The Burma Campaign UK today publishes a ‘Dirty List’ of companies whose operations are directly or indirectly helping to finance the military dictatorship in Burma.
The Dirty List includes well known companies such as British American Tobacco (BAT), advertising giant Cordiant Communications, PwC, Suzuki, Orient Express, Kookai, Lonely Planet, DHL and Daewoo.
The list targets British companies or companies with a significant presence in Britain. A total of 68 are named and shamed. A ‘Clean List’ of companies who have undertaken not to operate in Burma is also released today.
“The Dirty List exposes companies who are directly or indirectly helping to finance one of the most brutal regimes in the world” says Yvette Mahon, Director of Burma Campaign UK. “Foreign investment can bring benefits for developing countries, but in the case of Burma it helps finance a regime that uses rape, torture and murder to suppress its own people. We want these companies to get out of Burma. They have blood on their hands.”
Thirty-two of the companies are in the travel industry. Tourism is an important source of income for the regime, which has used forced labour to develop tourist infrastructure. Earlier this month Aung San Suu Kyi reiterated her call for tourists to stay away, saying: “We have not yet come to the point where we encourage people to come to Burma as tourists.”
The list is intended as a resource for investors and campaigners. The Burma Campaign UK has already persuaded many companies to pull out of Burma, including Premier Oil, Triumph International, British Home Stores, Burton and River Island. In November it launched a global campaign against BAT.