Justice For Myanmar welcomes Canadian, UK and US Armed Forces Day sanctions | Joint Press Release: Civil society groups reiterate call on Japanese investors in Myanmar's Yetagun gas project to responsibly disengage
JUSTICE FOR MYANMAR
Dear all,
Justice For Myanmar welcomes the latest coordinated sanctions as the illegal Myanmar military junta prepares to celebrate Armed Forces Day, a year after they massacred more than 160 people.
Read the press release online here and below.
Friends of the Earth Japan, Mekong Watch and Justice For Myanmar have published a joint press release in response to Japanese investors withdrawing from the Yetagun gas project. Read it online here and below.
Regards,
Justice For Myanmar
Justice For Myanmar welcomes Canadian, UK and US Armed Forces Day sanctions
Justice For Myanmar welcomes the latest coordinated sanctions as the illegal Myanmar military junta prepares to celebrate Armed Forces Day, a year after they massacred more than 160 people.
The sanctions include major Myanmar arms brokers who are directly complicit in and profit from the Myanmar military’s atrocity crimes.
Arms dealers sanctioned in one or more jurisdictions include Aung Hlaing Oo and his company Myanmar Chemical & Machinery; Naing Htut Aung and his company, International Gateways Group; Dr Aung Moe Myint and his company, Dynasty International; and Sit Taing Aung and his company, Yatanarpon Aviation Support.
Sit Taing Aung is Mexico’s Honorary Consul to Myanmar. Justice For Myanmar calls on the Mexican government to immediately remove him from his position.
Miya Win International, a Myanmar arms trader with links to Austria and Germany, was sanctioned by the UK.
The US sanctioned the crony conglomerate Htoo Group, which provides arms and revenue to the terrorist military junta.
The junta’s air force chief, General Htun Aung, was also sanctioned. Htun Aung is responsible for the indiscriminate airstrikes terrorising communities across Myanmar, and must be held accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “These new sanctions are an important step to disrupt the supply of arms and dual use goods that continue to flow to the terrorist Myanmar military junta.
However, more urgently needs to be done to stop the military’s indiscriminate airstrikes, shelling, killings, forced displacement, arbitrarily arrests, torture and rape.
Oil and gas remain the junta’s biggest source of foreign. We call on the US to follow the European Union in imposing targeted sanctions on Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE).
The junta’s indiscriminate airstrikes are enabled by the undisrupted supply of jet fuel. We call for urgent sanctions to stop the sale of jet fuel to Myanmar.
These sanctions yet again highlight the appalling inaction of regional democracies, which have failed to impose targeted sanctions in response to the military’s illegal attempted coup.
We call on Australia, India, Japan and South Korea to stand with the people of Myanmar and impose sanctions to stop the flow of arms and funds to the junta.”
More information:
Read more on Aung Hlaing Oo, Myanmar Chemical & Machinery, Sit Taing Aung and Yatanarpon Aviation Support in our feature here
Read about Dr Aung Moe Myint and Dynasty International here
Read about Naing Htut Aung and International Gateways Group here
Read about Miya Win International here
The Canadian sanctions announcement is here
The UK sanctions announcement is here
The US sanctions announcement is here
Civil society groups reiterate call on Japanese investors in Myanmar's Yetagun gas project to responsibly disengage
On March 25, it was reported in the media that ENEOS Holdings decided to disengage from the Yetagun gas project in Myanmar. The Japanese government (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) is also reportedly planning a withdrawal. This follows media reports in February that Mitsubishi Corporation decided to leave the project. Though much too late, it is a measure of progress that the Japanese investors are moving toward disengaging from this problematic project. However, Mekong Watch, Friends of the Earth (FoE) Japan, and Justice for Myanmar (JFM) remain concerned whether the disengagement will be conducted in a responsible manner.
Mekong Watch, FoE Japan and Justice For Myanmar, again strongly urge the Japanese government, ENEOS (through its subsidiary JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration), and Mitsubishi Corporation to responsibly disengage from the project, after appropriate steps are taken to close the field, which is predicted to be near depletion. That would ensure future revenues do not flow to the Myanmar military, and that continued human rights and environmental impacts are avoided.
Japan's government and corporations have been deeply involved in the Yetagun field which began production in 2000, and have been complicit in the project’s severe human rights impacts. JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration (a wholly-owned subsidiary of ENEOS) and its predecessor acquired rights to three offshore blocks in 1991-92 and developed the Yetagun field. Litigation documents and reports by NGOs have shown that in the late 90s, in order to "secure" the pipeline corridor to transport gas from the fields to Thailand, the Myanmar military was deployed along the pipeline route and subjected local ethnic communities to forced relocation, forced labor, looting, rape, and extrajudicial killings.
The Yetagun project is currently operated by a consortium led by Malaysian state-owned Petronas Carigali, Thailand’s PTTEP, Japan’s Nippon Oil Exploration (Myanmar), with the military-controlled Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE). Nippon Oil Exploration (Myanmar) in turn is jointly held by the Government of Japan through the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (50%), JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration (40%), and Mitsubishi Corporation (10%, acquired in 2013).
Revenues from gas fields developed since 2000 have generated significant income for the Myanmar military. Since the attempted coup d'etat in 2021, we have consistently maintained that doing business with the military-controlled MOGE finances the military. Mekong Watch, FoE Japan and Justice For Myanmar have been requesting the Japanese stakeholders including ENEOS to ensure that revenue from the project will not flow to the military, and to disclose the payments they have made or plan to make in connection with the project. However, none of the Japanese investors have taken specific measures or disclosed any information about payments.
In December, leaked documents published by Justice For Myanmar showed that the illegitimate junta leadership expressed strong interest in payments from the Yetagun project owed to MOGE.
While under control of the illegal military junta, MOGE cannot take appropriate measures towards closing the gas field in an environmentally responsible way, which is likely to be costly. The Japanese investors have profited from this project, and should fulfill their responsibilities in cooperation with other project partners until the gas field is responsibly closed.
We will continue to closely monitor the project until responsible disengagement is complete.
Yuka Kiguchi, Director of Mekong Watch, stated, “The Yetagun project has generated significant revenue for the Myanmar military for most of its production period. ENEOS must take responsibility for having benefited the military through payments to MOGE, but this cannot be done by simply withdrawing from the project. ENEOS must disengage with consideration for human rights and the environment based on the ENEOS Group Human Rights Policy.”
Yadanar Maung, Justice For Myanmar spokesperson, commented, “We cautiously welcome ENEOS’ and the Government of Japan’s decision to withdraw and call on them to exit responsibly, ensuring that the illegal junta does not profit from their divestment. In the process of withdrawal, ENEOS and the Government of Japan must engage with the National Unity Government, which is the legitimate government of Myanmar, and stop treating the illegal junta as a government. The junta is a terrorist organistion that uses gas revenues to commit atrocity crimes with total impunity.”
Contact
Yuka Kiguchi, Mekong Watch: info@mekongwatch.org
Yadanar Maung, Justice For Myanmar: media@justiceformyanmar.org
Justice For Myanmar is a covert group of activists using research, data visualisation and reporting to expose the companies and criminals profiting from brutality, war crimes and mass-scale suffering.
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