Australia, India, Japan and South Korea are still working with the Myanmar junta and failing to impose sanctions one year after the February 1 military coup.
Only a handful of top officials from the Military Council ministry and some of the top members of the business community have been sanctioned. Popular cronies who are publicly supplying weapons and businesses under military control are not accounted for in what sanctions are in place.
The military holds almost 70% of the national budget annually, accounting for 50% of foreign exchange earnings, such as oil and gas and also 15% of the country's military spending rate.
Justice for Myanmar warns that sanctions against the junta are insufficient a year after the coup and that more effective sanctions are urgently needed.
Some sanctions are in place but sanctions against individuals and organizations, including the supply of weapons and civilian-military material remain largely in place.
Rights groups say that sanctions need to be implemented more effectively in military-controlled trade flows such as Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) and the military-backed Mytel telecommunications company.
America’s Chevron and France's Total energy company, which paid billions of dollars to the military council, announced they were pulling out on January 21 due to the intensifying pressure. Moreover, there is an urgent need to stop the flow of funds to the military council from oil and gas partners such as POSCO International, PTTEP, Petronas, ONGC, GAIL, KOGAS, ENEOS and Mitsubishi, according to the groups.
The United States, UK, Canada and the European Union have imposed sanctions on top military council leaders and some of their partners and they also have the responsibility to push allied countries that have yet to impose sanctions.
Australia approved the Magnitsky-style sanctions law in 2021. Justice for Myanmar group points out that although the law was approved on December 2, no sanctions have been imposed so far.
Although New Zealand has also officially suspended top-level meetings with the Myanmar Military Council, it has failed to impose targeted sanctions on the five top Military Council leaders to restrict entry and exit of the country.
"It is time for the international community to seriously cut off the flow of revenue and weapons to the Myanmar military council and to implement sanctions," Ma Yadanar Maung from Justice for Myanmar said.
