ORAL STATEMENT
Humanists International
UN Human Rights Council, 60th session (8 September – 8 October 2025)
Item 2: Enhanced Interactive dialogue on report of High Commissioner and Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar
Speaker: Leon Langdon
Thank you Mr. President.
I make this statement on behalf of Humanists International and Burmese Atheists. Burmese Atheists is a grassroots humanist organization, and I make this statement in their words, as they face grave security risks for expressing dissent.
We thank the IIMM for its work, and the High Commissioner for his report.[1] The IIMM’s evidence must support the process of holding those who have violated international law accountable. These crimes include indiscriminate bombing, extrajudicial killings, forced conscription, unlawful detention, and systematic acts of repression against civilians, including ethnic and religious minorities.[2] Continued cooperation between the IIMM, this Council, and the ICC towards justice is a necessity and we urge Member States to support these processes.[3]
We express great concern at the military regime’s plans to hold elections this coming December.[4] While we, of course, hope and strive for a return to a democratic Myanmar, these elections represent nothing but the junta’s attempt to manufacture democratic legitimacy. Despite the purported end to the state of emergency, military occupation remains. No electoral outcome can be deemed legitimate when conducted under such conditions of coercion and exclusion.
Any credible electoral process must be inclusive, transparent, and conducted free from coercion. There must be a credible opposition, and the junta must release trade unionists and political opposition leaders, including State Councillor Aung San Suu Kyi. Independent media must be restored, and human rights, including freedom of expression and of association, must be guaranteed.
We urge this Council to unequivocally reject the sham election process and mobilize coordinated efforts to recognize and vindicate meaningful civilian rule in Myanmar.
Thank you.
[1] https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/60/18; https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session60/advance-version/a-hrc-60-20-aev.pdf
[2] https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/60/18
[3] https://docs.un.org/en/A/hrc/RES/43/26
[4] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg3pp4n952o
'Democracy in Myanmar', Humanists International