Australia continuing to avoid direct sanctions on Myanmar military

Click here to view and download the Atrocities in Myanmar: use of sanctions by other countries compared to Australia Factsheet. Last updated February 2022.


A factsheet on sanctions against Myanmarese generals shows the extent to which Australia is lagging behind.

It has been more than a year since the Myanmarese military, the Tatmadaw, seized power in a military coup, and since then the country has suffered compounded crises – collapsed infrastructure, human rights abuses and COVID-19, which have led to worsening poverty, displacement and terror.

Australia could, and should, deploy targeted sanctions against the military generals, many of whom control conglomerates such as Myanmar Economic Corporation, Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd and Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise.

However to date Australia has failed to do so, even as its counterparts in Europe and the Americas extend their sanctions.

The imposition of financial limitations would erode the Tatmadaw’s economic viability by severing the flow of money used to fund their activities. In turn, this could contribute towards bringing to an end the human rights abuses being waged against civilian and minority populations in the country.

ACFID last year collated the sanctions imposed by the EU, UK, US, Canada and Australia in a chart, and has now updated it. The chart, here, shows at a glance just how inactive Australia has been in staunching the flow of money to military leaders.

Read our previous release from June 2021 here.

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