‘Shell helps Myanmar Rohingya genocide’

This 28 August 2018 United States TV video says about itself:

This Is Where The Rohingya Genocide Happened (HBO)

On Monday, a UN fact-finding mission released a damning report that accused Myanmar security forces of genocide, saying that the military “kill[ed] indiscriminately, gang rap[ed] women, assault[ed] children, and burn[ed] entire villages”.

This is the most serious charge the UN can make against a government.

It’s unclear, however, what the new report means for the estimated one million refugees living in refugee camps in Bangladesh.

These camps became the world’s largest settlement of its kind less than a year ago, when Myanmar’s military launched a brutal crackdown that forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee northern Rakhine state in a matter of weeks.

The UN, Myanmar and Bangladesh had previously agreed that the Rohingya would eventually be returned to their homes. But until their safety is guaranteed and long-term peace is assured, it’s unlikely they will be able to go back.

Myanmar authorities have denied almost all accusations, refusing to cooperate with international investigators and human rights organizations. The UN team behind Monday’s report, as well the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, have all been barred from entering the country at all.

So, not only Facebook corporation helping the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar …

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

UN wants sanctions against Myanmar corporations, including Shell

The United Nations wants the international community to stop doing business with 147 Myanmar corporations associated with the country’s military regime. Sanctions should also be imposed against those companies.

In a research report, the UN mission of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Myanmar writes that 45 Myanmar companies have supported the military regime with at least 10 million dollars. According to the organization, the corporations could know that the money would be used by the military to carry out human rights violations against the Muslim Rohingya minority in the Rakhine region between 2011 and 2018. This involves, among other things, building a border wall and infrastructure projects on the land of Rohingya.

Many of the companies mentioned have foreign business partners, including in the Netherlands. “Companies run the risk of contributing to human rights violations or at least financially supporting the military regime,” the UN said.

Shell is a partner

Although only a few foreign business partners are mentioned by name in the report, the UN states that there are many more partners. One of them is the Dutch oil corporation Shell, according to research by the NOS.

Shell has concluded an agreement with Max Energy Myanmar in July 2017 for the supply of gas stations. The relevant press release (.pdf) states that Shell pumps must be installed throughout the country within three years. U Zaw Zaw, chairman of parent company Max Myanmar, said at the time: “I am proud that we have concluded this agreement with Shell“. It is not known how much money was involved in the deal.

A month after the agreement, in August 2017, the military regime increased the persecution of Rohingya and 700,000 people were driven to neighboring Bangladesh. A new border wall to be built was to prevent them from coming back. In the research report, the UN specifically links two companies to finance the wall; one is Max Myanmar.

1.5 million for border wall

According to the UN, Chairman of the Board U Zaw Zaw transferred money in September and October for the construction of the border wall. In September it amounted to more than 975,000 dollars, in October to 654,000 dollars. In November he went to the border himself, the media reported at the time.

According to the UN, the company knew that their support would be used for “inhuman acts”. For that reason, the organization wants criminal prosecution to be brought against managers for involvement in crimes against humanity.