Irrawaddy-Aug 24
More than 200 rights and civil society organizations including Justice for Myanmar (JFM) have jointly called on Singapore’s government to take concrete action to block the Myanmar junta’s access to arms, dual-use goods, technology and funds, according to JFM on Tuesday. UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews said in his report “Death Trade”, released in mid-May, that at least 138 Singapore-based firms have served as intermediaries in shipping US$ 254 million worth of arms and related goods to the military junta between February 2021 and December 2023. Also, Singapore banks have been used extensively by arms dealers operating within and outside the city-state. In their open letter to Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, the civil society groups asked the Singapore government to expedite and publicize investigations into firms involved in and enabling the transfer of arms and dual-use goods, as well as technology transferred, transited, shipped and brokered through Singapore to the Myanmar military. Their letter pointed out that while Singapore continues to call for the immediate cessation of violence under ASEAN’s peace plan, the involvement of Singapore-based businesses and financial systems in transferring weapons and dual-use goods to the military regime directly undermines ASEAN’s credibility. In the face of daily resistance attacks, the military regime has continued to commit atrocities across the country. Read more at:
