Statement
Thai government Unethical, Misjudged Myanmar Dictatorial Leader, and Devalues the people of Myanmar
Regarding Senior General Min Aung Hlaing's visit to Thailand on August 6–7, 2026, for discussions with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, it is understood that his visits to Thailand and other ASEAN nations represent an effort to gain recognition and secure a role on the regional stage, given that the Myanmar government lacks full international acceptance. Efforts are being made to project an image of transition; however, the actual power structures in many areas remain outside military control, staying instead under the influence of ethnic groups that are fighting against the Myanmar military.
The Thai government must acknowledge the fact that Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and his associates staged a coup d'état, seizing power from a legitimately elected government that enjoyed international recognition. Furthermore, they have persecuted, detained, and prosecuted Aung San Suu Kyi and other elected leaders, while employing force to arrest, imprison, assault, and torture individuals, enforcing conscription, and committing atrocities and brutal killings against the civilian population—all of which is substantiated by abundant, undeniable evidence. Even during the post-earthquake crisis, airstrikes against civilian targets—including schools and hospitals—have continued unabated. United Nations figures indicate that more than 5,000 people have been killed since the coup in Myanmar.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and his delegation are neither the country's legitimate leaders nor representatives of the people of Myanmar; rather, they are criminals subject to an arrest warrant issued by an Argentine court under the principle of universal jurisdiction. Furthermore, legal proceedings regarding crimes committed against the Rohingya people are currently underway at the International Criminal Court (ICC); on November 27, 2024, the ICC Prosecutor filed a request with the judges for an arrest warrant against Min Aung Hlaing for crimes against humanity.
Min Aung Hlaing has been condemned as the leader of a thuggish military force that has plunged Myanmar into a state of failed statehood. His actions—seizing power in a coup, rejecting the results of free and fair elections, and employing violence to kill civilians with live ammunition and sniper fire—constitute cruel and inhumane acts against people demanding democracy. This has turned the Myanmar military leader into a murderer in uniform, utterly destroying the military's honour through violations of international law and fundamental humanitarian principles.
Min Aung Hlaing's coup has plunged Myanmar into an unprecedented "multi-dimensional crisis," encompassing economic collapse, escalating conflict, complex climate-related disasters, and poverty—all of which exacerbate the issue of surging migrant inflows into Thailand.
Attempting to reinvent oneself through a sham election—unrecognised by the international community—cannot transform a criminal whose hands are stained with the blood of thousands of victims into an innocent figure ready to turn over a new leaf and work for the nation, the public interest, or the benefit of neighbouring countries.
The Thai government's stance of accepting Min Aung Hlaing as the national leader reflects an unethical standard that embraces a criminal who employs barbaric brutality to slaughter the populace—a standard devoid of morality, humanity, the rule of law, and human rights principles while being used by Min Aung Hlaing as a tool to remain in power and continue oppressing the people of Myanmar.
Thai Allied Committee with Desegregated Burma Foundation (TACDB), the Union for Civil Liberty (UCL), the Campaign for Popular Democracy (CPD), the World Peace Working Group, the Asian Cultural Forum on Development (ACFOD), and the Thai Civil Society Networks condemn the Thai government regarding the stance it has adopted toward Min Aung Hlaing. ...without regard for the principles of the legal state, the rule of law, international law, human rights, and—most importantly—humanitarian principles in the conduct of foreign policy, particularly regarding relations with the people of neighbouring Myanmar.
6 August 2026
