Irrawaddy-June 27
Thai banks are helping the junta keep the helicopters and fighter jets it uses to kill and maim civilians in the air and well-armed after their competitors in Singapore began recoiling from doing business with the regime’s military last year, a report from the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar says.
“Thailand has now become the [junta’s] leading source of military supplies purchased through the international banking system,” explains the report “Banking on the Death Trade: How Banks and Governments Enable the Military Junta in Myanmar.” The transfer of weapons and related materials from companies registered in Thailand to the junta using the formal banking system doubled from just over US$60 million in fiscal year 2022 to more than $120 million in the next fiscal year, which ended in March 2024, according to the report from special rapporteur Tom Andrews. It follows a report released by Andrews in May of last year – “The Billion Dollar Death Trade: The International Arms Networks that Enable Human Rights Violations in Myanmar” – that found that Singapore-based companies had become the junta’s third-largest source of weapons and related materials. The Singaporean government responded with an investigation and the flow of weapons and related materials to Myanmar from Singapore-registered companies dropped by nearly 90 percent. As Singapore became a less welcoming jurisdiction for the junta to seek weapons, it turned to Thailand. Exports of weapons and related materials to Myanmar from Thailand-registered entities more than doubled, from about $60 million in FY2022 to almost $130 million in the year ending March 2024, “Banking on the Death Trade” says. “Many [junta] purchases previously made from Singapore-based entities, including parts for Mi-17 and Mi-35 helicopters used to conduct airstrikes on civilian targets, are now being sourced from Thailand,” it explains. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/myanmars-crisis-the-world/thai-banks-linked-to-atrocities-in-myanmar-un-report-finds.html
