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International companies must cease weapons support of Myanmar junta: report – JURIST

The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M) Monday released a report identifying international companies which are helping the Myanmar military junta (Tatmadaw) to commit atrocities by supplying them weapons it has used to repress the country’s population. Titled “Fatal Business: Supplying the Myanmar Military’s Weapon Production,” the report argues that the junta’s gross violation of human rights on a daily basis may amount to crimes against humanity.Myanmar military’s in-house weapon production takes place at factories collectively called KaPaSa (Karkweye Pyitsee Setyone) or the Directorate of Defense Industries (DDI). The report also found that the DDI has several transfer of technology agreements in place with a range of international companies, including state-owned enterprises from countries like North Korea, China and Ukraine.The report principally recommends:Companies identified in the report should immediately stop doing business with the Myanmar military’s DDI and associated military entities and civilian front companies for the Myanmar military, and they should investigate how their products have ended up being used for the manufacturing of arms by the military in Myanmar. Beyond this, companies should also take steps to prevent future harmful end-use of their products through robust due diligence to identify, prevent, and mitigate the risk of harm associated with the sale/licensing and deployment of their products. In relation to harms that have already been suffered by civilians in Myanmar, companies should provide for, or cooperate in, the remediation of such harms, including by collaborating with any future legal or administrative proceedings.SAC-M was formed in response to the February 2021 coup-d’état by Tatmadaw Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing. The military junta declared a two-year long state of emergency while dissolving the parliament. The Tatmadaw tried to justify the coup by claiming that there was voter fraud in the November 2020 national elections, during which popular leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy crushingly defeated the military’s proxy party.