Geneva, 28 May 2026
Mr. Thomas Andrews, so-called Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, released a conference room paper (A/HRC/61/CRP.9) on 27 April 2026 under the purview of the 61st session of the Human Rights Council, far behind the conclusion of the Council just before his mandate was terminated.
The report represents the author’s extreme views and is neither helpful for peace and national reconciliation nor does it address the country’s challenges. Myanmar is a sovereign state with an effective judiciary system to address human rights concerns. Military personnel are strictly required to follow both civilian laws and military laws, disciplines, and orders in addition to domestic laws. Tatmadaw is a disciplined institution with its own internal mechanism for accountability, such as courts-martial and military justice procedures. Furthermore, Tatmadaw has been safeguarding the Union and its citizens with maximum restraint and minimum use of force, in accordance with Rules of Engagement (RoE).
Undoubtedly, the report again portrays no more than narratives, emotion-based statements, with a zero-sum approach, contributing to adversarial narratives, deepening mistrust, and reducing opportunities for cooperative engagement and long-term political reconciliation. Moreover, the report illustrates false hope to incite emotional youths and clearly pushes towards hatred and endless retaliation among stakeholders in an emerging young democratic country like Myanmar. Myanmar’s political system is now in a transitional stage where democratic awareness, constitutional governance, and civic institutions are still being nurtured.
Indeed, Myanmar is a country where historical resilience, diverse ethnic traditions, national solidarity, and resource endowment together form an important part of its proud national identity. The concepts of national unity and solidarity have historically been emphasized as essential foundations for state stability and national development.
Despite various challenges, the multiparty democratic general elections were successfully held in three phases from 28 December 2025 to 25 January 2026. Out of over 24.22 million eligible voters nationwide, a total of 13.14 million people cast their ballots in a free, fair, and transparent manner to elect their respective parliamentary representatives, representing a 54.22 per cent turnout. A total of 51 international observers from ten countries and two international organizations, together with 139 diplomatic observers from 14 countries, conducted electoral observation and monitoring. Furthermore, over 1,100 domestic and over 200 international journalists were granted media access.
The observers witnessed that the elections were held in a peaceful and orderly manner. At present, a new Government, led by a President elected by a Parliament chosen to implement People’s will, has emerged. Consequently, the three pillars of the Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches are beginning to strengthen. With a view to ensuring the peace of mind of the public and based on humanitarian considerations, pardons were granted to over 20,000 prisoners including foreign nationals between January and April 2026.
The President also designated the period from 20 April to 31 July as the Union Government’s 100-day plan implementation period, including peace talks with Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs), inviting both signatories and non-signatories of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) to participate in the talks. Moreover, the invitation has been extended to PDF members to return to the legal fold. At the same time, the Tatmadaw continues its efforts to ensure national stability, peace, and development, conducting counter-operations in areas where terrorist groups had temporarily taken control and committed violent criminal activities. With the cooperation of local communities, Tatmadaw has been progressively regaining control of such areas. Realizing the State and Tatmadaw’s peace plan, over 2,900 individuals from the EAOs such as AA, DPLA and TNLA, as well as the PDF groups have already returned to the legal fold as of 11 May 2026.
It is evident that this report is completely irrelevant, factually flawed, and biased, which will further mislead the international community. Over 30 years of this so-called Special Rapporteur mandate has neither helped address Myanmar’s challenges nor reflected the actual situation on the ground.
Myanmar, therefore, strongly rejects the whole final report of the former Special Rapporteur, which is overloaded with unfounded allegations and ill-advised recommendations.
Permanent Mission of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations
GENEVA