Burma Campaign UK today called on the British government to resume imposing regular sanctions to cut revenue, arms and equipment to the Burmese military.
It is almost a year since the British government imposed any new sanctions on the Burmese military. The last sanctions targeting the Burmese military were on 29th October 2024.
Following the latest military coup in Burma in 2021, the British government and allies adopted a policy of systematically identifying and sanctioning sources of revenue, arms and equipment to the Burmese military.
Britain led the world in adopting coordinated targeted sanctions to help reduce the capacity of the Burmese military to carry out human rights violations and violations of international law. However, the pace of sanctions from the British government has slowed to a standstill.
The British government has not even kept up with all the sanctions imposed by the USA, EU, Canada and Australia. The British government frequently imposes more sanctions on Russia in a single day than it has on the Burmese military in almost five years.
“After the coup in 2021, the British government led the world in targeted sanctions against the Burmese military, now it doesn’t even follow,” said Mark Farmaner, Director at Burma Campaign UK. “With the people of Burma doing everything they can to resist military rule, the least we can do is try to reduce the money and arms going to the Burmese military.”
The failure of the British government to continue imposing sanctions will have been noticed and have provided encouragement for the Burmese military at a time when they are escalating attacks ahead of sham elections planned in December. The ‘elections’ are designed to secure military control over Burma indefinitely.
For sanctions to be effective they need to be imposed on a wide range of targets, to have a cumulative impact, and to be imposed on an ongoing basis.
Burma Campaign UK is asking supporters to write to Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper calling on her to resume sanctioning the Burmese military. The online action is available here.