On April 29, 2008, the Myanmar government announced that rain showers accompanied by winds reaching 45 miles an hour were approaching the country’s southern coast.
Three days later, Cyclone Nargis made landfall inundating the Irrawaddy Delta with 12 feet of water, pounding the region with wind three times more powerful than predicted; with more than one million left homeless and vulnerable to infectious water-borne diseases, with a death toll of more than a hundred thousand.
That happened not long after the 2005 UN World Summit in New York, where the concept of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) was adopted by the heads of state of the UN General Assembly members; (htpp://www.un.org/summit2005/).
Whereas Article 2(7) of the UN Charter proclaims that “nothing should authorise intervention in matters essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state,” the doctrine of R2P holds that outside intervention could be undertaken if national authorities were unable or unwilling to safeguard their populations and peaceful international engagements prove inadequate to address humanitarian emergencies.
The Myanmar disaster brought the newly adopted concept of the R2P to a sharp focus due to the behaviour of the military junta in power at the time.
For several days after the storm, the Myanmar military government scarcely took any action to assist the survivors of the disaster.
General Tang Shwe, the Myanmar military leader at the time, rebuffed attempts by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, to persuade him to allow emergency aid into the country.
Although Myanmar was on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe, the government repeatedly turned away rescued teams from foreign countries, as well as offered relief supplies from US and France naval vessels in the Andaman Sea.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kauchner suggested that international aid might have to be imposed on Myanmar.
Diego Lopez Garrido, Spain’s Secretary of State for European Affairs, complained that the regime’s obstruction was similar to a crime against humanity.
With the huge quake that struck the region recently, there is still a military junta in place prioritising regime security over human security and neglecting the needs of millions suffering the brunt of the 7.7 magnitude earthquake.
Instead of a national disaster providing an opportunity for dialogue and reconciliation and setting an agenda for future development and prosperity for Myanmar and its people, military leaders place regime security ahead of citizens’ survival.
The writer is with the Institute of Current Affairs and Diplomacy (ICAD).
E-mail: Lawmat2014@gmail.com
