Business and human rights in post-coup Myanmar

In post-coup Myanmar, international businesses have been obliged to move away from a ‘business as usual’ approach and pressured to show they are acting responsibly in the context of widespread human and labour rights violations.

Continuing to operate in post-coup Myanmar also increases the risk that international businesses will be accused of complicity in human rights abuses due to revenue flows to the military regime government or because of business interactions with military-controlled businesses. Businesses have been advised to conduct heightened human rights due diligence (HRDD) or to consider a ‘responsible exit’ to lessen the potential for adverse human rights impacts. 

In this presentation Dr Thein will explain the impact of the coup on rights and business governance in various sectors of the Myanmar economy and also consider the impact of diasporic and international civil society organizations on business decision making and international sanctions policies.

Image credit: Aboodi Vesakaran via Unsplash

About the speaker

Dr Htwe Htwe Thein is an associate professor of international business at the Faculty of Business and Law, Curtin University, Western Australia. She is well-known as a scholar on foreign direct investment, development, and business and human rights in Myanmar and has commented on these topics to various media organisations, including BBC World, ABC TV(Australia), Channel News Asia, TRT World, AFP, the Conversation and Le Monde. 

She has been published widely in books and journals in her field and has received various awards for research and engagement at Curtin University.

Contact

• Organiser: SOAS Centre of South East Asian Studies
• Email: centres@soas.ac.uk