Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the U.N., Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, made an emotional and solemn appeal to U.N. member states to help end the crisis in Myanmar since the 2021 military coup during an address to the 81st U.N. General Assembly Third Committee Interactive Dialogue on Tuesday.
“I hold in my hand a scarf, a product of our revolutionary community Theatre 21. It is not just any fashion accessory… A closer look at this scarf reveals the names and ages of the fallen. The youngest was two months old. The oldest was 105-years-old,” Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun told the U.N. committee on Oct. 27.
Theatre 21 is a fundraising initiative launched by prominent Myanmar singer Lynn Lynn with the release of his sixth album of the same name on Oct. 2, 2025.
It raises funds for humanitarian causes in Myanmar through merchandise sales, including the scarves imprinted with an unknown number of people’s names, who have been killed since 2021.
“I wish to ask the U.N. Secretary General to consider invoking article 99 of the U.N. charter to bring Myanmar to the attention of the U.N. Security Council, to avoid the risk of Myanmar slipping off the international agenda,” Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun pleaded to António Guterres, who wasn’t at the committee meeting.
The regime in Naypyidaw, which seized power during the February 2021 coup, has yet to respond to Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun’s speech at the U.N. on Oct. 27.
On Oct. 26, the regime announced that it had dismissed a U.N. report released on Aug. 3: “Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar” calling it “full of fallacious arguments by the opposition.”
It questioned the U.N.’s objectivity, impartiality and balance as it sourced data from “anti-government” entities and exiled media outlets.
The regime has sought the arrest of Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun on charges of treason and financial impropriety.
“I [made] sure that everything [was] recorded, everything in our Excel sheets. Once the time comes, I will reveal it [all] to the public,” Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun told DVB.
The regime dismissed Kyaw Moe Tun weeks after the coup—on Feb. 27, 2021—after he urged U.N. member states to “strongly condemn” the military coup, and refuse to recognize the regime in Naypyidaw at the U.N. General Assembly.
The regime is attempting to replace him with Aung Thurein, a military attaché who worked at the Myanmar embassy in Washington, DC, prior to the coup.
The U.N. Credentials Committee will meet by December to decide whether Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun will remain in his post or be replaced by Aung Thurein as Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the U.N.
Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun has retained Myanmar’s seat at the U.N. for the last six years through annual deferrals by the credentials committee.
He was appointed to the position by the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) administration in 2020—months before the 2021 coup.
Watch our latest Newsroom interview with Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun on DVB English News YouTube or Spotify. Listen wherever you get podcasts.
