WASHINGTON: The UN human rights expert for Myanmar has called on the US to further tighten sanctions on the military government of Myanmar and also include their major revenue source, the oil and gas enterprise, Western media reported.
UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews said it was essential for the US to at least maintain the level of humanitarian help for victims of the military rulers outside and inside of Myanmar.
UN Expert Asks US to Tighten Sanctions against Myanmar
The UN expert told a hearing of the US Congress’s Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission that he was “alarmed” by media reports that some donors, including the United States, might reduce help for Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar and said a Joint Response Plan that includes food for Rohingya children in Bangladesh was just 32 percent funded so far the current year.
Andrews lauded the US for imposing sanctions on the Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank in June but said more efforts should be made.
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Andrews said, “If you can halt the money, you can cut their capacity to continue these killings,” he said, referring to deaths of civilians at the hands of the army. Andrews also asked the US to work with other nations to block the junta’s access to arms.
Earlier in August, the US expanded its sanctions against Myanmar to include foreign firms or personalities helping the military rulers to procure jet fuel it uses to conduct air strikes while estimating that the army had killed over 3,900 civilians since taking power in a 2021 military coup.
