Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, delivered a scathing critique of the U.N. Security Council on Friday, accusing the body of failing its mandate to protect Myanmar’s civilians from an intensifying campaign of military violence.
Speaking at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Kyaw Moe Tun addressed the Security Council’s 2025 annual report, describing it as a stark reflection of international paralysis in the face of the post-coup crisis.
“The section on Myanmar in the report is an unfortunate encapsulation of limitations and failures by the Council to fulfill its mandate,” the ambassador stated.
Closed doors and lack of transparency
Kyaw Moe Tun highlighted the Council’s inaction by pointing out its lack of substantive, public engagement. Throughout 2025, the U.N. Security Council held only two closed-door meetings regarding the situation in Myanmar following the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021.
Furthermore, the Council’s only public statement on Myanmar during the year was issued following an earthquake on March 28, 2025—making it the first formal comment on the country since 2024.
He argued that relying on private meetings and closed consultations heavily restricts public access, stifling necessary debate and transparency regarding the regime’s ongoing atrocities.
A deadly escalation on the ground
While the Security Council remains deadlocked, the violence in Myanmar has surged. Kyaw Moe Tun directly linked the military’s recent escalation of attacks on civilians to the international community’s failure to intervene.
The Myanmar Air Force carried out an alarming 178 airstrikes against civilians in the month of April alone, he claimed. This aerial bombardment has intensified since regime leader Min Aung Hlaing announced a “100-day plan” for peace on April 20.
Regime aerial attacks—utilizing fighter jets, paramotors, gyrocopters, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or drones—have killed at least 149 people and injured 277 others within that short timeframe, according to DVB data.
Overall, Kyaw Moe Tun noted that more than 8,000 people have been killed by pro-regime forces since the 2021 coup.
A call for credibility and action
Concluding his remarks, Kyaw Moe Tun urged the Security Council to restore its waning credibility by taking “timely and decisive action” against Min Aung Hlaing’s regime.
He also called for a structural shift in how the Council reports on international crises, demanding that future annual reports move beyond mere factual summaries to include “more comprehensive and analytical assessments” of the situations on the ground.
