UN appoints Myanmar special envoy tasked with ‘virtually impossible’ mission

UN Secretary General António Gutteres appointed former Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop as Special Envoy on Myanmar last week, after the position was left vacant for nearly a year. The foreign affairs ministry of Myanmar’s publicly mandated National Unity Government (NUG) welcomed Bishop’s April 5 appointment in a statement on Tuesday, pledging to “closely collaborate” with the special envoy “in our endeavour to establish a federal democratic union founded on democratic principles.” Tun Aung Shwe, the NUG’s representative to Australia, said he thought Bishop could “make a difference,” pointing to her diplomatic achievements in encouraging the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution to provide cross-border humanitarian assistance in Syria without the consent of the Assad regime, likening this situation to Myanmar. Bishop’s predecessor in the role, Singaporean diplomat and social scientist Noeleen Heyzer, experienced major backlash during her tenure after taking what was seen as a conciliatory approach to the junta following a meeting with junta chief Min Aung Hlaing in August 2022. Heyzer left the job last June after nearly 20 months—less than half of the time of her predecessor, Swiss diplomat Christine Schraner Burgener. Former Australian ambassador to Myanmar Chris Lamb told Myanmar Now that he expected the new envoy would be an individual from another Southeast Asian nation, but noted that he hoped Bishop would “be able to move quickly to establish a good working relationship with all sides of the terrible conflict in Myanmar.” Critics, including Myanmar civil society and rights advocates, have questioned the effectiveness and necessity of having a UN Special Envoy after those who previously held the position proved unable to abate the junta’s continued perpetration of violence against its people. The timing of Bishop’s appointment after a nine-month gap—which coincided with some of the worst violence perpetrated by the military since the February 2021 coup—has also been called into question. Khin Ohmar, founder and chair of Myanmar civil society organisation Progressive Voice, described the current UN mandate for the special envoy as not meeting the needs of the Myanmar people, nor holding the military junta to account under international law for the crimes it has committed. “No matter how smart and experienced anyone would be as the newly appointed special envoy, as long as the mandate is not revised to match our people’s political aspirations, we have no confidence in [it],” she told Myanmar Now on Tuesday. Former US ambassador to Myanmar Scot Marciel also raised questions about the mandate, emphasising that the anti-junta resistance and the public have not called for a dialogue with the regime and “won’t accept anything less than ousting the military from power.” “The issue is not the envoy but rather the mission, which is virtually impossible,” he explained. “The worst thing the envoy can do is rush to Naypyitaw hoping to convince the generals to be reasonable. The generals would simply pocket the conferred legitimacy, and the envoy would be on her way to joining the long list of failed predecessors.” Dr Morten Pedersen, senior lecturer in International Politics at the University of New South Wales in Canberra, suggested in a Monday article for the Lowy Institute that mediation involving the regime must be on the table. “Any scenario for ending the war in Myanmar without destroying the country will ultimately require some form of negotiation, even if only to agree on the terms of the generals’ surrender and the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of their soldiers into civilian life,” he wrote. David Mathieson, independent analyst on conflict in Myanmar, emphasised that Bishop’s priority for dialogue include neighbouring countries and the resistance, and that she “should hit the ground running and assemble a flexible strategy of multiple engagements with regional actors and the multi-coloured insurgents fighting the [junta].” He pointed out that the new special envoy could play an important role in “sensitising the international community as to a new Myanmar and switching alarmist narratives of fragmentation to a future of decentralised political units with a productive relationship to a Central Myanmar.” “Bishop should take the hard road to directing the UN to find ways to support a new post-military society.” Legacy as Australia’s foreign minister While serving as Australia’s foreign minister from 2013 until 2018, Bishop’s legacy included shutting down Ausaid and privatising foreign aid spending. After leaving government in 2019, Bishop was accused by the Australian Labor Party—then in opposition—of breaching ministerial standards when she took on a senior job working for Palladium, a private contractor which was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the privatisation policy. Bishop’s personal record on critical issues has also been called into question, with Australian rights activist Sophie McNeill claiming on the social media platform X—formerly Twitter—that she “never got any traction with Bishop on human rights.” “Bishop is known for her long-standing role in a government which put refugees fleeing conflict in offshore detention centres, as well for her obstructionist approach at the UN,” Dr Justine Chambers, visiting fellow at Australia National University and Myanmar researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies said. “If they are looking for someone that will listen to Myanmar’s people and genuinely cares about international humanitarian law, then it’s not clear to me why Bishop was selected for this role.” Bishop’s period as foreign minister also coincided with the Myanmar military’s 2017 genocidal violence, termed “clearance operations,” perpetrated against the Rohingya community in Rakhine State. Although Bishop advocated for the protection of Rohingya, Australia continued to offer a cash incentive for Rohingya asylum seekers to return to Myanmar and in September 2017, pushed to weaken a UN Human Rights Council resolution to remove accusations that the military was committing “violence and abuses” in Rakhine State. Bishop justified maintaining military engagement with Myanmar and did not sanction the military leaders ultimately responsible for genocide, Min Aung Hlaing and Soe Win.

UN appoints Myanmar special envoy tasked with ‘virtually impossible’ mission

While some, including the National Unity Government, welcome the new appointment of a former Australian foreign minister to the role, others question the mandate

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