The Sanctions Coordinators for the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and the services in charge of sanctions policy and implementation of the European Commission and the European External Action Service held a meeting on 24 May to continue to assess and align ongoing efforts related to sanctions on Myanmar.
They held talks on the significant scope of actions taken since the military coup in February 2021, ongoing coordination efforts, and the importance of continued information and target sharing to support sanctions packages.
The UK announced further sanctions on 31 January and 27 March 2023, targeting suppliers to the Myanmar regime of military equipment and other material being used to attack its civilians.
At the meeting, the partners also identified the continued need for sustained direct cooperation in order to restrict the regime’s ability to carry out atrocities against the people of Myanmar and pressure the regime to change course to restore the country’s path toward genuine and inclusive democracy.
On 24 March this year, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions against two individuals and six entities that are connected to Myanmar’s military and that have enabled the military regime’s continuing atrocities, including through the importation, storage, and distribution of jet fuel to Burma’s military.
Tun Min Latt and his spouse Win Min Soe, as well as three entities owned or controlled by Tun Min Latt were designated in the sanction list.
The European Union also imposed the sixth round of sanctions against nine individuals and seven entities in February this year as the Myanmar’s military continued violence, grave human rights violations and threats to the peace, security and stability in Myanmar.
The sanctioned individuals include the energy minister, prominent businessmen who have supported the regime’s repression with arms and dual use goods, and high-ranking military officers.
This also includes politicians and administrators from the Yangon Region who are involved in the process of death sentences and execution of four democracy activists in July 2022, and in Kachin State, where they oversaw air strikes, massacres, raids, arson and the use of human shields committed by the military.
The listed entities included departments of the Ministry of Defence and a state-owned enterprise under its jurisdiction, as well as private companies supplying fuel, arms and funds to the military.
Moreover, the EU kept its restrictive measure against the embargo on arms and equipment and export restrictions on equipment for monitoring communications used for a wide range of repression in the country, and the export ban on dual-use goods for use by the military and border guard police.
The EU also extended its prohibition of military training and cooperation with the Tatmadaw.
Australia’s sanctions in February 2023 targeted the financial sector and travel bans on individuals responsible for the 2021 military takeover and for human rights abuses in Myanmar, as well as sanctions on two military-owned holding companies.
The sanctions restrict supplying arms or related materials, the provision of certain services, providing assets to designated persons or entities, dealing with the assets of designated persons or entities, and travel bans on designated persons.
Aung Myo Min, the Minister for Human Rights of the National Unity Government (NUG) recently said that their government has planned to work with foreign governments to introduce and expand sanctions against relatives of Myanmar’s senior military officials.
