Bring hope to forgotten conflicts
10 September 2026
The British Government has backed HART’s call to rethink how life-saving aid reaches people in Myanmar.
Following representations from Lord Alton of Liverpool and HART CEO Sam Mason, the UK Minister for the Indo-Pacific affirmed that “local organisations are often best placed to reach those most in need” and pledged to press for full and unhindered humanitarian access through the United Nations and ASEAN.
Local voices in Myanmar consistently point to three priorities:
- Increase support for cross-border aid: Indigenous humanitarian networks are reaching communities that the international system cannot, including in remote border regions.
- Cut the military’s capacity to wage war: That requires further targeted sanctions on the military’s sources of revenue, restricting access to jet fuel used to sustain its air campaign, and pressing for perpetrators of atrocities to face the International Criminal Court.
- Engage beyond established channels: The UK should engage more systematically with Myanmar’s emerging civic, humanitarian and governance institutions, including the recently formed Institute of Peace & Federal Democracy.
As Britain rethinks how it engages with a changing world, Myanmar offers an opportunity to demonstrate a different kind of British leadership: locally rooted, strategically focused and willing to act.