Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, has announced further sanctions on Myanmar, targeting the military-linked conglomerate Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) following the military coup on the 1 February.

In addition to this Raab announced a further half a million pounds of funding to “collect, investigate and preserve evidence of serious human rights violations” as part of an Independent Investigative Mechanism (IIM). Evidence gathered may be used in criminal proceedings.

Responding to the ongoing suppression of dissent by Myanmar’s military, Raab stated:

“Two months on from the start of the coup, the Myanmar military has sunk to a new low with the wanton killing of innocent people, including children”.

At least 535 people have been killed by Myanmar’s security forces during peaceful demonstrations.

The government’s press statement highlights that asset freezes imposed by these sanctions would prevent anyone from dealing with funds or economic resources which are owned or controlled by the sanctioned individual or organisation. It also prevents others from providing funds or economic resources, directly or indirectly, to or for the benefit of the sanctioned individual or entity – in this case MEC.

This follows statement follows reports from Justice for Myanmar which found that British banks had lent more than $60 million to a company part-owned and used by the Myanmar military, as it carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims.

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