The Taliban and Myanmar’s junta are unlikely to be allowed to represent their countries

Key takeaways:

• The Taliban in Afghanistan and Myanmar’s junta are unlikely to be allowed to speak on behalf of their countries at a UN committee hearing on Wednesday.

According to diplomats, a United Nations committee meeting on Wednesday is unlikely to allow the Taliban in Afghanistan or Myanmar’s junta to speak on behalf of their countries at the 193-member world body.

The Taliban and Myanmar’s junta have made competing claims for the seats in both nations, with diplomats nominated by the governments they deposed this year set against Taliban and Myanmar’s junta. Acceptance of the Taliban or Myanmar’s junta by the United Nations would be a step toward the international recognition that both groups seek.

A nine-member United Nations credentials committee, including Russia, China, and the United States, will convene at UN headquarters to evaluate the credentials of all 193 members of the United Nations General Assembly for the current session.

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According to four diplomats who spoke on the condition of anonymity to Reuters, the committee will likely defer its decision on the representation of Afghanistan and Myanmar on the condition that the current ambassadors for both nations remain in their positions.

The committee, which also comprises the Bahamas, Bhutan, Chile, Namibia, Sierra Leone, and Sweden, will then submit a report on all members’ credentials to the United Nations General Assembly for ratification before the year’s conclusion.

Diplomats add that both the committee and the General Assembly traditionally make credential decisions by consensus.

Leverage

Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban’s Doha-based spokesman, has been nominated as Afghanistan’s United Nations ambassador. The Taliban seized power from the internationally recognised government in mid-August. Ghulam Isaczai, the current United Nations ambassador chosen by the deposed administration, has also requested to keep his post.

After the credentials committee deferred its ruling on alternative claims to the seat, while the Taliban last ruled Afghanistan within 1996 and 2001, the government ambassador they deposed remained the U.N. envoy.

According to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Taliban’s desire for international recognition is the only leverage other countries have in pressing for inclusive governance and respect for human rights in Afghanistan, particularly for women.

“We have all the requirements needed for occupying the seat of Afghanistan at the United Nations,” the Taliban’s nominated U.N. envoy Shaheen wrote on Twitter earlier this month. We are hoping that legal obligations would take precedence over political inclinations.”

Myanmar’s junta, which deposed Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratic government in February, has nominated military veteran Aung Thurein to serve as the country’s United Nations representative.

Despite being the focus of a plan to assassinate or damage him over his opposition to the coup, current Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, who was nominated by Suu Kyi’s government, has asked to extend his U.N. accreditation.

No country should recognise or legitimise the junta, according to the previous UN special envoy on Myanmar, who stepped down last month, while Guterres committed in February to organise pressure “to ensure that this coup fails.”

Source: Global News

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