The United Nations is due to discuss the situation in Myanmar at a closed meeting on Friday.

On Wednesday, the bloodiest day since the 1 February coup in Myanmar, 38 protesters were killed after police opened fire against protesters in Yangon.

The international community continues to condemn the violence.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the rights situation in Myanmar, Thomas Andrews, has called for a ‘global arms embargo’ against Myanmar.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, called on security forces to halt what she described as their ‘vicious crackdown on peaceful protesters.’ So far more than 1700 people have been arrested.

The US State Department stated that Washington was ‘appalled’ by the violence. The US has imposed targeted sanctions against 10 members of the military.

The US Commerce Department has further imposed export controls on Myanmar’s Ministry of Defence and Home Affairs as well as on two corporations that are closely associated with the military.

The UK has also sanctioned the generals responsible for the coup.

Need for tangible action

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Thet Swe Win, an activist and Executive Director of Synergy-Social Harmony Organisation, a civil society organization based in Yangon, said that it is good that the international community is taking action by imposing sanctions.

However Win pointed to the fact that Myanmar has been under sanctions for about 25 years. This means that the ‘know how to survive the sanctions since they are backed by Singapore, Russia and China’.

Win says: ‘Sanctions are not a strong enough deterrent to them to stop atrocities in the short run but may work in the long run.’

According to Win there may be strong support for invoking the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect. He says: ‘We need more tangible action from the international community.’

Win added: ‘We do not have to wait for the international community to take action. We can struggle by ourselves to achieve our liberation.’

Ro Nay Sa Lwin, the co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition said: ‘Since the junta does not care about the sanctions or isolation, it is high time to designate them as a terrorist group. The people of Myanmar needs to be protected by all means necessary.’