Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha reiterated that Thailand will continue providing humanitarian assistance and will not push back people fleeing violence in Myanmar.
Updated Thai PM tells UN envoy he won’t push back Myanmar refugees
BANGKOK (AP) Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha promised a United Nations special envoy on Friday that he will not force back people fleeing violence in neighboring Myanmar, where the military ousted a democratically elected government in February.
U.N. Special Envoy on Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener told Prayuth in a meeting in Bangkok that she hopes Thailand will help find ways to work with Myanmar’s military to ease the crisis, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.
People across Myanmar have participated in massive protests against the military coup. A violent crackdown by the military has cost hundreds of lives.
Myanmar People Fleeing Conflict Won’t Be Pushed Back by Thailand
Myanmar People Fleeing Conflict Won’t Be Pushed Back by Thailand
Karen villagers displaced by fighting between the regime s troops and KNU wait on a riverbank to flee Thailand in March. / The Irrawaddy
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By Kavi Chongkittavorn 14 May 2021
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-Ocha pledged Friday to UN Special Envoy to Myanmar, Mrs. Christine Schraner Burgener, that Thailand will not push back people fleeing from conflict in Myanmar.
Prayut gave the guarantee during the meeting at the Government House with Burgener Friday morning. He also took the opportunity to congratulate Burgener, whom he met previously when she served as the ambassador from Switzerland (2009-2015), and lauded her diplomatic ability, which led her to be tasked with overseeing the situation in Myanmar.
[Handout from Thai Government Spokesman’s Office]
The U.N.’s special envoy on Myanmar met behind closed doors with Thailand’s leader Friday, trying to find solutions to the Burmese crisis, as ASEAN dithered on naming its emissary to the coup-ridden country, which has already blocked the proposed visit.
Christine Schraner Burgener, the United Nations envoy, told Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-c-cha in Bangkok that she hoped Thailand could work with Myanmar’s junta to restore peace in that country, where close to 800 people have been killed since the military overthrew an elected government in a February coup.
“I held very constructive talks today in [Bangkok] with Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai on a peaceful solution in Myanmar in the interest of the people,” Schraner Burgener said via Twitter.
Global Sanctions Dashboard: April
In the previous edition of the Global Sanctions Dashboard, the GeoEconomics Center examined how China retaliated in response to Western measures over the Uyghur genocide and the international response to the military coup in Myanmar, where pressure continues to mount. This month we’re turning back to Russia not with a focus on how the West sanctions Russia, but how Russia views sanctions there’s a big difference. The Dashboard will unpack how for many, sanctions are law enforcement, not foreign policy, and how the multilateralism of UN sanctions is hard fought but worth it. We’ll also tip our hat to the UK’s deployment of Magnitsky sanctions and its new anti-corruption authority.