"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the National Unity Government marks 1 February 2023 as the second anniversary of the people’s revolution against the illegal military junta’s failed power grab. For two years, the people of Myanmar have shown remarkable unity and resolve. We have refused to surrender our democracy, rights and freedoms to thugs with guns. Today, we honour our martyrs and their family members for their unimaginable sacrifices. We honour our sisters and brothers in unlawful junta detention who have given their liberty to defend our own. We honour our ethnic partners, our civil disobedience movement and strike committees, our youth and civil society, our medical workers and human rights defenders, our People’s and Local Defence Forces, and every other person protecting our communities and defying the terrorist junta. We also extend sincere gratitude to our friends around the world standing in solidarity with us, particularly those of you who today announced sharpened sanctions against the junta. The people of Myanmar are winning the fight, but our revolution has come with terrible costs. The junta, terrified of the people’s will and frustrated by its failure to seize control of the levers of power, has unleashed murder, torture, arson, starvation and mass displacement. It is waging war on the people and on the peace and security of our entire region. The National Unity Government with its ethnic partners continues to lead from inside Myanmar, exercising the democratic mandate given to us in general elections independently determined to have been free and fair. We stand for unity, stability, equality, progress and civilian rule. The junta seeks to rule through death and devastation. The choice is clear: freedom or terror, justice or impunity, democracy or dictatorship. Now is the moment for the international community to harden its charge and to tip the balance for the people. 2 The National Unity Government calls on the United Nations, our ASEAN partners and on the international community to support our legitimate democratic mandate and to block all attempts by the junta to trade its bloody military fatigues for civilian suits through sham elections. Work with us, ethnic communities and civil society to secure the urgent delivery of humanitarian assistance to all in need and to protect Myanmar asylum-seekers and refugees. Help us hold perpetrators to account and to deliver justice to victims and their family members including the Rohingya and other minorities. Today’s anniversary must mark the moment that the international community says no more to impunity, to atrocities, to regional instability and to an aspiring dictator. A hammer must be dropped on the junta and the Myanmar military must finally and permanently be brought under effective civilian control..."