"Japan Railway Projects Risks Aiding and Abetting Myanmar Juntra Atrocities", 30 May 2023

Japan financed railway projects in Myanmar are proceeding with the illegal junta, an investigation of company and project disclosures and leaked documents has revealed.

The projects have continued despite the military’s illegal control over Myanma Railways and use of trains to move troops, arms and other supplies, showing serious human rights due diligence failures by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the corporations involved.

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[...] Public and leaked documents, including tax filings released by Distributed Denial of Secrets, reveal:

• Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) and Mitsubishi Corporation are supplying new trains for the Yangon-Mandalay line and Yangon circular line under a deal signed in December 2020.
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• Daiwa House subsidiary Fujita Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation and Nippon Signal Co. Ltd. are doing track and station upgrades, bridgework and work on signals and communications on the line between Yangon and Bago under a contract signed in 2019.
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• Leaked tax records show Fujita received revenues of 29.7 billion kyat from Myanma Railways for work on the Yangon to Bago section of the project in 2022, equivalent to over US$15 million.
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• Tekken Corporation and Rinkai Nissan Construction are working on the Bago to Nyaunglebin section of the track under a deal awarded in 2018.
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• Tokyu Construction is working on the Nyaunglebin to Taungoo section, with Toenec Corporation doing signalling and communications upgrades.
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• Crony companies working on the project include A1 Group, Max Myanmar and Shwe Taung Group.

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The manufacture and supply of new trains is being carried out through a partnership between Mitsubishi Corporation and the Spanish corporation, CAF, under a deal worth over €500 million signed weeks before the coup attempt. [...].  

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CAF refused to provide Justice For Myanmar with information on its human rights due diligence, the status of the supply of trains, its plans to establish operations in Myanmar, and the military’s use of trains, responding,

as a quoted Company and also considering the nature of the data, we unfortunately cannot share any of the information requested on such specific detail… Following the application of the internal procedures established regarding Due Diligence, no Human Rights or international sanctions violations arising from the CAF Group’s involvement in Myanmar (or any other project) have been detected.

Mitsubishi also refused to provide information about the project and its human rights due diligence in Myanmar, citing business confidentiality. Mitsubishi responded, "MC [Mitsubishi Corporation] believes that it is important to identify and analyze the negative impacts of our business on human rights and the environment, to ensure that such impacts are avoided/mitigated, and to fulfill our responsibilities. MC is conducting human rights and environmental due diligence with this in mind."

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In 2019, Daiwa House Group subsidiary Fujita Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation and Nippon Signals were jointly awarded a contract from Myanma Railways for repair and maintenance work on the track between Yangon and Bago, and for the upgrading of signalling systems.

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Fujita Corporation is a longstanding partner of the Myanmar military as an investor in the Y Complex development [...].

[...] Fujita has subcontracted work to I&H Engineering, a Myanmar joint venture between Japan’s IHI Corporation and the junta-controlled Ministry of Construction, thereby providing revenue back to the junta.  

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The upgrading of the Bago to Nyaunglebin section was awarded to a consortium of the Japanese corporations Tekken and Rinkai Nissan Construction, who partnered with the crony company Max Myanmar in 2018. Tax filings show Tekken and Rinkai Nissan have continued work on the project with the junta following the military’s coup attempt.  

Tekken and Rinkai Nissan’s partnership with Max Myanmar demonstrates further human rights due diligence failings. [...]

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The Nyaunglebin to Taungoo section was awarded to Tokyu Construction in 2018 and the company has continued work following the coup attempt, leaked tax filings show. Tokyu has a joint venture with the crony company Shwe Taung, which was also identified by the UN Fact-Finding Mission for making donations to the Myanmar military in support of its campaign of genocide in 2017.

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