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PRESS RELEASES | SPECIAL PROCEDURES
UN expert exposes $1 billion
“death trade” to Myanmar
military
17 May 2023
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NEW YORK / GENEVA (17 May 2023) – The Myanmar military has
imported at least $1 billion USD in arms and raw materials to manufacture
weapons since the coup in February 2021, according to a new report today
by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in
Myanmar, Tom Andrews.
UN Member States are enabling this trade either through outright
complicity, lax enforcement of existing bans, and easily circumvented
sanctions, according to the report.
“Despite overwhelming evidence of the Myanmar military’s atrocity crimes
against the people of Myanmar, the generals continue to have access to
advanced weapons systems, spare parts for fighter jets, raw materials
and manufacturing equipment for domestic weapons production,”
Andrews said. “Those providing these weapons are able to avoid
sanctions by using front companies and creating new ones while counting
on lax enforcement.
“The good news is that we now know who is supplying these arms and the
jurisdictions in which they operate. Member States now need to step up
and stop the flow of these arms,” the expert said.
While calling for a complete ban on the sale or transfer of weapons to the
Myanmar military, Andrews pleaded for Member States to enforce existing
bans while coordinating sanctions on arms dealers and foreign currency
sources.
The Special Rapporteur’s paper, “The Billion Dollar Death Trade:
International Arms Networks that Enable Human Rights Violations in
Myanmar” is the most detailed study on post-coup arms transfers to the
military to date. Accompanied by a detailed infographic, it identifies the
major networks and companies involved in these transactions, known
values of the transfers, and jurisdictions in which the networks operate,
namely Russia, China, Singapore, Thailand, and India.
“Russia and China continue to be the main suppliers of advanced weapons
systems to the Myanmar military, accounting for over $400 million and
$260 million respectively since the coup, with much of the trade originating
from state-owned entities. However, arms dealers operating out of
Singapore are critical to the continued operation of the Myanmar military’s
deadly weapons factories (commonly referred to as KaPaSa),” Andrews
said.
The report reveals that $254 million USD of supplies have been shipped
from dozens of entities in Singapore to the Myanmar military from
February 2021 to December 2022. Singaporean banks have been used
extensively by arms dealers.
Andrews recalled that the Government of Singapore has stated that its
policy is to, “prohibit the transfer of arms to Myanmar” and that it has
decided “not to authorise the transfer of dual-use items which have been
assessed to have potential military application to Myanmar.”
“I implore leaders of Singapore to seize the information within this report
and enforce its policies to the maximum extent possible,” the Special
Rapporteur said.
“If the Singapore Government were to stop all shipments and facilitation of
arms and associated materials to the Myanmar military from its
jurisdiction, the impact on the junta’s ability to commit war crimes would
be significantly disrupted,” he said.
The report also documents $28 million USD in arms transfers from Thai-
based entities to the Myanmar military since the coup. India-based
entities have supplied $51 million worth of arms and related materials to
the military since February 2021.
The report examines why international sanctions on arms dealing
networks have failed to stop or slow the flow of weapons to the Myanmar
military.
“The Myanmar military and its arms dealers have figured out how to game
the system. That’s because sanctions are not being adequately enforced
and because arms dealers linked to the junta have been able to create
shell companies to avoid them.
The expert said the ad hoc, uncoordinated nature of current sanctions
were allowing payments to be made in other currencies and jurisdictions.
“By expanding and retooling sanctions and eliminating loopholes,
governments can disrupt junta-linked weapons dealers,” Andrews said.
The report also focuses on the main sources of foreign currency that have
enabled the Myanmar junta to purchase over $1 billion in arms since the
coup. “Member States have not adequately targeted key sources of
foreign currency that the junta relies on to purchase arms, including most
significantly Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise,” Andrews said.
Andrews highlighted that no Member State has imposed sanctions on
Myanma Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) since the coup. “My findings
demonstrate that MFTB is not only important for receiving foreign
currency but is also being used extensively by the junta to purchase arms.
It should be a prime target for international sanctions,” the expert said.
ENDS
Mr. Thomas Andrews (United States of America) is the Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. A former
member of the US Congress from Maine, Andrews is a Robina Senior
Human Rights Fellow at Yale Law School and an Associate of Harvard
University’s Asia Center. He has worked with the National Democratic
Institute for International Affairs and parliamentarians, NGOs and political
parties in Cambodia, Indonesia, Algeria, Croatia, Serbia, Ukraine and
Yemen. He has been a consultant for the National Coalition Government
of the Union of Burma and the Euro-Burma Network and has run advocacy
NGOs including Win Without War and United to End Genocide.
The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special
Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Comprising the largest body of
independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, Special Procedures
is the general name of the Council's independent fact-finding and
monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or
thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work
on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for
their work. They are independent from any government or organization
and serve in their individual capacity.
UN Human Rights, country page – Myanmar
For more information and media requests please contact: Jacqui
Zalcberg
[email protected].
For media enquiries regarding other UN independent experts,
please contact Maya Derouaz (
[email protected]) and
Dharisha Indraguptha (
[email protected]).
Follow news related to the UN’s independent human rights
experts on Twitter @UN_SPExperts.
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