Humanitarian crisis in Myanmar: Another failure for “responsibility to protect”

• Published date: 01 December 2022
• Author: Asiye Gün Güneş Gülal,Taylan Seyirci,Fatih Fuat Tuncer
• Date: 01 December 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2778

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Humanitarian crisis in Myanmar: Another failure for

“responsibility to protect”

Asiye Gün Günes¸ Gülal

1

| Taylan Seyirci

2

| Fatih Fuat Tuncer

3

1

Independent Researcher, Nevsehir, Turkey

2

International Relations, Akdeniz University,

Antalya, Turkey

3

Political Science and International Relations

Department, İstanbul Gelisim University,

Turkey

Correspondence

Asiye Gün Günes¸ Gülal, Independent

Researcher, Nevsehir, Turkey.

Email: a.gungunes@gmail.com

[Correction added on 10 June 2023, after first

online publication: The affiliation of the third

author have been updated in this version.]

In 2005, the R2P was adopted unanimously at the UN World Summit. After the dis-

cussions and resolutions, the R2P has been invoked and implemented in several cri-

ses. Despite human rights violations and war crimes in Myanmar, the UN Security

Council has failed to respond to these crimes and to implement R2P in this case. The

passive approach of the UNSC led to atrocity crimes. In 2017, the Myanmar military

launched a “clearance operation,”thousands of people had to leave the country.

Since then, the UNSC has neither adopted a resolution, nor applied sanctions or

reminded the R2P to Myanmar government. This article explores the Myanmar crisis

and analyzes the UN Security Council's muted response to the Rohingyas crisis. In

conclusion, we argue that the veto power of China and Russia restrains the effective-

ness of the UNSC in Myanmar case.

KEYWORDS

Myanmar, Responsibility to Protect, Rohingyas, UN Security Council

1|INTRODUCTION

The aim of this study is to indicate whatis happening in Myanmar and

reveal the indifference of the UNSC. In this context, firstof all, the deci-

sions of the UNSC and the UNGA that adopted the R2P will be

explained. Then, the violence against Rohingyas in Myanmar will be

argued. Especially in 2012, 2016, and 2017, the state violence

amounted to be an ethnic cleansing. The situation of the Rohingyas,

and the reactions to Myanmar military's violent actions will be evalu-

ated, sanctionsagainst the responsible individuals, nonbinding decisions

as well as related criticisms will be mentioned. Finally, the potentialrea-

sons for the UNSC'sindifference will be brieflydiscussed.

Our researchquestion is why the UNSC did not take effective and

timely measures in Myanmar and primary argument is that China and

Russia's vetoes (and veto threats) have paralyzed the UNSC on

Myanmar. The two permanent members of the UNSC, Russia and

China, make the UNSC and the R2P ineffective because of their

politico-economic interests (Khan & Ahmed,2019). We claim that these

two global actors' political interests contribute to the worsening of

humanitarian crises. The article combinesdiscourse and contentanalysis

as primary methods. In this regard, reports of the UNSC, UN Refugee

Agency (UNHCR), Human Rights Watch (HRW) are used as primary

sources,and articles, books,news are used as secondary sources.

Responsibility to protect (R2P) is an approach adopted at the

2005 World Summit and then by the resolutions of the United

Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the General Assembly (UNGA).

States are responsible to protect their populations from genocide, war

crime, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity (atrocity crimes).

In the cases that states do not fulfill their responsibility or are reluc-

tant to do so, the international community has a responsibility of

capacity building or political-military intervention.

While the UNSC referenced R2P in 84 resolutions and

implemented the R2Pin cases such as Kenya, Côte d'Ivoire, and Libya,

the Council continued to remain inactive to the events in Myanmar.

Although the Council was briefed by Under-Secretary-General for

Political Affairs, Secretary-General's Special Adviser on Myanmar, Spe-

cial Envoy, Chai rperson of Fact-Finding Mis sion, the Council's respons e

to the Rohingyacrisis was only a Presidential Statement in 2017.

Thousands of people were displaced or forced to live in inhumane

conditions as a result of human rights violations in Myanmar that has

been continuing for a long time (HRW World Report, 2020). The

[Correction added on 10 June 2023, after first online publication: The affiliation of the third

author have been updated in this version.]

Received: 10 October 2020 Revised: 24 August 2021 Accepted: 1 October 2021

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2778

J Public Affairs. 2022;22(Suppl. 1):e2778. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1of10

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2778