United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar exposes military business ties,
calls for targeted sanctions & arms embargoes
Geneva (05 Aug 2019): The U.N. Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar urged the international community on Monday to sever ties with Myanmar’s military and the vast web of companies it controls and relies on. The Mission said the revenues the military earns from domestic and foreign business deals substantially enhances its ability to carry out gross violations of human rights with impunity.
Geneva (05 Aug 2019): The U.N. Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar urged the international community on Monday to sever ties with Myanmar’s military and the vast web of companies it controls and relies on. The Mission said the revenues the military earns from domestic and foreign business deals substantially enhances its ability to carry out gross violations of human rights with impunity.
The report, for the first time, establishes
in detail the degree to which Myanmar’s military has used its own businesses,
foreign companies and arms deals to support brutal operations against ethnic
groups that constitute serious crimes under international law, bypassing
civilian oversight and evading accountability.
The Mission said the U.N. Security Council
and Member States should immediately impose targeted sanctions against
companies run by the military, known as the Tatmadaw. It encouraged consumers,
investors and firms at home and abroad to engage with businesses unaffiliated
with the military instead.
The Mission also called for the imposition of
an arms embargo, citing at least 14 foreign firms from seven nations that have
supplied fighter jets, armored combat vehicles, warships, missiles and missile
launchers to Myanmar since 2016. During this period the military carried out
extensive and systematic human rights violations against civilians in Kachin,
Shan and Rakhine States, including the forced deportation of more than 700,000
ethnic Rohingya to Bangladesh.
“The implementation of the recommendations in
this report will erode the economic base of the military, undercut its
obstruction of the reform process, impair its ability to carry out military
operations without oversight and thus reduce violations of human rights and
international humanitarian law, and serve as a form of accountability in the
short-term,” said Mission Chair Marzuki Darusman.
The Mission’s report exposes two of Myanmar’s
most opaque enterprises, Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL) and Myanmar
Economic Corporation (MEC), both of which are owned and influenced by senior
military leaders. Among them are Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung
Hlaing and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Vice Senior General Soe Win, both of whom
the Mission previously said should be investigated and prosecuted for genocide,
crimes against humanity and war crimes.
MEHL and MEC own at least 120 businesses
involved in everything from construction to pharmaceuticals, manufacturing,
insurance, tourism and banking. Both companies, along with at least 26 of their
subsidiaries, hold licences for jade and ruby mining in Kachin and Shan states.
International human rights and humanitarian law violations, including forced
labour and sexual violence, have been perpetrated by the Tatmadaw in northern
Myanmar in connection with their business activities.
“Given the extent of Tatmadaw involvement in
jade and ruby mining in northern Myanmar, businesses and consumers should
conduct heightened due diligence to ensure that they are not purchasing,
selling, trading or otherwise using gems produced or sold by enterprises owned
or influenced by the Tatmadaw,” said Mission Expert Radhika Coomaraswamy.
The investigative report follows
recommendations the Mission’s Experts made last year after documenting how
Myanmar’s armed forces brutally violated the human rights of ethnic groups
nationwide. The 2018 report focused heavily on “clearance operations” against
the Rohingya in Rakhine State that began on 25 August 2017, when security
forces killed thousands of Rohingya civilians, raped and sexually abused women
and girls, and burned their villages to the ground.
The 111-page report, released Monday in
Geneva, contains five annexes that list military businesses and foreign and
domestic businesses that contribute to or benefit from the Tatmadaw and its
operations.
While it is clear that Myanmar authorities
must be held accountable for the human rights violations they perpetrated, the
report emphasizes that concrete action must also be taken to address corporate
responsibility to respect human rights in Myanmar.
The report details how 45 companies and
organizations in Myanmar donated over 10 million dollars to the military in the
weeks following the beginning of the 2017 clearance operations in Rakhine
State. So-called “crony companies” with close links to the Tatmadaw later
financed development projects in Rakhine State that furthered the military’s
“objective of re-engineering the region in a way that erases evidence of
Rohingya belonging to Myanmar.”
“Officials of these companies should be
investigated with a view to criminal prosecution for making substantial and
direct contributions to the commission of crimes under international law,
including crimes against humanity,” Mission Expert Chris Sidoti said.
The report named two companies, KBZ Group and
Max Myanmar, which helped finance the construction of a barrier fence along the
Myanmar-Bangladesh border “knowing that it would contribute to the suffering
and anguish associated with preventing the displaced Rohingya population from
returning to their homes and land.”
The report found that at least 15 foreign
firms have joint ventures with the Tatmadaw, while 44 others have some form of
commercial ties with Tatmadaw businesses. These foreign companies risk contributing
to, or being linked to, violations of international human rights and
humanitarian law. At a minimum, they are contributing to supporting the
military’s financial capacity. All companies doing business in or buying goods
from Myanmar should conduct heightened due diligence to ensure they are not
benefiting the Tatmadaw.
“The Mission’s findings from this
investigation provide the international community with a more complete
understanding of Myanmar’s human rights crisis; one that should compel the
international community and individual States to take a coordinated
multilateral approach to accountability, justice and ending the human rights
crisis in Myanmar,” said Mission Expert Radhika Coomaraswamy.
“The revenue that these military businesses
generate strengthens the Tatmadaw’s autonomy from elected civilian oversight
and provides financial support for the Tatmadaw’s operations with their wide
array of international human rights and humanitarian law violations,” said
Mission Expert Christopher Sidoti.
Mission Chair Marzuki Darusman said:
”Removing the Tatmadaw from Myanmar’s economy entails two parallel approaches.
In addition to isolating the Tatmadaw financially, we have to promote economic
ties with non-Tatmadaw companies and businesses in Myanmar. This will foster
the continued liberalization and growth of Myanmar’s economy, including its
natural resource sector, but in a manner that contributes to accountability,
equity and transparency for its population.”
The Fact-Finding Mission will present its final report to the UN Human Rights Council in September 2019.
The Fact-Finding Mission will present its final report to the UN Human Rights Council in September 2019.
Full Report Read below in English, Burmese & MP3 Rohingya Language.
English: https://shar.es/aXbGDG
Burmese in PDF: https://lnkd.in/gGR4TYU
Rohingya MP3: https://lnkd.in/gDBUZW8
Read more: https://lnkd.in/gW828gW
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Full report: the economic interests of the Myanmar
military - A/HRC/42/CRP.3
English in PDF: https://lnkd.in/gZFPWnr
Burmese in PDF: https://lnkd.in/g6y4pVX
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Read more: https://lnkd.in/g6pXqBJ