The United Nations’ (UN) special envoy on Myanmar, Noeleen Heyzer, declared that she would not visit the country again unless she is allowed a meeting with deposed democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been imprisoned since the military coup in February 2021.
In a trip that came 10 months after Heyzer’s appointment to the post by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the envoy was denied permission to meet with Suu Kyi. However, while speaking at a seminar at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, a Singapore-based think-tank, on Monday, Heyzer said that such a meeting may be possible in the future. “In response to my request to meet State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, the senior general indicated the possibility of a meeting eventually,” she said.
Dr Noeleen Heyzer, the special envoy of the Secretary General, is traveling to Myanmar today.
— Aaron Connelly (@ConnellyAL) August 16, 2022
Her full remarks at the Shangri-La Dialogue on the situation in Myanmar can be accessed here: https://t.co/dzFxHCAE48. pic.twitter.com/doCpANcvnV
“If I ever visit Myanmar again, it will only be if I can meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” using a Burmese honorific for Suu Kyi. The diplomat added that there is “no clear path” out of the Asian country’s political crisis and warned of a “multidimensional catastrophe” if the international community fails to broker peace.
She also added that she is “very concerned” about Suu Kyi’s health, who Heyzer noted had been convicted of electoral fraud last week and given an additional three years in prison, along with hard labour. Along with other charges, Suu Kyi’s sentence now totals two decades in prison. “ I am now very concerned about her health and well-being, and condemn her sentencing to hard labour,” Heyzer said.
A United Nations Special Envoy to Myanmar, Noeleen Heyzer, in her statement urging ASEAN states to develop a regional refugee protection framework amid the intensifying political crisis in Myanmar pic.twitter.com/1yLN2wbEWz
— Asia Democracy Chronicles (@demchronicles) September 6, 2022
Heyzer met with senior officials of the military-run State Administration Council (SAC). However, her trip drew criticism from both the junta as well as the military’s opponents for engaging too much with the other side. In her statement following a meeting with junta officials, the envoy’s office called on the military government to immediately cease violence and release all political prisoners. Junta officials criticised Heyzer for issuing a “one-sided statement” of their discussions. Heyzer noted that “engaging with the SAC” had “not been an easy process.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of civil society groups dismissed her visit as the “latest evidence of the historical ineffectualness” of UN envoys. In particular, they criticised her meeting with junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, arguing that it offered international legitimacy to the military government. To this end, they called for her mandate to be terminated and for Guterres to intervene personally.
Message from the UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer (English). https://t.co/RX5B6iNcDr
— United Nations in Myanmar (@UNinMyanmar) December 31, 2021
A joint statement by 864 civil organisations that was released in response to the trip said that “The long history of the UN’s attempts at peace-brokering with Myanmar’s military through Special Envoys has never catalyzed into meaningful results, but has instead lent legitimacy to perpetrators of international atrocity crimes – and has permitted worsening human rights and humanitarian crises.” It added that such visits “could give the appearance of recognition and acceptance by the UN and, by extension, the international community.”
However, Heyzer has defended her position by saying that her mandate is that of an “impartial actor” who would “engage with all stakeholders in Myanmar, the region and globally, consistent with the principles of the United Nations.”