Myanmar's Infinity War

Myanmar has been a country plagued by violence and hardships since its independence from the United Kingdom on January 4th, 1948. The small Southeast Asian Nation has experienced civil war dating back to April 2, 1948, making it the longest ongoing internal armed conflict in the world. Lasting for almost seventy years, Myanmar's Civil War has claimed over 130,000 lives and continues to harm the country today. An estimated 70,000 rebels are still active and armed. Over 800,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar as a result of the extreme ethnic cleansing (known as) the Rohingya Genocide. Today, the refugees are spread out across Southeast Asia but mainly concentrated in Bangladesh.

The concerns about the state of human rights in Myanmar is a current issue and the representatives of the United Nations Human Council are determined to find a solution.

“Not only is solving the humanitarian crisis a goal for the UNHRC; but working together to solve the issue is our responsibility” the representative from Angola said.

Initially, there were six groups which later transformed into five but what separated these groups was that one side wanted to use UN Peacekeepers, while the others firmly opposed. So far there has been one merger so far, and five draft resolutions touching various aspects of the crisis are underway.

Over the past thirty minutes, five groups have been preparing to present draft resolutions to all of the members in the UNHRC.

“I would like to see more debate, and would like to see the delegates elaborate [their position] at the podium” Chair Ben Honiker said.

Five sponsors from each draft resolution were called to the front of the room for a question and answer session to explain their proposed plan further. During the Q/A representatives asked those presenting pressing questions. One example is the representative from Italy who questioned the sponsors of Draft Resolution 1.3 asking how they planned on using NGOs to fund their initiative. Given that NGOs can not be used to fund initiative since they are not for profit, the sponsor did not directly answer the question.

All of the draft resolutions reflected the cooperation and effort that the representatives from each country had in attempting to solve the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar.

“Three of the five draft resolutions are trying to pass in conjunction” according to one of the Assistant Directors. Which three out of the five, however, remains a question.