UN Asks Thailand to Suspend Financial Transactions with Myanmar

The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma (Myanmar), Thomas Andrews, today asked Thailand to suspend financial transactions with the Military Junta, preventing the purchase of weapons.

Before a parliamentary committee in Bangkok, Andrews recalled that Thailand is currently the first financial ally of the Military Junta, in power in Myanmar, and that it uses Thai banks to acquire weapons that are used against civilians.

The UN special rapporteur pointed out that the Military Junta is currently affected by armed offensives by opposition forces and the Army intends to multiply attacks against civilians who are sheltered in hospitals and monasteries.

Andrews calls the Myanmar military's plan "endless brutality."

Thus, he warned that the "Junta intends to destroy (parts) of the country that it cannot control."

In the parliamentary intervention, which is being publicized through social media, Andrews referred to the report presented by the United Nations two weeks ago and which "demonstrates" that transactions for the purchase of weapons, through Thailand, reached 60 million of dollars between 2022 and 2023 and 120 million dollars between 2023 and the first half of 2024.

The United Nations official recalled that funds are channeled through complicated transactions and intermediaries that purchase components for helicopters and warplanes, as well as weapons used to attack the civilian population.

"Thai banks may be unaware of the significant increase in transactions whose funds come from the Military Junta for sophisticated weapons used to attack civilians," he said.

The rapporteur recalled that Singapore managed to drastically reduce this type of transactions after an investigation into the local banking system.

After the publication of the UN report, the Central Bank of Thailand stated that the country's entities comply with international laws on money laundering, despite having committed to investigating if irregularities are found.

In Burma, armed opposition groups have achieved "some military victories in several regions of the country".

The Mandalay People's Defense Forces and the Ta'ang guerrilla, which oppose the Military Junta, announced today that they have seized a city in the northern province of Mandalay, having seized 600 weapons and ammunition, as well as artillery pieces.

This offensive is part of the second phase of "operation 1027" launched on June 25th in the north and northeast of the country.

In the first phase of the operation, which began on October 27, 2023, several guerrillas and militias captured numerous targets in Shan State, with the fighting later spreading to other parts of the country.

The 2021 military coup put an end to ten years of democratic transition, worsening situations of violence, with thousands of young people joining armed groups fighting against the Army.