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Emergency Call to Action
Stop the Killing of Innocent Civilians in Myanmar!!!


We, the undersigned religious, inter-faith groups, civil society organizations, and individuals around the world, call on the international community to take comprehensive measures to immediately halt the killing of the general population by the Myanmar military. We are shocked and saddened by what happened on March 27, 2021, Myanmar Armed Forces Day, when the Myanmar military and police killed more than 114 innocent citizens. These people were attacked and shot indiscriminately as they were fleeing, their homes were attacked as well. More than 700 citizens have lost their lives by the ruthless actions of the military, since the coup began on February 1st. Among them were 43 children and adolescents between the ages of 5 and 17 years.


On the Armed Forces Day, after the atrocious killing of the people whom they were responsible to protect, Myanmar’s military shamelessly held a celebration party to commemorate the Day of Victory by inviting representatives from neighboring countries. Having witnessed such cruelty, we cannot help but ask who the military exists for. It is obvious that Myanmar’s military holds no feelings of empathy for the people of Myanmar. The coup and violent killings of citizens delegitimizes Myanmar's military as an army of the state and the people of Myanmar. As voiced by the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), we affirm that the Myanmar military is no longer a national army but a terrorist group that is no different from ISIS.  


The UN and the international community must take every action to implement practical measures to stop the Myanmar’s military from killing, arresting, detaining, and torturing innocent citizens, thereby preventing mass genocide. We strongly urge the UN Security Council to ensure safeguarding and protecting the human rights of the people of Myanmar through taking the following actions.

1. The Security Council must implement comprehensive measures that immediately ban all exports of weapons to Myanmar. The ban should include the direct or indirect sale of weapons, munitions, vehicles and helicopters, aircraft, communication and surveillance equipment, and providing military training and other information. Measures should not only ban direct sales, but also indirect arms trade through third countries. Monitoring the arms trade amongst UN member states will ensure the effective implementation of these measures.

2. The Security Council must freeze all foreign reserves of the Myanmar military. The International Monetary Fund estimates the foreign assets of the Myanmar military to be $6.7 billion USD. To ensure that Myanmar’s military does not use these assets to suppress and massacre the people of Myanmar, the international community must identify the location of the foreign reserves and freeze them immediately.

3. The Security Council must take measures to stop foreign direct or indirect investment in the military-owned companies in Myanmar. Justice for Myanmar, a civil society group, found that the profit that Myanmar's military generates from selling natural gas exceeds $1 billion USD a year. To prevent other funds from flowing into the military, it is necessary that foreign companies halt their investment in businesses owned by the families of Myanmar's military leaders. The companies that are owned by the military or are directly or indirectly operated by the relatives of the military leaders need to be investigated. The UN member states should implement strict consequences on foreign businesses or financial institutions that make investments in military-linked companies.

4. We urge the neighboring countries of Myanmar that have close ties with Myanmar’s military - India, China, Russia and Thailand - to cease economic support and cooperation with the military. The military regime in Myanmar will not end unless a dialogue takes place amongst the three countries of the United States, China, and Russia. (The United States, which has pursued the Indo-Paciifc initiative - “Quad alliance” - that constrains China, while China and Russia both seek to profit from their relations with Myanmar.) If China and Russia remain silent about the violence taking place in Myanmar and human rights abuses in pursuit of their own business interests, history will remember their silence as the most disgraceful inaction. It is critical that these great powers will initiate dialogue to resolve the Myanmar crisis, keeping in mind that their cooperation will lead to a path that contributes to peace and prosperity of the international community.

The religious communities around the world are grieving deeply in response to the level of violence and the numerous victims of the Myanmar crisis. The spirit of life and peace, what all religious people fundamentally value, has been gravely violated. Myanmar's military must immediately stop all actions of violence that threaten life and peace, and honor the voice of the brothers and sisters buried in sorrow and grief. All humanity is interconnected and interdependent on each other where one person's death is linked to the lives of others. We can act responsibly by actively urging international bodies such as the UN to effectively intervene in the Myanmar crisis that continues to take the lives of innocent people.

“Peace cannot be assured except on the basis of an equal balance of armaments but only in mutual trust” (Cf. John XXIII’s encyclical letter Pacem in Terris, AAS 55 (1963) 110.113.)

“They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again”(Isaiah 2,4).

If all fellow beings are lost in the sea of suffering because of the mischief of those who are ungrateful, then those sages who are saviors of this world, by bestowing on us their compassionate expedients, will rescue those sentient beings who are ungrateful, through either their moral force, political power, or coercive force. (The Principal Book of Won-Buddhism Chapter Two: The Fourfold Grace, Section Three: The Grace of Fellow Beings)

“One who, while himself seeking happiness, oppressed with other beings who also desire happiness, will not attain happiness hereafter. (Dhammapada 131)

Suggested by

Asia Buddhist Coalition for Democracy and Justice
Franciscan Family JPIC in Korea
Inter-religious Climate and Ecology Network
Jesuit Research Center for Advocacy and Solidarity in Korea
Korean Buddhist Action for Democrac in Myanmar
Won Buddhist Civil Society Network


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