BANGKOK — Activist groups are calling for the United Nations to investigate its special envoy to Myanmar over possible conflicts of interest, after a report detailed her consulting company’s alleged ties to Chinese mining and construction companies with interests in the country.
Justice for Myanmar wrote to U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres following a report in Australia’s The Saturday Paper outlining what it said were Julie Bishop’s links to Chinese state-owned companies that operate in Myanmar. Since then, multiple other groups have joined the call for a probe.
Bishop, a former Australian foreign minister and current chancellor of the Australian National University, told The Associated Press that her consulting firm had never provided advice to any company or individual on matters related to Myanmar.
“On no occasion have I, or would I engage in matters that conflict with my commitments to the U.N.,” she wrote in an email Wednesday.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Bishop, as staff member of the international body, is bound by the U.N. Charter and the organization’s rules and regulations which require “upholding the highest standards of integrity, including regarding any potential conflicts of interest.”
“In this regard, the special envoy keeps the organization apprised of her outside activities,” he said in a statement to the AP.
Bishop, who was appointed Guterres’ envoy to Myanmar last April, said she has been “fully compliant” with U.N. disclosure and ethics obligations
Myanmar, also known as Burma, is embroiled in a civil war where the country’s military rulers are fighting pro-democracy and other forces. China is one of the major suppliers of weapons to the military, which seized power from democratically elected Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021