29th Special Session of the Human Rights Council on the human rights implications of the crisis in Myanmar

Joint Statement by Tom Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar
and the Coordination Committee

Geneva, 12 February 2021

Madam President, Distinguished members of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

I’m delivering this statement on behalf of my mandate and on behalf of the Coordination Committee of Special Procedures. In light of the subject matter of the session today, the Committee has asked me to deliver our joint statement.  

We thank you for convening this Special – and very timely - session.

Introduction: The Need for Action

The very act of convening this session makes an important statement of the gravity with which this Council views what can aptly be described as an outrageous and illegal act – a coup d’état of a duly elected government and its duly elected leaders.

This is the 29th time that a Special Session of the Human Rights Council has convened. It is noteworthy, that the 27th Special Session was also convened to focus on illegal actions taken by the Myanmar military against its own people––in that case, the mass atrocity crimes that were committed against the Rohingya ethnic minority.