Myanmar
US sanctions Myanmar officials, military-affiliated 'cronies' ahead of coup anniversary
The US Tuesday, the day before the two-year anniversary of the military coup d'état that deposed Myanmar's democratically elected government, imposed sanctions on six individuals and three entities linked to the regime's efforts to generate revenue and procure arms.
They include senior leadership of Myanmar's Ministry of Energy, Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise, Air Force, as well as an arms dealer and a family member of a previously designated business associate of the military.
The US also sanctioned the Union Electoral Commission, which the "regime has deployed to advance its plans for deeply flawed elections that would subvert the will of the people of Myanmar."
"We are taking today's action in conjunction with actions also being taken by the United Kingdom and Canada. To date, we have sanctioned, under Executive Order 14014, 80 individuals and 30 entities to deprive the regime of the means to perpetuate its violence and to promote the democratic aspirations of Myanmar's people," US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken said in a media statement.
Two years ago, Myanmar's military regime "usurped power from a democratically elected government – "blatantly rejecting the will of Myanmar's people, setting the country on a disastrous path that has killed and displaced thousands, reversing the hard-fought democratic progress achieved over the last decade, he added.
Since the military coup on February 1, 2021, the political, economic, and humanitarian crisis in Myanmar has only grown direr, with reports indicating nearly 3,000 killed, nearly 17,000 detained, and more than 1.5 million displaced.
The regime's ongoing scorched-earth campaign continues to inflict harm and claim the lives of innocent people, fueling a worsening armed conflict within Myanmar and insecurity beyond its borders, the secretary of state said.
Read more: How Myanmar is faring 2 years after army ousted Suu Kyi
"The United States remains firm in our position that the regime's planned elections cannot be free or fair, not while the regime has killed, detained, or forced possible contenders to flee, nor while it continues to inflict brutal violence against its peaceful opponents," he added.
"The United States will continue to support the pro-democracy movement and its efforts to advance peace and multiparty governance in Myanmar. We commend those working to strengthen unity and cohesion among diverse groups who share a vision of a genuine and inclusive democracy in Myanmar," Blinken said.
The United States will also continue to promote accountability for the military's atrocities, including through support to the UN's Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar and other international efforts to protect and support vulnerable populations, including Rohingya, he added.
"We welcome the actions taken by our allies and partners to urge the regime to end the crisis. We look forward to building on our cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its members, with the UN following the recent passage of the UN Security Council Resolution on the situation in Myanmar, and with the international community writ-large, as partners seek to uphold the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus, intensify diplomatic and economic pressure against the military, and support a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous Myanmar," the secretary of state said.
Leaked docs suggest US, UK oil and gas field contractors made profits in Myanmar after coup: Guardian report
According to tax records obtained by The Guardian, in the two years following a ruthless junta’s takeover of Myanmar, some of the largest oil and gas service companies in the world have continued to profit handsomely from projects that have supported the military government.
The United Nations’ special rapporteur on Myanmar said that since the military took over in February 2021, it is “committing war crimes and crimes against humanity daily.”
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, more than 2,940 individuals have been slain, including children, pro-democracy activists, and other civilians, The Guardian report adds.
In the midst of this unrest, it appears that US, UK, and Irish oil and gas field contractors – who offer vital drilling and other services to Myanmar’s gas field operators – continued to make millions of dollars in profit in the nation after the coup. This information comes from leaked Myanmar tax records and other reports.
Investigative journalism organization Finance Uncovered, The Guardian, and the Myanmar advocacy group Justice for Myanmar all conducted analyses of the records after they were obtained by the transparency non-profit Distributed Denial of Secrets.
The documents indicate that, in some cases, the subsidiaries of major US gas field service companies continued to operate in Myanmar despite the US State Department’s warning that there were significant risks associated with doing business there in January of last year. This included working with state-owned companies that financially support the junta, like the national oil and gas company Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE).
Read More: International community urged to support all efforts to hold Myanmar military responsible for HR violations, abuses
More Myanmar-related sanctions were issued by the US, UK, Australia, and Canada on Tuesday, including those affecting the managing director and deputy managing director of MOGE. However, they refrained from sanctioning MOGE specifically.
In view of the “intensifying human rights violations in Myanmar” and the “substantial resources” MOGE offers the junta, the European Union was the first region to issue penalties against MOGE itself in February.
European businesses are unable to participate in oil and gas field development projects in Myanmar due to EU sanctions. However, such regulations have not yet been implemented by the US or the UK, and such work, which may involve transactions with MOGE directly or indirectly, is not forbidden, The Guardian reports.
According to The Guardian, tax documents that were leaked reveal:
-- The Singapore-based company of US oil services firm Halliburton, Myanmar Energy Services, recorded pre-tax earnings of $6.3 million in Myanmar for the year ending in September 2021, which included eight months when the junta was in power.
-- In the six months leading up to March 2022, Baker Hughes, an oil services business with headquarters in Houston, recorded pre-tax profits of $2.64 million in Myanmar.
-- In the fiscal year that ended in September 2021, the US company Diamond Offshore Drilling recorded $37 million in fees, followed by another $24.2 million from October 2021 to March 2022.
The involvement of western gas field contractors in Myanmar's gas and oil business after the coup, according to activists, renders them complicit in the junta's aggressive campaign.
Both US-based Chevron and France’s Total, which have long been criticized for running gas projects there, announced last January that they were leaving Myanmar.
The US has imposed sanctions on Myanmar’s state-owned gems, pearl, and timber sectors, but Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise, a key in the junta’s main source of foreign income, is still unaffected, according to The Guardian report.
How Myanmar is faring 2 years after army ousted Suu Kyi
Two years after Myanmar’s generals ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government, thousands of people have died in civil conflict and many more have been forced from their homes in a dire humanitarian crisis.
Myanmar’s economy, once one of the fastest growing in Southeast Asia, now lags behind where it stood before the Feb. 1, 2021, military takeover compounded the country’s struggles with the pandemic.
Ten years earlier, Myanmar had emerged from decades of military rule, gradually transitioning to a civilian government, opening its economy to more foreign investment and entrepreneurship and relaxing censorship of the media.
A modern consumer culture took hold, with glitzy shopping malls in the biggest city, Yangon, and use of Facebook and cellphones the new normal. The army takeover brought thousands into the streets in peaceful protests that were suppressed with lethal force.
WHAT HAPPENED ON FEB. 1, 2021?
The army arrested Suu Kyi and top members of her governing National League for Democracy party, which had won a landslide victory for a second term in a November 2020 general election. The army said it acted because there had been massive voting fraud, but independent election observers did not find any major irregularities. Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, best known for his role in a 2007 crackdown on pro-democracy protests, now leads the government.
The ouster of the civilian government provoked widespread demonstrations and civil disobedience. As weeks dragged on, security forces crushed shows of opposition with violence. So far, nearly 3,000 civilians have been killed and tens of thousands forced from their homes by fighting between security forces and civilians who took up arms, sometimes allying themselves with ethnic armed groups that have been fighting for autonomy for decades.
Read: UN chief backs democracy for Myanmar 2 years after coup
The military’s seizure of power drew international condemnation. Many governments have shunned the army-led leadership and imposed sanctions, cutting off some financial flows. But neighboring countries in Southeast Asia and Myanmar’s most powerful ally, China, have balked at taking such actions.
WHERE IS AUNG SAN SUU KYI?
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi, 77, was the de facto head of government, holding the title of state counsellor, when the army arrested her and took power. In December a court sentenced her to seven years in prison for corruption in the last of a string of politically tinged criminal cases against her, leaving her with a total of 33 years to serve in prison.
Suu Kyi’s supporters and independent analysts say the numerous charges against her and her allies were an attempt to legitimize the military’s seizure of power while eliminating her from politics before an election promised for later this year.
Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar’s martyred independence hero Gen. Aung San, spent almost 15 years as a political prisoner under house arrest between 1989 and 2010. She is being held in a newly constructed separate building in the prison in the capital, Naypyitaw, near the courthouse where her trial was held.
WHAT IS LIFE LIKE UNDER MILITARY RULE?
Two years after the army seized power, life in Yangon and other big cities has inched back toward normality but fighting in much of the countryside has left the country deeply mired in civil conflict.
Read: China accuses Washington of abusing export controls
Rights advocates say the military and security forces have carried out arbitrary arrests, torture and other abuses to quash dissent. Human rights monitoring groups said Tuesday that Myanmar’s military is increasingly turning to airstrikes with deadly results to try to crush stiff armed resistance,
While the military is responsible for massive use of violence throughout the country, militants in the opposition have carried out bombings and assassinations of military officials and their supporters. Min Aung Hlaing on Tuesday accused opponents of army rule of trying to take power with “wrongful forcible means.”
The World Bank forecasts the economy will grow a meager 3% this year, with some strength in agriculture and industries such as garment making. But it remains smaller than it was in 2019, before the pandemic and then the military takeover.
The military’s return to power has stymied a decade of reforms and left 40% of the population living in poverty.
Despite stringent foreign exchange controls and uncertainty over rules and regulations under army rule, some businesses are finding ways to operate by using informal payments and trade channels. The reopening of Myanmar’s trade routes with China also has helped.
But risks have been heightened by security issues due to the civil conflict.
WHAT LIES AHEAD?
The way out of the crisis remains unclear. The military-controlled government enacted a law on registration of political parties that will make it difficult for opposition groups to mount a serious challenge to army-backed candidates in the general election set to take place later this year.
Critics have already said the military-planned election will be neither free nor fair because there is no free media and most of the leaders of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party have been arrested.
The party has declared it will not accept or recognize the election, which it has described as “fake” and a ploy by the military to gain political legitimacy and international recognition. The vote is also opposed by the National Unity Government, which was established by elected lawmakers who were prevented from taking their seats when the army seized power and serves as an underground parallel national administration.
Units of the People’s Defense Force, the armed wing of the banned pro-democracy movement, have been attempting to disrupt preparations for the election by attacking personnel of the military government who are conducting a population survey that could be used to assemble voter rolls.
Bangladesh facing internal security threats in fallout of Rohingya crisis
Brig Gen (Retd) Dr M Sakhawat Hussain on Tuesday said that the Rohingya crisis is already creating internal security threats and Bangladesh could become a "hotbed" in the future if the situation turns into a regional conflict involving India-China-the USA.
The former Election Commissioner made the remarks at a seminar titled "Restoring Peace in Myanmar: Two Years after the Military Coup" organized by the Center for Peace Studies (CPS) of the South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance at North South University.
Two years after a military coup in Myanmar, prospects for a return to peace remain bleak as the military has shown no sign of relenting and has instead doubled down on its efforts to continue its rule.
Unless the international community can pressure the military to relinquish power, the prospects for peace and democracy in Myanmar remain dim, speakers at the seminar observed.
Held at Syndicate Hall of North South University, the seminar was moderated by Dr. Ishrat Zakia Sultana, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Sociology Department.
The seminar was addressed by former Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque, Professorial Fellow at SIPG, SIPG Senior Fellow and former Election Commissioner Brig. Gen. Dr. M. Sakhawat Hussain, a Faculty of the University of Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Malaysia Dr. Mahbubul Haque, and President of Rohingya Intellectual Community Australia and Chair of Foreign Affairs of Arakan Rohingya National Organization Dr. Hla Myint, Dr. Zaw Wai Soe, Minister of Health and Education, NUG of Myanmar, joined the program.
Read more: UN adopts resolution on human rights of Rohingya, other minorities in Myanmar
Observing that the country never experienced democracy in the past, Shahidul Haque urged concerted efforts of international agencies to help various groups fighting for democracy in Myanmar.
Dr. Mahbubul Haque suggested Myanmar democracy activists to include Rohingya issue in their ongoing movement.
Dr. Zaw, addressing the issue of Rohingya crisis said, “Rohingya is our people.”
He further resolved that the National Unity Government will solve the Rohingya conflict.
Dr. Hla Myint said, “We the Rohingya, are the most persecuted people in the world. Leaders of the Rohingya community determine a point that it will be in the best interest of the Rohingya community to solve the Rohingya issue by unity. Therefore we have formed Arakan Rohingya Alliance. The primary objective is to seek the right to self-determination and reach out to international actors for the interest of the Rohingya people globally and locally.”
Speakers accused the Myanmar military of committing human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, and the use of torture. In addition, the military imposed an internet shutdown, curtailed press freedom, and conducted mass arrests of political dissidents.
With no end to the military’s rule, the people of Myanmar are facing an uncertain future; the discussants observed and urged the international community to take urgent action to ensure that the country can return to democracy and the rule of law and that human rights of its citizens are respected.
Professor Sk. Tawfique M. Haque, Director, South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance (SIPG), NSU delivered the concluding speech.
Read more: Justice, accountability must for Rohingya, speakers say in The Hague
UN expert’s report highlights Myanmar junta's fraudulent claim to legitimacy, urges States to denounce 2023 ‘sham’ elections
Myanmar’s junta—the State Administration Council (SAC)—is illegal and illegitimate, the UN human rights expert on Myanmar said on Tuesday.
He called for the international community to deny the SAC legitimacy, create a coalition of member states to enforce strong, coordinated sanctions against the SAC, and support the National Unity Government which has a stronger claim to legitimacy.
On the eve of the second anniversary of the military coup in Myanmar which deposed the democratically elected National Unity Government, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Myanmar Tom Andrews, issued a new report that lays bare the junta’s flawed claims to be the legitimate government of Myanmar.
“Two years ago, the military deposed a democratically elected government in an unconstitutional coup. The unrelenting violence that it unleashed on the people of Myannar has created a widespread human rights, humanitarian, and economic crisis and galvanised nationwide opposition,” the Special Rapporteur said.
“The conclusion is clear – the SAC’s military coup was illegal and its claim as Myanmar’s government is illegitimate and a new, coordinated international response to the crisis is imperative,” Andrews said.
In “Illegal and Illegitimate: Examining the Myanmar Military’s Claim as the Government of Myanmar and the International Response,” Andrews demonstrates why, under international standards, the junta is not a legitimate government and must not be recognised or engaged with by the international community.
Andrews warned that the junta was planning to seek legitimacy in 2023 by orchestrating a sham “election.”
Read more: Myanmar mired ever deeper in crisis as human rights spiral backwards: Türk
He urged member States, international organisations and election monitoring groups not to provide technical support to the SAC in its efforts to appear legitimate. “Instead they should explicitly denounce what will be a farcical exercise designed to perpetuate military control of Myanmar’s political system,” the UN expert said.
Andrews’ report also examines Member States’ interactions with the SAC, highlighting actions that have delegitimised or withheld recognition to the SAC, and actions by Member States that have created the appearance of legitimacy.
“Importantly, the international community has, by and large, refused to accept the SAC’s claim to be the legitimate government of Myanmar,” said Andrews.
However, the expert pointed to a small minority of States, including Belarus, China, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Sri Lanka, that have implicitly supported the junta’s claim as the government of Myanmar by taking actions that are tantamount to recognition.
“These actions include presenting diplomatic credentials to SAC leadership, strengthening economic and military relations with the SAC, and—in the case of at least Belarus and India—publicly engaging with the SAC on its plans to hold sham elections,” Andrews said.
“Even governments that have engaged the SAC, however, recognise the plain truth—the junta lacks legitimacy,” the Special Rapporteur said. For example, during consultations for the report, Vietnam told the Special Rapporteur, "[C]ontact, exchange and cooperation activities with Myanmar within bilateral settings or ASEAN frameworks should not be interpreted as or equated with a recognition of the military government or the State Administration Council.”
Addressing ASEAN Member States separately in his report, the UN Special Rapporteur noted that the regional grouping was divided on policy vis-à-vis Myanmar’s junta.
“Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore have reduced diplomatic engagement with the SAC and rejected its claims of legitimacy. Some of these Member States have also engaged with the National Unity Government. Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam have chosen to engage with the SAC,” Andrews said.
“ASEAN States must distance themselves from the SAC, condemn its actions and support enforcement of international sanctions in their jurisdictions, while increasing engagement with the National Unity Government,” he said.
Read more: UN adopts resolution on human rights of Rohingya, other minorities in Myanmar
“I urge all Member States, but particularly those that have already imposed costs on the junta, to initiate a strategic approach to strengthen, coordinate and enforce economic sanctions and an arms embargo on the SAC and provide more robust humanitarian aid to the millions in desperate need,” the UN expert urged.
“Governments that recognise or support to the SAC are propping up a brutal junta that operates in flagrant violation of international human rights law,” he said.
Andrews urged Member States to provide recognition to the NUG as the legitimate representative of the people of Myanmar and begin providing appropriate support to help ensure its sustainability.
“The SAC is seeking to turn back the clock, close the door on Myanmar’s democratic opening, and through violence and force, destroy the advancements in human rights and economic opportunities that Myanmar’s people began to enjoy over the past decade,” the Special Rapporteur said.
“For the sake of the human rights of the people of Myanmar, the SAC must not be allowed to achieve this outcome.”
MPs from Southeast Asia condemn Myanmar junta’s parties registration law as an assault on democracy
Parliamentarians from Southeast Asia have condemned the new Political Parties Registration Law passed by the Myanmar military junta as an assault on democracy, drafted by an illegitimate authority, and designed to favor its proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), ahead of the sham elections planned for this year.
The new law, passed on 26 January, imposes a series of criteria to register parties that are extremely difficult to meet for most of the 91 political organizations currently registered in Myanmar, except for the USDP.
For instance, according to Article 5(f), national parties are under the obligation to mobilize at least 100,000 members, 100 times more than the previous law, in 90 days, an impossibility given the instability and chaos that general Min Aung Hlaing threw the country into with the illegal coup he staged two years ago.
Now parties have two months to register under these draconian conditions, or they will be dissolved and declared illegal.
The National League for Democracy (NLD), the party in government at the time of the takeover in February 2021, has announced its refusal to recognize the new law and the election commission.
But other parties may face dissolution if the junta determines they have contacted a “terrorist organization,” including the People’s Defense Forces (PDFs), set up to fight against the junta, or the National Unity Government of Myanmar (NUG).
Read more: UN chief backs democracy for Myanmar 2 years after coup
“This law goes against all democratic principles not only because of its contents, specifically designed to make the military proxy USDP the only viable political party, but also because who has passed it. The junta led by Min Aung Hlaing has no legitimacy whatsoever to rule the country after an illegal coup d’état and two years of continuous atrocities against its own population, let alone to enact any law. The international community, starting with ASEAN, should condemn this new law in the strongest possible terms,” said Charles Santiago, Co-chair of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), and former Member of Parliament in Malaysia on Tuesday.
The new law has been passed ahead of the general election planned by the junta this year.
According to the 2008 Myanmar Constitution, the state of emergency that was put in place by the junta after its coup on 1 February can only last two years, after which the government has the obligation to hold new elections.
Over this period, Min Aung Hlaing and his generals have unsuccessfully attempted to consolidate its power in the face of widespread popular resistance to military rule.
The junta is perpetrating crimes against humanity against its own people on a daily basis, including extrajudicial killings, indiscriminate aerial attacks against entire villages, arbitrary detentions and torture, often to death, of anyone deemed to be working with the opposition.
According to the local organization Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), there are 13,689 political prisoners in the country, and the junta has killed at least 2,894 people, with the real numbers likely several times higher.
Read more: Myanmar's military regime must end its violence, release those unjustly detained: US
This all-out war waged by the junta against its own people has displaced hundreds of thousands, and ruined the Myanmar economy, creating a humanitarian catastrophe of gigantic proportions.
“In the terrible conditions currently prevailing in Myanmar, it is completely impossible to hold an election, especially if it is organized by the very same junta that created such conditions in the first place. This election is nothing but a desperate attempt by Min Aung Hlaing to legitimize his power, and will only result in even further bloodshed. The Myanmar people are not fooled by the junta’s electoral charade, and the international community should not be fooled either. It is imperative that international actors refuse to recognize the elections, and Min Aung Hlaing’s junta itself, and begin to seriously engage the democratic opposition in seeking the solution to the crisis in Myanmar,” said Santiago.
UN chief backs democracy for Myanmar 2 years after coup
Two years after Myanmar’s military seized power, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced support Monday for the democratic aspirations of Myanmar’s people and warned that the military’s planned elections amid a crackdown on civilians and political leaders “risk exacerbating instability.”
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the secretary-general strongly condemns all forms of violence in Myanmar as the crisis in the country deteriorates “and fuel serious regional implications."
The army seized power on Feb. 1, 2021, from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, arresting her and top members of her governing National League for Democracy party, which had won a landslide victory for a second term in a November 2020 general election.
Read more: Myanmar mired ever deeper in crisis as human rights spiral backwards: Türk
Security forces suppressed widespread opposition to the military takeover with lethal force, killing almost 2,900 civilians and arresting thousands more people who engaged in nonviolent protests. The savage crackdown triggered armed resistance in much of the country. The military government has deemed major organizations opposed to army rule to be “terrorist” groups.
The military enacted a new law on registration of political parties, which was published Friday, that will make it difficult for opposition groups to mount a serious challenge to army-backed candidates in a general election scheduled for later this year. It sets minimum levels for parties, including membership levels 100 times higher than in 2020 elections, plus stiff funding requirements.
Guterres “is concerned by the military’s stated intention to hold elections amid intensifying aerial bombardment and burning of civilian houses, along with ongoing arrests, intimidation and harassment of political leaders, civil society actors and journalists,” the U.N. spokesman said. “Without conditions that permit the people of Myanmar to freely exercise their political rights, the proposed polls risk exacerbating instability.”
The secretary-general “continues to stand in solidarity with the people of Myanmar and to support their democratic aspirations for an inclusive, peaceful and just society and the protection of all communities, including the Rohingya,” Dujarric said.
Longstanding discrimination against Rohingya Muslims in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, including denial of citizenship and many other rights, exploded in August 2017 when Myanmar’s military launched what it called a clearance campaign in northern Rakhine state in response to attacks on police and border guards by a Rohingya militant group. More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh, where they remain in camps, as troops allegedly committed mass rapes and killings and burned thousands of homes.
In January 2020, the International Court of Justice, the U.N.’s top court, ordered Myanmar to do all it could to prevent genocide against the Rohingya. Two days earlier, an independent commission set up by Myanmar’s government concluded there were reasons to believe security forces committed war crimes against the Rohingya — but not genocide.
Guterres welcomed the first-ever resolution on Myanmar adopted by the U.N. Security Council on Dec. 21 demanding an immediate end to violence in the Southeast Asian nation and urging its military rulers to release all “arbitrarily detained” prisoners, including Suu Kyi, and to restore democratic institutions.
The resolution calls for the opposing parties to pursue dialogue and reconciliation and urges all sides “to respect human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law.”
The secretary-general considers the resolution “an important step and underlines the urgency for strengthened international unity,” Dujarric said.
Read more: New report reveals weapons transferred to Myanmar military junta by UN Member States
The spokesman said the U.N. special envoy for Myanmar, Noeleen Heyzer, will coordinate closely with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on the Security Council’s call “to engage intensively with all relevant parties in Myanmar to achieve an end to the violence and to support a return to democracy.” Indonesia took over as ASEAN chair on Jan. 1 from Cambodia.
“The United Nations is committed to staying in Myanmar and addressing the multiple vulnerabilities arising from the military’s actions since February 2021,” Dujarric said, urging unhindered access to all affected communities.
“The secretary-general renews his call for neighboring countries and other member states to urge the military leadership to respect the will and needs of the people of Myanmar and adhere to democratic norms,” the U.N. spokesman said.
World Bank: Myanmar economy to grow 3%, dragged by conflict
Myanmar’s economy grew 3% last year and will likely achieve the same pace in 2023, but still lags far behind where it stood before the army seized power in early 2021, the World Bank said in a report released Monday.
The global development agency estimates Myanmar’s level of economic activity is still more than 10% below where it stood before the pandemic and the military takeover. On a per capita basis it is even further behind, it says.
If the global economy slows further as expected, exports and investment may weaken after recovering somewhat from the pandemic and the disruptions caused by civil conflict and foreign sanctions after the army ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government.
The reversion to military control after nearly a decade of quasi-civilian rule provoked mass protests that spun into armed revolt, on top of decades-long conflict between the government and armed ethnic groups.
“Economic activity has continued to be disrupted by persistent conflict, which has had devastating impacts on lives and livelihoods, and by electricity shortages," the report said.
Myanmar’s economy contracted by about 18% in 2021, after growing at a pace of 6% or more in the years before. The slow pace of expansion last year, from a very low base, suggests conditions remain weak.
“What’s surprising is that the growth hasn’t been higher,” Kim Alan Edwards, a World Bank senior economist, said in an online briefing. “Growth is nowhere near levels we saw in 2019.”
Like other emerging economies, Myanmar has had to contend with a weakening of its currency against the dollar. The kyat's value dropped by about a quarter in June-December last year and has less than half the value it had two years earlier. That makes imports of vital commodities like oil much more expensive in local terms.
Combined with higher prices for many commodities including oil and gas, Myanmar has seen inflation hit nearly 20% as of July, the report said.
Read more: Myanmar opium cultivation surged 33% amid violence, UN finds
“While the kyat has stabilized in recent months, foreign currency shortages persist, which together with onerous trade restrictions have affected businesses’ ability to supply of a range of imported products," it said.
The World Bank economists said controls imposed by the central bank to support the kyat and protect foreign exchange reserves have been relaxed, making it easier for exporters to obtain credit or retain their earnings. But many businesses and people are forced to comply with orders to convert foreign currency into kyat at the official rate of 2,100 kyats per dollar, when the market value is about 2,800 kyats.
The report says agriculture and garment manufacturing have recovered and some businesses are finding ways to operate by using informal payments and trade channels. The reopening of Myanmar's trade routes with China also has helped.
But risks have been heightened by security issues, due to the civil conflict, that add to costs and delays for transporting goods.
“There are no easy fixes to Myanmar's situation," Edwards said, noting a lack of transparency that obscures what is going on. “Rules and regulations can change anytime and can favor some and not others."
Myanmar mired ever deeper in crisis as human rights spiral backwards: Türk
Nearly two years on from Myanmar's military coup against the democratically-elected government, the country has sunk deeper than ever into crisis, undergoing a wholesale regression in human rights, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said recently.
"By nearly every feasible measurement, and in every area of human rights – economic, social and cultural, as much as civil and political – Myanmar has profoundly regressed," he said Friday.
"Despite clear legal obligations for the military to protect civilians in the conduct of hostilities, there has been a consistent disregard for the related rules of international law."
"Far from being spared, civilians have been the actual targets of attacks – victims of targeted and indiscriminate artillery barrages and air strikes, extrajudicial executions, the use of torture, and the burning of whole villages," the head of OHCHR added.
The OHCHR said at least 2,890 people died at the hands of the military and others working with them, of whom at least 767 were initially taken into custody.
This is almost certainly an underestimate of the number of people killed by the military.
A staggering 1.2 million people of Myanmar were internally displaced, and over 70,000 left the country – joining more than a million others who fled, including the bulk of the country's Rohingya Muslim population, who suffered decades of sustained persecution and attacks, the OHCHR said.
Over 34,000 civilian structures, including homes, clinics, schools and places of worship, were burned over the past two years, the rights office said.
Since February 1, 2021, the military has imprisoned the entire democratically elected leadership of the country and, in subsequent months, detained over 16,000 others – most of whom face specious charges in military-controlled courts, in flagrant breach of due process and fair trial rights, linked to their refusal to accept the military's actions, the OHCHR said.
"There must be a way out of this catastrophic situation, which sees only deepening human suffering and rights violations on a daily basis," Türk said. "Regional leaders, who engaged the military leadership through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed a Five-Point Consensus that Myanmar's generals have treated with disdain."
"Two of the critical conditions that were agreed – to cease all violence and to allow humanitarian access – have not been met. In fact, we have seen the opposite. Violence has spiralled out of control and humanitarian access has been severely restricted."
Read more: Myanmar opium cultivation surged 33% amid violence, UN finds
Myanmar opium cultivation surged 33% amid violence, UN finds
The production of opium in Myanmar has flourished since the military's seizure of power, with the cultivation of poppies up by a third in the past year as eradication efforts have dropped off and the faltering economy has led more people toward the drug trade, according to a United Nations report released Thursday.
In 2022, in the first full growing season since the military wrested control of the country from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, Myanmar saw a 33% increase in cultivation area to 40,100 hectares (99,090 acres), according to the report by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.
“Economic, security and governance disruptions that followed the military takeover of February 2021 have converged, and farmers in remote, often conflict-prone areas in northern Shan and border states have had little option but to move back to opium,” said the U.N. office's regional representative Jeremy Douglas.
Read more: Myanmar violence has displaced more than 1 million, says UN
The overall value of the Myanmar opiate economy, based on U.N. estimates, ranges between $660 million and $2 billion, depending on how much was sold locally, and how much of the raw opium was processed into heroin or other drugs.
"Virtually all the heroin reported in East and Southeast Asia and Australia originates in Myanmar, and the country remains the second-largest opium and heroin producer in the world after Afghanistan," Douglas said. "There is no comparing the two at this point as Afghanistan still produces far more, but the expansion underway in Myanmar should not be dismissed and needs attention as it will likely continue — it is directly tied to the security and economic situation we see unfolding today.”
The so-called Golden Triangle area, where the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet, has historically been a major production area for opium and hosted many of the labs that converted it to heroin. Decades of political instability have made the frontier regions of Myanmar, also known as Burma, largely lawless, to be exploited by drug producers and traffickers.
Most of the opium exported by Myanmar goes to China and Vietnam, while heroin goes to many countries across the region, Douglas said.
“It is really where the value is for traffickers,” he said. “Very high profits.”
The cultivation of opium had been trending downward in recent years before the military took control of the government in 2021.
Production estimates hit a bottom of 400 metric tons (440 tons) in 2020. After rising slightly in 2021, that spiked in 2022 to an estimated 790 metric tons (870 tons), according to the report.
Since it took control of the government, the military's use of deadly force to hold on to power has escalated conflict with its civilian opponents to the point that some experts describe the country as now being in a state of civil war.
The costs have been high, with 2,810 people killed by government forces to date and 17,427 detained, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
The violence has meant that the government has been unable to reach some areas to carry out drug eradication raids, and has also had to divert its resources elsewhere. Consequently, eradication efforts appear to have decreased substantially, with 1,403 hectares (3,467 acres) reported eradicated in 2022 — some 70% fewer than in 2021.
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At the same time, as the conflict continues to take its toll on Myanmar's economy, an increasing number of rural households have been pushed into relying more on opium cultivation for income, the U.N. said.
“The expansion of opium production that is underway is fundamentally about poverty and people in rural areas reacting to the economic situation,” Douglas said. “It has always been there in tough times. At the same time, the security situation is clearly difficult with increasing frequency and intensity of conflict, and those involved in the drug economy have been left largely unchecked.”
Its synthetic drug economy has also been surging for the same reasons, with reported regional seizures of methamphetamine and other drugs reaching record levels. In a single bust in September in Laos, for example, authorities seized 33 million methamphetamine tablets along with 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of crystal methamphetamine.