The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar is calling for a global three cuts strategy against the Myanmar military junta: cut the weapons, cut the cash and cut the impunity.

The Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, has been at war continuously for 70 years but it has never fought against a foreign enemy. Its endless wars have been waged against the people of Myanmar. For decades, it has used an arsenal of military-grade weapons to suppress, terrorise and commit atrocities against the Myanmar population. Throughout protracted civil wars with Myanmar’s many Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs), the Tatmadaw has developed a brutal method of counterinsurgency that targets the civilian population to deprive enemy combatants of recruits, resources, shelter and information (the Tatmadaw’s ‘Four Cuts Strategy’). Typical Tatmadaw operations in ethnic areas involve indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian property, by battalions armed with a range of light and heavy weaponry including assault rifles, machine guns, rocket propelled grenades and artillery, at times including bombing from aircraft, resulting in substantial loss of life, mass displacement, and destruction of entire villages. The Tatmadaw also uses such weapons to suppress democratic movements. Thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators were killed by soldiers during the August 1988 uprising and more than 1,100 protesters and bystanders across the country have been killed so far in ongoing repression of the democracy movement since the military coup began on 1 February 2021.

In the past ten years, under the leadership of Min Aung Hlaing, the Tatmadaw has spent billions of US dollars upgrading its arms and acquiring weapons systems including battle tanks, armoured personnel carriers, surface to air missiles, attack helicopters, jet fighters, air to air missiles, rocket systems, navy boats, surveillance technology and drones. Since 2011 advanced weapons have been deployed and used against civilians in Kachin, Shan, Rakhine, Chin and Karen states. Since the February 2021 coup, the junta’s forces have launched airstrikes in Karen and Kachin states and massacred groups of civilians trying to defend their homes in Chin, Karenni, Mon, Karen and Kachin states, as well as in cities, towns and villages in central Myanmar including Bago, Sagaing, Magway and Yangon regions. The Tatmadaw’s tactics, used for decades against Myanmar’s ethnic nationalities, are now being used against the entire population. The people of Myanmar are facing the brutal assault of a fully equipped, armed and trained military. In 2018 and again in 2019, the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar called for the UN Security Council to impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Myanmar with a mechanism for monitoring and enforcing implementation. That call remains urgent.

More than 40 states have imposed arms embargos on Myanmar. Some arms embargos have been in place since the 1990s, while many more have been imposed since the February 2021 coup (see list below). Reflecting global momentum for greater restrictions to be applied on weapons supplies to Myanmar, in June 2021 the UN General Assembly passed a resolution (A/RES/75/287) calling on all Member States to “prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar”. In consideration of the challenges posed by the complex current global political environment, the wording in this resolution indicates that UN Member States largely (119 votes in favour to one against) support an arm embargo as a tool to counter the Tatmadaw’s continued disregard for principles of international humanitarian law and human rights law, and for the lives of the people of Myanmar.

The General Assembly resolution is a significant political expression of international condemnation of the coup. However, the resolution is not legally binding. Despite repeated calls by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, previous and current United Nations Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, and over one hundred international and Myanmar non-governmental organisations, a formal global arms embargo has not been achieved yet, and multiple states continue to trade arms with the Tatmadaw. These are also listed below. SAC-M continues to call on the United Nations Security Council to lead a ‘global three cuts strategy’ by imposing a comprehensive arms embargo on Myanmar with a mechanism to monitor and enforce it.

In this record of actions, SAC-M intends to provide a list of the existing measures that states have been taken to prevent the sale of arms and dual-use equipment and technology to the Tatmadaw. The record also provides a list of states that continue to arm the Tatmadaw with a view to advocate for an immediate termination of all agreements and engagements providing the Tatmadaw with military or dual-use equipment. The record will be updated periodically.

SAC-M’s intention is to report publicly in the most accurate manner the number and extent of measures already taken and the type and source of ongoing arms engagements. Sources on the latter issue in particular are scarce, however, with states and private companies failing to indicate transparently the extent of ongoing arms deals. Therefore, this record may not fully reflect the extent of the arms trade. If any action has been left out or is not reflected in a comprehensive and fully accurate manner, SAC-M invites and welcomes dialogue and information sharing by interested parties.

RECORD OF ACTIONS TAKEN BY STATES SINCE FEBRUARY 2021

RECORD OF STATES AND COMPANIES STILL PROVIDING MILITARY EQUIPMENT TO TATMADAW AFTER FEBRUARY 2021

This record is based on the findings of the investigations carried out by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar as well as open source information, including analysis of weapons displayed during military parades or in combat settings. However, the exact extent of collaboration between the junta in Myanmar and other states, in terms of type, quantity, and costs of military equipment, remain unknown. Despite reports indicating that the Tatmadaw has the capacity to manufacture light arms and ammunition locally, the junta still has to rely on external actors, states or private companies, to obtain military equipment, such as manned or unmanned aircrafts, heavy weapons, and materials for the overall defense industry, and to maintain its comparative advantage in the field compared to EAOs and other entities.

Therefore, the SAC-M three cuts approach, and specifically cutting the weapons, remains of critical importance to prevent consolidation of the coup and the commission of further egregious violations of international law by the Tatmadaw.