Zoya Phan, Programme Director at Burma Campaign UK, spoke at the launch of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission’s new report on Burma, “Unspeakable Tragedy”, in the UK Parliament, 4 June 2025.
I would like to thank the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission for inviting me today and for a timely and important report on Burma.
Today I would like to focus on what the British government needs to do about the crisis in my country and the vital recommendations in this new report, including the need to cut off the supply of money, arms and equipment to the Burmese military.
It is important for the international community to understand the root causes of the crisis in my country, because unless they understand this, they can’t make good policy about what to do, and will repeat the mistakes they made, like supporting the fake Burmese military-led reform process, which enabled them to buy the jets they are now using to bomb schools and hospitals and kill our people.
The root cause of the dictatorship and conflict is mainly about the identity of Burma. The Burmese military sees Burma as a country belonging to the majority ethnic group, the Bamar, who are mostly Buddhist, and where a few minorities also live. But for many of us, Burma is a multi-ethnic multi-religious country, one where everyone can live together with equal rights.
The Burmese military see anyone who is not Bamar Buddhist as not truly belonging in Burma. The Burmese military see ethnic communities as a threat, and so they want to either assimilate them, or destroy them, drive them out. And they use many methods from military attacks to blocking humanitarian aid, and discriminatory policy. I am a Karen, and I was forced to flee my homeland because of that. Like me, many people from Burma have been forced to flee to neighbouring countries and become refugees because of that. More than a million Rohingya refugees fled to Bangladesh because of that.
The Burmese military will never change, because the problem is not as simple as this is a military with a power-hungry leader. It is because the Burmese military is an institution which has one main mission, to make Burma a Bamar Buddhist country. It will never accept other ethnic people and religions as equal and belonging in Burma.
Whether dictatorships or democracy with civilian-led governments, ethnic communities in Burma never had real peace. We have had multiple coups, genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, because this has been the mindset of the Burmese military. They have been doing this for more than 70 years, and they will never stop unless they are forced to. There will never be genuine reformers in the Burmese military. When people tell us to have dialogue and compromise with the military, they are telling us to compromise with our oppressor which is trying to destroy us.
We want genuine peace, democracy and human rights in Burma, a fair society for everyone, and we need support from the international community including the British government. We want the British government to go back to what it was doing after the latest coup in 2021. Go back to leading the world in sanctioning sources of revenue, arms and equipment to the Burmese military. Sanction Chinese companies like AVIC selling jets to the Burmese military.
Burma is facing the worst humanitarian crisis right now. 5 million people have been forced to flee from their homes, half the population lives in poverty and we have 22,000 political prisoners. The Burmese military attacks people on a daily basis using airstrikes and artillery shelling. Despite the suffering, there is still hope, people are working so hard to resist the Burmese military, and we are winning our freedom inch by inch. When I went back to Kawthoolei area, Karen State, I saw many local people trying to rebuild their lives and their communities.
The future of Burma will be one of many devolved administrations, mostly in ethnic areas, not all controlled by one single strong central government authority. The British government needs to work with these local administrations, providing aid and practical support. People have real hope now for the future, a future without this brutal Burmese military.
If people pressure us for dialogue and compromise with the military, they are just starting the countdown to the next coup, more death, and more suffering.
Please cut the lifeline of money, arms and equipment to the Burmese military. Help us finally be free. Our people have no choice. Without international support, it will be a lot harder for us to survive, to resist, and to win back our freedom.
