​On February 1, 2021, the Myanmar military seized power in a coup d'etat, imprisoning Aung San Suu Kyi, other civilian government officials, and prominent pro-democracy and human rights advocates. In response to this coup, young people in Myanmar have taken to the streets in a new Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) demanding an end to military rule. They are calling on us in the international community for our support.

We urge all of our countries in the United Nations General Assembly to honor this call by Myanmar's young people. We insist that the United Nations move beyond mere statements of concern. We demand that the United Nations take concrete actions to support the people of Myanmar in their struggle against the military.

The people of Myanmar unequivocally reject this military takeover. People from all walks of life including workers, students, youth groups, LGBTIQ communities, religious and ethnic minorities, and public sector officials have bravely joined their hands in peaceful protests. The ethnic people of Myanmar, having experienced the civil war and the brutal and systematic human rights violations committed by the Myanmar military for decades, have also fearlessly taken to protests in towns, villages and in front of Myanmar military bases, to call for fundamental political change. ​This nationwide peaceful movement is demonstrative of the people’s vehement opposition in returning to the military rule of the past.

The Myanmar military has, as it always has, responded to these peaceful protests with violence, intimidation, arbitrary arrests, and the murder of hundreds of people. The Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar military, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and the leaders of the military who have led the coup are the same leaders that have committed grave international crimes against Rohingya and other ethnic and religious communities for decades with total impunity.

The United Nations must take urgent and decisive action, not only for the people of Myanmar, but for the stability of the region and for world peace.

We call on the United Nations to take appropriate actions to press the Myanmar military, including but not limited to:

1. Immediately and unconditionally release all those who have been arbitrarily detained;
2. Immediately refrain from any use of violence and cease all arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances;
3. Respect people’s rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, including ensuring that the public and protesters have unfettered Internet access, and lift all restrictions on access to social media platforms, VPN as well as media sites and refrain from imposing further restrictions against use of Internet;
4. End all violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in ethnic and ceasefire areas, and ensure that all civilians are protected, including by lifting all barriers to humanitarian assistance and ensuring the non-interference of aid to ethnic areas;
5. Immediately halt all ongoing military offensives in ethnic areas.