nuuk from Thursday was at Denmark’s invitation, the German defense ministry said, adding it would run from Thursday to Sunday.
The deployment was announced on the same day that the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, speaking after leaving the White House, said a US takeover of Greenland was “absolutely not necessary.”
“We didn’t manage to change the American position. It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland,” Lokke told reporters.
“We therefore still have a fundamental disagreement, but we also agree to disagree.”
Trump, speaking after the meeting which he did not attend, for the first time sounded conciliatory on Greenland, acknowledging Denmark’s interests even if he again said he was not ruling out any options.
“I have a very good relationship with Denmark, and we’ll see how it all works out. I think something will work out,” Trump said without explaining further.
He again said Denmark was powerless if Russia or China wanted to occupy Greenland, but added: “There’s everything we can do.”
Trump has appeared emboldened on Greenland after ordering a deadly January 3 attack in Venezuela that removed president Nicolas Maduro.
On the streets of Nuuk, red and white Greenlandic flags flew in shop windows, on apartment balconies, and on cars and buses, in a show of national unity this week.
Some residents described anxiety from finding themselves at the center of the geopolitical spotlight.
“It’s very frightening because it’s such a big thing,” said Vera Stidsen, 51, a teacher in Nuuk.
“I hope that in the future we can continue to live as we have until now: in peace and without being disturbed,” Stidsen told AFP.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to take control of the autonomous Danish territory, arguing that it is vital for US security.
France, Sweden, Germany and Norway announced Wednesday that they would deploy military personnel as part of a reconnaissance mission to Greenland’s capital Nuuk.
“Soldiers of NATO are expected to be more present in Greenland from today and in the coming days. It is expected that there will be more military flights and ships,” Greenland’s deputy prime minister Mute Egede told a news conference on Wednesday, adding they would be “training.”
“The first French military personnel are already on their way. Others will follow,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on X.
The deployment of a 13-strong Bundeswehr reconnaissance team to Nuuk from Thursday was at Denmark’s invitation, the German defense ministry said, adding it would run from Thursday to Sunday.
The deployment was announced on the same day that the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, speaking after leaving the White House, said a US takeover of Greenland was “absolutely not necessary.”
“We didn’t manage to change the American position. It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland,” Lokke told reporters.
“We therefore still have a fundamental disagreement, but we also agree to disagree.”
Trump, speaking after the meeting which he did not attend, for the first time sounded conciliatory on Greenland, acknowledging Denmark’s interests even if he again said he was not ruling out any options.
“I have a very good relationship with Denmark, and we’ll see how it all works out. I think something will work out,” Trump said without explaining further.
He again said Denmark was powerless if Russia or China wanted to occupy Greenland, but added: “There’s everything we can do.”
Trump has appeared emboldened on Greenland after ordering a deadly January 3 attack in Venezuela that removed president Nicolas Maduro.
On the streets of Nuuk, red and white Greenlandic flags flew in shop windows, on apartment balconies, and on cars and buses, in a show of national unity this week.
Some residents described anxiety from finding themselves at the center of the geopolitical spotlight.
“It’s very frightening because it’s such a big thing,” said Vera Stidsen, 51, a teacher in Nuuk.
“I hope that in the future we can continue to live as we have until now: in peace and without being disturbed,” Stidsen told AFP.
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