We stand with trade unions, civil society, faith groups, international development organisations, and the Myanmar diaspora in Australia in an open letter to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong.

With Myanmar’s military junta pushing ahead with a widely condemned “sham election” starting on 28 December, global pressure is mounting to deny the regime any legitimacy.

A new report prepared by the Task Force to Monitor Article 33 Progress in Myanmar—bringing together the Confederation of Trade Unions Myanmar (CTUM), Myanmar Labour Alliance (MLA), Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), and partner organisations—sheds urgent light on the military junta’s continued assault on workers, civilians, and democratic institutions.

Myanmar’s military junta is pressing ahead with plans for sham elections in a bid to tighten its grip on power, despite widespread persecution and imprisonment of critics, ongoing armed conflict, and its lack of control over most of the country.

The undersigned international trade union solidarity support organisations — Australian People for Health, Education and Development Abroad (APHEDA), Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (ACV-CSC), French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT), General Labour Federation of Belgium (ABVV-FGTB), Italia-Birmania.Insieme, and Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO Norway) — issue this joint statement to unequivocally condemn the Myanmar military junta’s dangerous manoeuvring to legitimise its dictatorship through sham elections scheduled on 28th December.

On 25 August 2017, the Myanmar military launched its genocidal campaign against the Rohingya people in Rakhine State. Entire villages were burned to the ground. Men, women, and children were killed. At least 700,000 people were forced to flee to Bangladesh, where they remain in camps to this day.  Eight years later, the Rohingya are marking this anniversary at one of the darkest moments yet.