Thirty-four companies have been added to the new ‘Dirty List’ published today by the Burma Campaign UK. A total of 129 companies feature on the new list. The ‘Dirty List’ exposes companies that are directly or indirectly helping to finance Burma’s brutal military dictatorship.
Major companies named and shamed include Rolls Royce, Total Oil, Orient Express, Lonely Planet, Daewoo and Hutchison Whampoa, owner of 3 Mobile.
“In an age where companies like to claim they behave ethically, this list exposes those corporations for whom corporate responsibility is just a hollow public relations exercise,” said Yvette Mahon, Director of the Burma Campaign UK. “If you are serious about ethics, you don’t fund dictatorships that rape five year old girls.” The regime spends half its budget on the military and spends less on health than any other country in the world.
The new companies added to the list are the result of new information and an influx of new investment in Burma’s gas sector.
In the past year several companies have ended their involvement in Burma after being placed on the Dirty List, including DHL and Swiss Re. Swiss Re stated: “Swiss Re decided last year to formally exclude business in countries where human rights are particularly severe, no promise of any improvement is in sight, and business relationships most likely amount to directly or indirectly supporting the regime in place….As a result, business has been officially banned from Burma.”
“Foreign investment and trade doesn’t help the people of Burma, it hurts them,” said Yvette Mahon. “Investors in the companies named in this list must accept that as part owners they have a responsibility to ensure ethical behaviour, and do not profit from the suffering of other people.”
For more information and a copy of the Dirty List, contact Mark Farmaner, Media Manager, on 020 7324 4713