Business as usual with Myanmar junta

Paul Greening :
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) Myanmar Crisis Response Plan 2023, which was updated on Dec. 14, 2022, has all the right jargon and sounds impressive unless one thinks about it for two minutes. It is about the IOM searching for a total of US$37.2 million for Myanmar and raises some questions.
In “The Vision”, which is not really a vision, the only concrete contribution the IOM seems to claim is data on population movement. This is followed by general objectives, a section on the context, the IOM’s coordination and their capacity-i.e., stating the problem and why the IOM should be funded to help solve it. This is the standard proposal format. Not acquiring funding will have serious consequences. IOM jobs may be lost and it won’t look too good for chief of mission Dragan Aleksoski.
IOM Myanmar, in close coordination with relevant clusters and the cash working group, will assist IDPs [internally displaced persons] and vulnerable communities affected by conflict or disasters with targeted and tailored food, emergency livelihoods and/or cash assistance based on identified needs. This will include:
Provision of in-kind food assistance in locations where this is an identified needs of the community and IOM has a comparative advantage with regards to access, taking into account market access and the affordability, availability and accessibility of food.
Provision of multi-purpose cash assistance as part of a mixed modality approach in locations where this is the preference of communities, and where there is market accessibility, functionality and affordability of key items identified as part of needs assessment.
Neither here, nor anywhere in this document, is there any mention of the geographical area to be targeted or how the aid will be delivered and to whom. It is also difficult to think of where the IOM has a comparative advantage with regards to access. Furthermore, the IOM has a lack of experience of food aid in Myanmar. It is not exactly their mandate but most UN agencies compete for the same funds irrespective of whether they have a competitive advantage in a particular field.
So, for the IOM chief of mission, it seems to be business as usual with the illegitimate mafia-like junta, treating them as the legitimate government and thus supporting their claim for legitimacy.
There are other questions to ask of the IOM and other UN agencies. What percentage of the money required goes to IOM overheads? From experience one would expect between 30 and 45 percent. What does “will support” mean, and if the IOM is just supporting, are they really necessary? What advocacy is the IOM doing to support displaced people, e.g., those facing deportation from Thailand? How many people have been deported from Thailand per month? Will the IOM publicly engage with the NUG and ethnic armed organizations (EAOs), especially bearing in mind the “Burma Act”? What is the IOM chief of mission’s justification for business as usual with the junta? Has there been any independent cost/impact assessment of the IOM’s work in Myanmar? The IOM needs to answer such questions.
On Dec. 15, the United States Senate approved the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This includes the “Burma Act”, which advocates giving non-lethal assistance to and engaging with the NUG, EAOs and People’s Defense Forces (PDFs). One presumes Aleksoski read this but still, a few days later, instead of visiting the NUG or EAOs, he reported to the illegal military regime.
The junta obviously doesn’t respect this and makes full propaganda use of the various and increasing UN visits. Surely by now the UN realizes that any meeting with the junta will be public and exploited by the military and so they should make NUG and EAO meetings public. The UN Country Team (UNCT) should take the lead on this.
Aleksoski has worsened the already terrible reputation of the UN with the people of Myanmar by engaging in business as usual with the junta. Some people are even refusing aid from what are seen as collaborators with the junta. The people of Myanmar see this engagement with the junta as being for their own selfish reasons and not to support the vulnerable in the country. To try and change this perception, the UN must follow the Burma Act recommendations and engage and support the NUG, EAOs and PDFs with nonlethal aid, especially cross border [?]. The UNCT needs to take the lead on this and it needs to be monitored by the US and other donor countries. Unfortunately, UN agencies can’t be relied on to do the right thing for the people of Myanmar unless it is in their own interests.

(Paul Greening is an ex-UN senior staff member with over 20 years’ experience in six Asian countries working for six UN agencies and four INGOs. Source: The Irrawaddy).