Three Rohingya advocacy organizations and a UK-based human rights group are calling on the European Union to not only impose fresh sanctions against military-connected businesses in Myanmar but potentially strip the nation of its preferential trade status altogether.
In a joint statement released yesterday, the Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO), the Burma Human Rights Network, the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) and the Rohingya Women Welfare Network (RWSS) urged the EU to adopt a two-pronged approach that would potentially include rescinding the preferential tariffs enjoyed under the Everything But Arms (EBA) agreement unless Myanmar can promise the “safe, guaranteed return of Rohingya who were forced to flee their land.”
“The continuation of preferential treatment to a country standing accused of genocide would only further embolden the Government of Myanmar’s refusal to compromise, respect international law, or change its destructive approach,” the statement reads.
A potential withdrawal of trade preferences was first publicly mooted in October after a delegation from the EU Trade Commission visited Myanmar to investigate conditions in Rakhine state. At the time, the idea encountered significant opposition from government officials, union leaders, businesspeople, lawmakers and academic scholars.
In November, the EU Delegation to Myanmar reasserted the requirements involved in the EBA agreement, and stated that, if violated, the EBA privileges could be temporarily withdrawn.
That is the road a fellow ASEAN country, Cambodia, is currently on. Reuters reported last month that the EU had begun an 18-month process that would strip the country of it’s EBA privileges in the wake of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s decision to dissolve the country’s opposition and run what was, for all practical purposes, an unopposed election.
Whether or not Myanmar could end up on a similar path at some point is up to the Myanmar government, EU officials have previously suggested.
“After the findings of the UN reports on human rights violations in Rakhine, Kachin and Shan States, the EU is currently engaging in a dialogue with all relevant stakeholders. It is up to the Myanmar government to show their genuine efforts in holding those responsible to account and offering sustainable solutions for the affected communities,” a spokesperson of the EU Delegation to Myanmar told Coconuts Yangon back in January.
