"HRN submits joint letter to UN body about the risk of the Japanese government and companies supporting Myanmar’s abusive military", 17 Feb 2021

HRN, along with four other organizations, has made a joint submission to the UN Working Group on Business and Human rights providing information about the involvement of Japanese public and private businesses in Myanmar which is likely to benefit the Myanmar military. The information supports the Working Group in investigating and recommending that the Japanese government and involved companies cease and prevent any risk of supporting Myanmar’s abusive military until it ends its political control over Myanmar and is brought under civilian control...

We, the undersigned civil society groups, respectfully request that the UN Working Group on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises undertake an inquiry into the business operations of Japanese business entities involved in Y Complex, a high-end commercial development project situated in Yangon, Myanmar.

Specifically, we urge you to investigate whether Japanese business ties are financing and creating immoveable assets for Myanmar’s military, which has long been implicated in crimes against humanity in Rakhine State and other grave international crimes in ethnic areas throughout Myanmar. The military on February 1, 2021, deposed the duly elected government led by the National League for Democracy (NLD), which won the November 2020 elections by a large margin. The military detained and charged President Win Myint, State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, and other NLD party officials and civil society activists...