Financing Myanmar military to help genocidal machine
A REPORT in The New Nation on Tuesday said two British Banks under pressure for huge loans to a firm link to Myanmar military. Human rights groups are demanding the two banks to explain why they have lent tens of millions of dollars to a technology firm building telecoms network in Myanmar that is partly owned and used by the country’s murderous military.
The banks – HSBC and Standard Chartered – have loaned $60m to Vietnamese telecom giant Viettel in the last four years – a period when the Myanmar military has carried out ethnic cleansing of Rohingya population committing war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. Mytel is a Myanmar military’s venture using the cover of Viettel for external financing since its debut in 2018 and has rapidly become the second-biggest operator in the country with more than 10 million users.
The international campaign group ‘Justice for Myanmar’ (JFM) reveals that Mytel is a major revenue generator of the Myanmar military now upgrading its communication infrastructure including setting new network of fibre-optic cables. A leading Myanmar army general is overseeing the expansion work that include construction of at least 38 Mytel network towers for Myanmar military bases to strengthen its outreach over the Rakhine State and other civil strife infected regions where the military is fighting ethnic communities to create an all Buddhist Myanmar State. Over a million Rohingyas have fled Myanmar since 2017 and have taken shelter In Bangladesh. The country is refusing to take back the refugees back defying international pressure.
The report initially published in London-based ‘Guardian’ in which JFM has rightly raised question over such business financing by two British banks apparently in direct breach of UN human-rights principles, guidelines of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to refrain from financing Myanmar military’s project and such other EU’s restrictions. Questions have arisen whether or not these banks are aiding or abetting Myanmar military’s crimes and whether liable for prosecution under international law. Both banks are operating in Bangladesh, which is a victim of Myanmar’s war crimes and it looks abhorrent for the host country.
Myanmar military’s war crimes are no secret and likely to face war crime trial soon. Helping Myanmar military genocidal machine should be a crime against human rights. Those banks should be punished for helping killing machine of innocent people.
The banks – HSBC and Standard Chartered – have loaned $60m to Vietnamese telecom giant Viettel in the last four years – a period when the Myanmar military has carried out ethnic cleansing of Rohingya population committing war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. Mytel is a Myanmar military’s venture using the cover of Viettel for external financing since its debut in 2018 and has rapidly become the second-biggest operator in the country with more than 10 million users.
The international campaign group ‘Justice for Myanmar’ (JFM) reveals that Mytel is a major revenue generator of the Myanmar military now upgrading its communication infrastructure including setting new network of fibre-optic cables. A leading Myanmar army general is overseeing the expansion work that include construction of at least 38 Mytel network towers for Myanmar military bases to strengthen its outreach over the Rakhine State and other civil strife infected regions where the military is fighting ethnic communities to create an all Buddhist Myanmar State. Over a million Rohingyas have fled Myanmar since 2017 and have taken shelter In Bangladesh. The country is refusing to take back the refugees back defying international pressure.
The report initially published in London-based ‘Guardian’ in which JFM has rightly raised question over such business financing by two British banks apparently in direct breach of UN human-rights principles, guidelines of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to refrain from financing Myanmar military’s project and such other EU’s restrictions. Questions have arisen whether or not these banks are aiding or abetting Myanmar military’s crimes and whether liable for prosecution under international law. Both banks are operating in Bangladesh, which is a victim of Myanmar’s war crimes and it looks abhorrent for the host country.
Myanmar military’s war crimes are no secret and likely to face war crime trial soon. Helping Myanmar military genocidal machine should be a crime against human rights. Those banks should be punished for helping killing machine of innocent people.
