Funding the Military Regime, Britain Imposes Sanctions On The Myanmar Conglomerate

Myanmar military anti-coup protests. Twitter / @ HsuChiKo1)

JAKARTA - Britain has imposed sanctions on the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), one of the two main conglomerates and holding companies with close ties to the Myanmar military regime.

Sanctions against the MEC were imposed, for being involved in serious human rights abuses by providing funds to the Myanmar military, as well as their links to senior military figures.

"The Myanmar military has sunk to new lows with the arbitrary killing of innocent people, including children", British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said.

"Britain's latest action targets one of the military's main funding streams and charges them further for their human rights violations", he said.

At least 538 civilians have died in protests against the military coup, 141 of them on Saturday, the bloodiest day of unrest, according to the Association for Assistance for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

Separately, British fashion brand Next on Thursday, April 1 announced that they were suspending new production orders from factories in Myanmar as the violence continued. Next joins various European fashion manufacturers who are suspending orders in Myanmar.

Myanmar is known globally for their yarn, fabrics, and textile products. The garment industry is one of the main sources of employment in this Thousand Pagoda Country.

"We are not placing any more orders at this time, it is a big step. We don't take much of our product from Myanmar, but most of the stock we get from Myanmar, we already have alternatives to stock it in other countries", said CEO Simon Wolfson, which said that Myanmar provides less than 5 percent of the total stock of Next.

On Wednesday, Associated British Foods said that their Primark fashion business was halting orders in Myanmar, following similar steps from Sweden's H&M, the world's second-largest fashion retailer, and Italy's Benetton Group.

Meanwhile, Marks & Spencer UK, which sources about 3 percent of their clothing from Myanmar, said they were continuing orders that had been ordered but were reviewing future orders.

Regarding the Myanmar Coup. VOI editorial team continues to monitor the political situation in one of the ASEAN member countries. Casualties from civilians continue to fall. Readers can follow the news surrounding the Myanmar military coup by tapping on this link.