2. ACUNS News

UN Secretary-General`s Special Envoy for Myanmar Christine Bergner met with Yasushi AKASHI (Former SRSG for Cambodia, former Yugoslavia) Sukehiro HASEGAWA (Former SRSG for Timor-Leste) Tadamichi YAMAMOTO (Former SRSG for Afghanistan) at the Kyoto International Peacebuilding Center on the Tokyo Gaien Campus on May 26, 2021. Former Japanese Ambassadors to the United Nations, Kenzo OSHIMA, Takahiro SNINYO and Toshiya HOSHINO also participated in the meeting along with Mr. Takahiro NIWA, Chairman of the Council of the Kyoto International Peacebuilding Center.

The UN General Assembly calls upon Myanmar to swiftly implement the five-point consensus reached at the Leaders’ Meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations held on 24 April 2021 to facilitate a peaceful solution in the interest of the people of Myanmar and their livelihoods, and to that end calls upon all stakeholders in Myanmar to cooperate with the Association and the Special Envoy of the Chair of the Association, and expresses its support for these efforts.

During his online conversation with Japanese diplomats and scholars, former President and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate José Ramos-Horta　praised Japan for upholding the principle of democratic governance. He was referring to the resolution passed by the Lower House on June 8, 2021, which condemned the coup d’état staged by the Myanmar military. The resolution, adopted by a majority vote in the Lower House, demanded early restoration of democratic governance in Myanmar.

Here is a proposal by 3 former Japanese Special Representatives of the Secretary-General of the United Nation and 3 former Japanese Ambassadors to the United Nations. Please click here for the full text that appeared in the Japan Times.

Please click here for the Advisory Statement and Recommendations.

Aleksandra Babovic and Arbenita Sopaji, two members of the Global Peacebuilding Association of Japan (GPAJ), examine Japan`s approach to the Myanmar crisis in their article published by the Institute for Policy Studies dated April 5, 2021. Please click here for full article.

They call upon the UN Security Council to establish a special political mission to pursue the Primacy of Politics approach advocated by the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations in 2015 and focus on the political solution to the current conflict in Myanmar; to enable Myanmar`s armed forces, the NLD and any other stakeholders in Myanmar to resolve their differences in a peaceful manner and restore democratic governance, the rule of law and human rights.