Prague Appeal to the European Union Member States and the EU October 16, 2023
We, the NUCC, NUG, EROs, and Spring revolutionary forces, make this Prague Appeal to the European Union Member States and our friends in Europe, to understand some ground truths about the situation in Myanmar and to support us in our efforts for a federal democratic transformation of our country.
We have sustained a rights-based revolution into a third year. We have preserved our democracy and defended our fundamental freedoms and civilian rule. We have refused to surrender our lives or our rights to thugs with guns.
This resistance has come with appalling costs. The illegal military junta has failed in its power grab but has triggered escalating human rights and humanitarian catastrophes. It has committed widespread atrocities, killed, and detained thousands of civilians, internally displaced over two million people, and destroyed 70,000 homes.
The NUCC, NUG, EROs and Spring Revolution forces are united in our commitment to democratic and representative governance and to breaking the chain of brutal military dictatorships in Myanmar. Our common political objective is to establish a fully democratic nation based on a new Federal Democratic constitution, founded on the principles of equality and self-determination, peace, justice and human rights, the protection of minorities and the fostering of social cohesion. We are committed to removing the military from politics, to delivering transitional justice and accountability, and to partnering with the international community to reconstruct our country.
Together we have forged a democratic and united federal coalition that is expanding its territorial control.
We continue to pursue our common agreed objectives. While defending our communities from junta aggression, we are building a new state bottom-up, on a federal democratic model. We are developing effective political coordination and policy processes to support our federal democratic model. Once the military dictatorship is defeated, we will establish a transitional government, among our forces, initiate an inclusive dialogue with all groups and nationalities of Myanmar, and embark on a constitutional process.
We have built administrative structures to provide essential public services and humanitarian aid to communities in the face of the junta’s attacks on services and its weaponisation of suffering.
We call on our friends to appreciate that our consolidation of joint control of territory is a gradual process and that achieving consensus in our large, diverse and inclusive coalition requires genuine consultation.
We ask our friends to recognize that the junta is purposefully creating the present humanitarian catastrophe. The atrocities, the expelling of civilian population from their homes and land, the burning of houses, and the denial of aid is at the core of their counter-insurgency strategy. Therefore, they cannot be allowed to control the humanitarian assistance to Myanmar’s people.
This is not the time for mediating ceasefires or a negotiated settlement.
No dialogue can take place until the junta stops its violence, releases all political prisoners and is ready to accept to stop their involvement in the country’s politics and the transformation of Myanmar into a true federal democracy based on our common political objectives. The junta’s attempts to revive the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement are dishonest, illegitimate and designed to foster division among
ethnic nationalities and political parties. We explicitly reject the possibility of any power-sharing arrangements of any groups with the military.
Nor is this the time for sham elections.
Our leaders continue to exercise the democratic mandate given to them in a general election independently determined to be free and fair. The junta has no authority to organize elections. This is evident in its attempt to dissolve 40 political parties representing over 80% of the country’s electorate, including the National League for Democracy and the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy.
Accordingly, the NUCC, NUG, EROs and Spring Revolution forces call on EU Member States and our European partners to:
∙ Respect the decision of the people of Myanmar to defend themselves and their freedom, and refrain from unsolicited attempts to mediate that actually reward junta intransigence.
∙ Be very clear that any attempt by the junta to organize sham elections will only lead to violence, endanger regional stability and will not be accepted.
∙ Expand the provision of humanitarian aid to all internally displaced persons in need, including through cross-border delivery channels and through our service providers and third-party providers.
∙ Expand sanctions against junta-affiliated enterprises, financial institutions, extractive operations and the jet fuel sector, while enforcing the sanctions that are already in place. International sanctions have hurt the junta’s ability to wage war on the people and need to be augmented. (i.e., Singapore and Bangladesh enforcing the MFTB MICB sanctions and the FATF “Call for Action -2023 June 23”, EU based banks to follow what was done in UOB Singapore, the Singapore court fined Hydronav 1.13 million for selling sonar and drone to Myanmar according to the export ban on dual-use goods, it could be applied for fuel).
∙ Recognize NUG and evolving state governments as Myanmar’s legitimate governments and other revolutionary forces as democratic institutions.
∙ Providing us with technical assistance and capacity building support and invite our representatives to bilateral and multilateral EU meetings to ensure that our communities and our people are heard and legitimately represented.
∙ Maintain pressure on the UN Security Council to advance accountability efforts on Myanmar and to address the junta’s failure to comply with resolution 2669 (2022), while also encouraging the UN Secretary-General to take the lead on Myanmar.
∙ Support our efforts to pursue justice and accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity and grave human rights violations committed in Myanmar through international justice mechanisms and by using universal jurisdiction in national courts.
∙ Reject the junta’s claims to legitimacy, oppose its attempts to stage sham elections, and block the junta’s participation in European and international forums including at UN meetings. ∙ Support UN entities and other development agencies in Myanmar to partner with the NUG, ethnic organizations and civil society and to avoid actions that could be construed as legitimizing the junta.