Open letter to the CEO of Airbus SE from over 300 international and local revolutionary groups and civil society organizations to end all investments in war crimes committed by the criminal Myanmar military junta
To
Guillaume Faury CEO of Airbus SE
10 December 2024
Subject: Airbus’ business relationship with Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC)
More than three years after the February 2021 attempted coup in Myanmar, the military junta continues to commit war crimes, crimes against humanity and other gross human rights abuses against the people of
Myanmar with total impunity. This campaign of terror is only possible through the junta’s continued access to arms, including combat aircraft, and related technical maintenance, repair and overhaul assistance.
A key supplier of military aircraft and maintenance to the junta is the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC).
Your company is a key investor and partner of AVIC. With ongoing credible documentation and reporting at the United Nations of the human rights crisis in Myanmar and the role of AVIC in supplying arms to the junta, you must have known that your collaboration with AVIC is highly problematic. Yet your company has maintained collaboration with AVIC and continued to invest in multiple AVIC subsidiaries through the Hong Kong publicly listed company, AviChina Industry & Technology Company Limited (AviChina). Your company is the biggest international shareholder of AviChina. As such, you have significant influence over AviChina’s strategic business decisions.
AviChina’s most recent annual report (fiscal years 2022-2023) states that the company “principally operates through its subsidiaries” and that AviChina group is “mainly engaged in the development, manufacture, sales and upgrade of civil aviation products and defense products such as provision of helicopters, trainer aircraft, general-purpose aircraft and regional jets for domestic and overseas customers; and the co-development and manufacture of aviation products with foreign aviation products manufacturers.” The group’s principal products include the K-8 trainer aircraft and the Y-12 multipurpose aircraft, according to the same annual report. Both aircraft have been commissioned by the Myanmar military since its coup attempt and continue to be frequently documented as used by the Myanmar air force for indiscriminate airstrikes on the civilian population.
We note that other institutional investors, including the Norwegian Government Pension Fund, have excluded AviChina from its portfolio over unacceptable risks associated with the transfers of arms to “a state that uses these weapons in ways that constitute serious and systematic breaches of the international rules on the conduct of hostilities”.
Under international standards on business and human rights, your company has an independent responsibility to respect human rights in their business activities, and should do so by exercising appropriate due diligence on your entire value chain to identify human rights risks and harms that you cause, contribute to, or are directly linked to by virtue of your business relationships, including in relation to the end-use of your products and financial investments. Put differently, your company has an independent responsibility to ensure that you do not enable atrocity crimes through financial and strategic links to AVIC and directly associated companies such as AviChina.
Moreover, your company is taking a risk by providing financial support to a junta arms dealer, as Myanmar has been subject to a European arms embargo. This restriction, renewed in 2018 by the Member States, specifies that it is forbidden for a European entity to:
“Provide financing or financial assistance related to military activities, including in particular grants, loans and export credit insurance for any sale, supply, transfer or export of arms and related materiel, as well as equipment which might be used for internal repression, or for the provision of related technical assistance, brokering and other services directly or indirectly to any person, entity or body in, or for use in Myanmar/Burma”.
In other words, by owning shares in AviChina, Airbus could be in violation of the EU arms embargo.
We invite you to assume this responsibility and urge you to take meaningful and concrete action to block the Myanmar military junta’s access to military aircraft, spare parts and related maintenance, repair and overhaul services which continue to be provided to the junta by AVIC subsidiaries and partners.
We specifically ask your company to:
- Use Airbus’ leverage over AVIC and its subsidiaries so that they halt all ongoing and planned transfers of military aircraft, arms and associated equipment to the Myanmar military and cease any ongoing or committed maintenance, repair and overhaul on supplied aircraft.
- Through ongoing partnerships and collaboration, AVIC has several points of access to Airbus technology and products and this access is likely to prove beneficial for AVIC’s military manufacturing. Because of these known risks, we ask you to conduct heightened due diligence on any current and future partnerships with AVIC and its subsidiaries and make that due diligence public.
- Responsibly divest and end your relationship with AVIC if AVIC refuses to end all business with the Myanmar military junta.
Sincerely,