On Sunday 1st February 2026, it will be five years since the latest military coup in Burma.
It will also be 460 days since the British government took any action to try to reduce the flow of arms, equipment and money to the Burmese military.
The coup has plunged Burma into a human rights and humanitarian crisis with the Burmese military jailing more than 20,000 political prisoners, bombing schools, hospitals and homes, forcing millions of people to flee their homes.
Following the 2021 coup, the British government initially played a leading role in coordinating international targeted sanctions to cut off the flow of arms, equipment and money to the Burmese military.
Now it has gone from leader to laggard.
Learning from past mistakes in sanctions implementation, the British government had adopted a smart sanctions policy of systematically identifying and sanctioning sources of revenue and arms on an ongoing basis. No longer.
No public explanation has been given as to why the British government has stopped making any new efforts to stop the flow of money and arms to the Burmese military. Members of Parliament who have asked questions to Ministers are consistently fobbed off with answers that sanctions designations are under constant review.
If the British government, in the face of growing criticism, does finally introduce new sanctions to coincide with this coup anniversary, a gap of more than a year between sanctions means it is still clear that government policy has changed, with no reason given as to why.
The USA, EU, Canada and Australia have all imposed sanctions which the UK has not joined.
The UK has not sanctioned jet fuel exports to Burma, as Canada has. It has not sanctioned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, as the EU has. It has not sanctioned the military-owned mobile phone company Mytel, as the USA has. It has not sanctioned Myanma Foreign Trade Bank and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank, as Australia has.
The significance of the UK’s insurance, reinsurance, accreditation and certification industries, which have no transparency, means that the UK can have an unexpectedly significant impact when it sanctions entities.
At the same time as escalating attacks against civilians and keeping around 20,000 political prisoners in jail, the Burmese military held a series of sham elections in December 2025 and January 2026.
“With human rights violations by the Burmese military increasing and cross-party support for stronger sanctions, it is inexplicable why the government is failing to act,” said Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK. “The British government must return to systematically imposing targeted sanctions on an ongoing basis.”
The issue of sanctions is not the only area where the British government is failing to act. Burma Campaign UK has produced a more detailed briefing on the lacklustre British government response to ongoing human rights violations in Burma, available here.