Protecting Humanity: Enforcing the ICRC Mandate in Myanmar – An Open Letter to the International Committee of the Red Cross

Mizzima The following is an open letter sent on the 11 August from 155 organizations concerning the ICRC mandate in Myanmar:To the Leadership and Representatives of the ICRC, We, the undersigned 155 Myanmar, regional and international civil society organizations, write to you today with a profound sense of urgency and deep frustration regarding the 3 August 2026 meeting between your resident representative, Arnaud de Baecque, and Myanmar’s State Counsellor, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. While any contact with the State Counsellor, who is being unlawfully imprisoned by the illegal military junta in Myanmar, is a matter of intense public interest, the sequence of events surrounding this visit illustrates our greatest fear: the ICRC’s mandate is being actively exploited by the military junta. The meeting demonstrated how humanitarian engagement in Myanmar is increasingly vulnerable to political instrumentalization by the military junta, thereby aiding them to advance their political aims, and in turn prolonging the suffering of the Myanmar people and undermining their expressed democratic will and aspirations. The junta first publicized the meeting, releasing carefully curated photographs of handshakes and a birthday cake to project an illusion of normalcy and cooperation to the international community as it desperately seeks legitimacy for its violently imposed rule. Only after this propaganda was disseminated did the ICRC issue a brief, reactionary confirmation. In your statement, you noted that the visit followed “established guidelines” and permitted a “private conversation,” and you added that, per your standard procedures, all observations regarding her condition are kept strictly confidential and shared only with detaining authorities. You disclosed nothing regarding her health, her whereabouts, or the reality of her captivity. A short, sanitized announcement is NOT enough. When the ICRC allows the military junta to exploit its presence as a credible international humanitarian organization for propaganda to advance its political agenda while remaining silent about the realities of the situation, the ICRC is no longer practicing neutrality. The ICRC is instead complicit in the military junta’s theater and blatant violations of international humanitarian law. We anticipate the ICRC’s defence. We know it will rest upon the Fundamental Principles of the ICRC Movement, particularly neutrality, independence and confidentiality. We recognize that confidential dialogue is intended to secure humanitarian access and protect those deprived of their liberty. However, humanitarian engagement also carries a responsibility to safeguard its integrity from political exploitation. The political instrumentalization of this visit was entirely foreseeable. The military junta has, for more than five years, consistently exploited humanitarian and diplomatic engagement to extract legitimacy and project an image of normalcy. Given this well-established pattern, the ICRC had a responsibility to anticipate and actively prevent such exploitation. The public dissemination of carefully staged photographs and messaging by the junta was not an unforeseeable consequence—it was an entirely predictable outcome. Against this backdrop, we must ask: was the ICRC protecting its humanitarian mandate, or merely accommodating the military junta’s need in turn to protect the ICRC? An honest examination of your own doctrine reveals that your current approach is failing the very principles you claim to uphold: Humanity is the Supreme Principle; Neutrality is a Tool: The first principle of your movement is to prevent and alleviate human suffering. Neutrality is not an end in itself. It exists to advance the principle of humanity by enabling access to those in need. When neutrality is repeatedly exploited to generate political legitimacy for violators of international law without extracting corresponding humanitarian gains from them, the relationship between means and ends deserves urgent reassessment. The Premise of Confidential Dialogue has been Destroyed: The ICRC’s doctrine of confidentiality assumes good faith, that private dialogue with authorities will lead to tangible improvements for detainees. After more than five years of widespread arbitrary detention, torture, incommunicado detention and denial of independent monitoring, what measurable humanitarian improvements has confidential dialogue achieved for twenty thousand political detainees in Myanmar?