Myanmar's financial blacklisting is worth the risks it brings

NIKKEI ASIA

Zachary Abuza
November 10, 2022

Disruption of fund flows will hit aid groups and opposition, alongside regime

The Myanmar kyat has lost 60% of its value, © AP

Zachary Abuza is a professor at the National War College in Washington. The views expressed here are his own and may not reflect those of the college or the U.S. government.

Last month, Myanmar took its place alongside North Korea and Iran on the blacklist of the Financial Action Task Force, a Paris-based international organization that combats money laundering, over its failure to regulate its banking system and financial markets.

U.S. and Britain blacklist Myanmar military-controlled companies

Brinkwire

JONATHAN EDWARDS 

MARCH 29, 2021

WASHINGTON, March 25 – The United States and Britain imposed sanctions on conglomerates controlled by Myanmar’s military on Thursday, following the generals’ Feb. 1 coup and deadly crackdown, with Washington calling it a response to “abhorrent violence and abuses.”

The U.S. Treasury department said its sanctions targeted Myanma Economic Holdings Public Company Ltd (MEHL) and Myanmar Economic Corporation Ltd (MEC).

Britain imposed similar sanctions on MEHL, citing the Myanmar military’s serious human rights violations against Rohingya Muslims.

U.S. Treasury Blacklists Largest Firms Run by Myanmar Milit

Bloomberg

Philip Heijmans

25 March 2021,

Protesters stand off against military junta forces in Yangon on March 16. Source: Getty

The U.S. imposed a fresh round of sanctions targeting the Myanmar military by blacklisting the two largest business entities it controls, according to the Treasury Department.

The sanctions announced Thursday against Myanmar Economic Corp. and Myanma Economic Holdings Ltd., which freeze any assets the two companies hold in the U.S., mark the most severe action taken by any country against the military since it overthrew the civilian-elected government in a coup on Feb. 1.

“These sanctions specifically target the economic resources of Burma’s military regime, which is responsible for the overthrow of Burma’s democratically elected government and the ongoing repression of the Burmese people,” the Treasury Department said in a statement.

U.S. and Britain blacklist Myanmar military-controlled companies

REUTERS
Reuters Staff

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States and Britain imposed sanctions on conglomerates controlled by Myanmar’s military on Thursday, following the generals’ Feb. 1 coup and deadly crackdown, with Washington calling it a response to “abhorrent violence and abuses.”

FILE PHOTO: Firecrackers explode as protestors take cover behind a barricade during a demonstration against the military coup in Mandalay, Myanmar March 21, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer

The U.S. Treasury department said its sanctions targeted Myanma Economic Holdings Public Company Ltd (MEHL) and Myanmar Economic Corporation Ltd (MEC).

Britain imposed similar sanctions on MEHL, citing the Myanmar military’s serious human rights violations against Rohingya Muslims.

U.S. blacklists head of Myanmar military for alleged rights abuses against Rohingya

REUTERS

Daphne Psaledakis, Simon Lewis

December 10, 2019

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday blacklisted four Myanmar military leaders, including the commander-in-chief, in the toughest action taken yet by Washington for alleged human rights abuses against the Rohingya and other minorities.  

FILE PHOTO: Myanmar military commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, attends a military exercise at Ayeyarwaddy delta region in Myanmar, February 3, 2018. REUTERS/Lynn Bo Bo/Pool/File Photo

 

The sanctions targeted the commander-in-chief of the Burmese military, Min Aung Hlaing, on the same day that Myanmar’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, attended the first day of hearings in a genocide case against Myanmar at the U.N.’s highest court.

( 13-04-2018 ) Myanmar military put on UN blacklist for sexual violence

By,EDITH M. LEDERER

The Associated Press

António Guterres, right, Secretary-General of the United Nations, speaks during a Security Council meeting, Friday, April 13, 2018, at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A new U.N. report puts Myanmar’s armed forces on a U.N. blacklist of government and rebel groups “credibly suspected” of carrying out rapes and other acts of sexual violence in conflict for the first time.