Joint Statement by 240 Myanmar and International Organizations call for coordinated sanctions on the Myanma Economic Bank and Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise
Since it launched a coup attempt on 1 February 2021, the Myanmar military junta has killed over 5,000 civilians and over 3 million people have been displaced by conflict and junta human rights violations. Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner, told the Human Rights Council last month that “we are hearing stories of horrific war tactics, such as beheadings. Midnight drone attacks. The burning of homes as people sleep. People being shot at as they flee for their lives.” It comes as the junta increasingly uses air strikes to target civilians.
Since the coup attempt began, the junta has used state-owned enterprises, particularly state-owned banks and revenues from the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), to fund its atrocities, purchase weapons and aviation fuel and access international financial markets.
The EU sanctioned MOGE on 21 February 2022, cutting the junta off from at least USD 500 million without stopping gas exports to China. The U.S. has, however, only partially sanctioned MOGE and PTT Group, the Thai state-owned fossil fuel conglomerate, continues to pay tens of millions in monthly gas revenues to MOGE accounts controlled by the junta.
On 21 June 2023, the U.S. belatedly heeded calls from Myanmar civil society to sanction the state-owned Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and Myanmar Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB). While these banking sanctions were a welcome step forward, it came with warnings that the junta would switch to Myanma Economic Bank (MEB) and Myanma Agricultural Development Bank (MADB). The EU and U.K. have failed to sanction any of these banks while Canada and Australia have sanctioned only MFTB and MICB.
A report published on 26 June 2024, by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar shed further light on how weapons and military supplies continue to make it into Myanmar, including identifying the financial institutions responsible for facilitating military procurement transactions and confirming the continued outsized importance of gas revenues.
The Special Rapporteur’s report also shows two things. First, international actions can effectively disrupt the military junta’s supply chains – the report identifies a 33% drop in military procurement from the junta’s FY2022 to FY2023 and shows a major decline in the amount of military supplies sold by Singapore-registered companies and facilitated by Singaporean banks.
However, the report also shows how the junta has used gaps in sanctions and moved procurement to countries willing to leave routes open for it to get around these actions. Specifically:
As Singapore banks have cut their ties with the junta, Thai banks have stepped in to fill the gap. In particular the “Siam Commercial Bank facilitated just over US$5 million in transactions related to Myanmar military procurement in FY2022, that figure leaped to over US$100 million in FY2023.”
MEB has become a key conduit for the junta’s access to international financial services which it uses to buy weapons.
Thai companies, using Thai banks, sold USD 80 million of aviation fuel in 2023 that could be used by the junta to increase its attacks on civilians.
Gas revenues flowing PTT Group, through Thai banks to MOGE, via MEB, remain the largest single source of revenue for the junta.
In response to a previous report from the Special Rapporteur and subsequent pressure from the Singapore government, Singapore banks have largely cut ties with the junta. The UN Special Rapporteur sets out how Thai banks have stepped in to fill the gap. While ASEAN continues to rely on its failed 5-Point plan and its so-called policy of non-inference, Thailand is allowing PTT and Thai banks to fund the junta and ensuring that Thai banks and companies grant the junta access to weapons and aviation fuel. While the international community has gone some way to improve sanctions coordination, huge gaps remain.
We call on the international community to follow the recommendations of Special Rapporteur, in particular, to coordinate targeted sanctions on Myanmar’s state-owned banks, gas sector and aviation fuel. The U.S. must immediately sanction MEB and MADB and fully sanction MOGE. The U.N. Security council and individual member states, including the U.K. and EU, should sanction MFTB, MICB, MEB and MADB and follow the EU’s lead on sanctioning MOGE.
We call on ASEAN member states to address Thailand’s apparent policy of allowing PTT Group and Thai banks to back the Myanmar military junta.
We call on the Thai government to support sanctions that cut off the junta’s access to international financial services and gas revenues and follow Singapore’s lead in ensuring that its banks are not helping the junta procure weapons and aviation fuel.
We call on Thai banks to comply with their obligations under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights cease all transactions that support Myanmar’s military junta.
We call on PTT group to end its contribution to grave human rights abuses and divert gas revenues away from their junta in line with calls from Myanmar civil society, Myanmar’s National Unity Government and Thailand’s Move Forward Party.
We call on investors in PTT Group to follow the lead of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund and Robeco and divest from PTT Group due to its links to human rights abuses in Myanmar.
