UN urges countries to cut off financial ties with Myanmar army

A United Nations fact-finding mission urged Tuesday that countries cut off all business with Myanmar's military as part of efforts to hold the army accountable for human rights abuses.

The independent investigators, working under a mandate from the UN Human Rights Council, said in a statement that there has been no progress toward resolving the crisis over Myanmar's mostly Muslim Rohingya minority, more than 1 million of whom have fled military "clearance operations" in the northwest Rakhine region.

"The situation is at a total standstill," said Marzuki Darusman, chairman of the Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar.

Myanmar security forces are accused of killings, gang rape and arson during a crackdown that drove more than 730,000 people to flee western Rakhine state for neighbouring Bangladesh after attacks on police posts by Rohingya insurgents in August 2017.

Myanmar has rejected most of the accusations and dismissed a report last September by the U.N.-appointed panel, which said military officers carried out the campaign against the Rohingya with “genocidal intent” and should stand trial.

The Fact-Finding Mission is to hand its findings to a new group of the Human Right Council, the Independent Investigative Mechanism on Myanmar, in September. That organisation was set up to handle criminal prosecution of violations of international law.

The crisis in Rahkine has soured Myanmar's relations with the United States, which had rolled back economic sanctions over the past decade to support political change in the country as it transitioned toward democracy.

The US Treasury has imposed sanctions on Myanmar security forces and Washington has barred Myanmar military officials involved in the Rakhine operations from US assistance.

Britain has also cut some support. The UN and independent rights advocates want governments to do more to hold the military accountable.

No major Western powers make sales or provide aid directly to Myanmar's military. But the military has holding companies in several major civilian economic sectors, and in some cases, Western countries allow business to be done with companies in which the army holds a stake, contributing to its revenues.

Any effort to stop the flow of money to the country's military is likely to fall short because of Myanmar's close relationship with China, which maintains no sanctions and as its top trade partner accounts for about one-third of all imports and exports, in addition to being a leading investor.