Topic: 2025 – Situation in Myanmar
Country: Bolivia
Delegate Name: Taylor Winkelman
Special Political and Decolonization Committee
Situation in Myanmar
Plurinational State of Bolivia
Taylor Winkelman
City High Middle School
In 1948, Myanmar gained independence from British rule, transitioning into a reality that required unity among its ethnically diverse regions. Unfortunately, due to those cultural differences, Myanmar has yet to establish a stable government since then. Starting in 1962, Myanmar’s military junta has been in control. Almost 30 years later, Myanmar hosts its first election since the coup with a win by Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), which was blocked by the junta. Her party continued its participation in elections, winning in 2015, but her party lost international approval after supporting teh ethnic cleansing of the muslim Rohingya people. From 2016 to 2017, conflict between the Buddhist Bamar group, the majority religion of Myanmar, and the Muslim peoples grew, in which the junta responded by violently intimidating the Rohingya people, classified by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) as a “calculated policy of terror.”
Later, another election was won by the NLD, but the junta declared it was fraudulent, carrying out a coup in February 2021. Protesters advanced into the capital, but were met with the junta’s lethal force, strict social limits, and violent rampages towards resistance groups. Their violence inspired resistance groups across the country, each defined by its ethnicity. Myanmar’s unrest has led to the collapse of the central government. It is plagued by armed battles, mass displacements of people, human rights violations, and towns ruins for the citizens of Myanmar.
Though Bolivia has no official relationship with Myanmar, it strongly urges a swift agreement to peace throughout Myanmar and the region. Bolivia has been committed to preventing genocides, being a state party of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention), which obligates it to enforce the prohibition of genocide. Bolivia emphasizes the importance of pursuing peace in Myanmar and ensuring its long-term stability.
Bolivia encourages a solution that addresses the short-term and long-term challenges for peace in Myanmar. Bolivia supports a ceasefire deal that will halt the bloodshed and the distribution of humanitarian aid as short-term solutions and it seeks long-term solutions to ensure the longevity of peace within Myanmar.
Sources:
https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/bolivias-foreign-policy-reset/
https://www.usip.org/publications/2024/08/myanmars-resistance-making-major-advances
https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/rohingya-crisis-myanmar
https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/myanmar/overview
