Nus Ghani, MP for Wealden, has voiced her concerns about the current situation in Myanmar and the UN’s inability to progress due to China’s veto powers, during an urgent statement in Parliament this week.
On Sunday evening, Myanmar’s armed forces, the Tatmadaw, seized control of the country, detained democratically elected leaders and declared a state of emergency for a year.
The military’s actions follow on from their accusations of fraud during November’s elections. The UK considers the election result to credibly reflect the will of the people and The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have both condemned the coup and called for the release of all those unlawfully detained.
The UK has urgently convened the UN Security Council, which met on Tuesday (2 February). However, China holds the power of veto at the Security Council. Nus raised her concerns about the impact of the UN meeting in light of China’s ability to veto decisions made at the Council with the Minister during this week’s urgent statement in the Chamber.
Indeed, China has since blocked the Security Council's statement condemning the military coup in Myanmar, resulting in a failure of the United Nations to agree on a joint statement.
Nus Ghani said: “The situation in Myanmar is deeply worrying. I welcomed the UN Security Council meeting, but I expressed my concerns about the impact it would have given China’s alleged closeness to the Myanmar military and its ability to veto UN institutions. I appreciate that the Minister shares my concerns about the ability of countries to veto UN decisions, and I welcome his assurances that the UK is on the front foot leading the international response to this crisis.”
View Nus's contribution by clicking here.
