Skip to main content
Home

Main menu

  • Home
  • Who we are
    • Who we are
      • ETI's origins
    • Our members
    • Governance
    • Our team
      • ETI Board members
  • What we do
    • What we do
    • Membership
    • ETI initiatives
    • Events
    • Training
      • All courses
      • Human rights essentials
      • E-learning module: Access to remedy principles
      • Bespoke training
  • Join ETI
  • ETI Base Code
    • ETI Base Code
    • 1. Employment is freely chosen
    • 2. Freedom of association
    • 3. Working conditions are safe and hygienic
    • 4. Child labour shall not be used
    • 5. Living wages are paid
    • 6. Working hours are not excessive
    • 7. No discrimination is practiced
    • 8. Regular employment is provided
    • 9. No harsh or inhumane treatment is allowed
  • Insights
    • Insights
    • Blog
      • Blog series: Protecting workers in high-risk areas
      • Blog series: Advancing living wages
      • Blog series: Gender equity across supply chains
    • Resources
      • Case studies
    • Issues
      • Human rights due diligence
      • Gender equity
        • Violence and harrassment
        • Gender data initiative
        • Gender equality - international standards
        • Gender equality - resources
      • Supply chain transparency
      • Grievance mechanisms & remedy
      • Union rights at work
      • Migrant workers
      • Child labour
      • A living wage for workers
        • Living wage initiatives
        • Living wage resources
        • Living wage standards
        • Wages and purchasing theories
      • COVID-19
      • Company purchasing practices
      • Modern slavery
        • Modern slavery and transparency standards
        • Modern slavery evaluation framework
        • Modern slavery initiatives
        • Modern slavery resources

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. insights
  3. blog

Assessing the human rights impact of doing business in Myanmar

  • Cara Casey-Boyce
  • 10 August 2022
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons/ MgHla (aka) Htin Linn Aye.

In 2021, ETI regularly convened its members around the deteriorating situation in Myanmar, under military rule. While the presence of responsible business in unstable contexts can offer crucial support, through the provision of decent work, ETI joined others in questioning whether continued presence had the potential to do more harm than good. In the coming weeks, the results of an independent human rights impact assessment will assist ETI and its members in answering this question.

Since the coup d’état in February 2021, protests have taken place across the country, each met with violent crackdowns and widespread human rights abuse. The most recent of examples of this, were last month’s executions which provoked condemnation from across the world, and country-wide horror. Almost a year and a half after the coup, civil unrest continues, with anti-junta protestors defiant in the face of state killings.

Outside of Myanmar, ETI alongside many of its members and allies, have deliberated the best course of action. To continue existing sourcing relationships with the country, or not? The notion of withdrawal may remove the risk of business presence underpinning military rule, but such a decision also poses huge risks to approximately 480,000 people employed in the country’s garment sector, many of whom are women.

ETI was able to commission an independent assessment for the garment sector, on business and human rights, in the current context of Myanmar. 

The assessment aimed to answer three key questions:

  • To what extent can companies in the sector monitor, prevent, mitigate and provide access to remedy (where appropriate) on severe human rights impacts that the sector may be involved with in Myanmar in the current and developing context? ​
     
  • What are the requirements of the UNGPS and OECD guidelines for companies when considering whether to continue sourcing or withdraw from Myanmar in the current context?​
     
  • What would constitute responsible exit?

For the last six months, Due Diligence Design have conducted the necessary research and analysis to answer these pertinent questions. This assessment has gone well beyond existing surveys. The analysis is based on more than 100 key informant interviews with international and local organisations, companies across the value chain including brands and manufacturers, global and national trade unions, international NGOs and experts; and a workers survey based on a sample of more than 3,000 workers. The assessment aligns with the UNGPs and OECD guidelines and includes technical expertise and contributions from research partners: Impactt, Shift and Luther Law Firm and consultation with OHCHR, OECD and ILO.

The results of this assessment will help inform ETI’s next course of action. The advice and recommendations it makes will not only be of value to the members currently sourcing from the country, but others such as trade unions and responsible business at large.

ETI will publish Due Diligence Design's independent assessment in late August 2022.

File(s)

Myanmar enhanced due diligence sectoral assessment

An ETI-commissioned independent assessment on human rights and responsible business conduct within Myanmar.
Read more

Stay up to date

Stay up to date with the latest from ETI via the following channels:
  • Email
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Blog RSS

Related content

  • Human rights due diligence in challenging contexts: Joint ETIs report
  • BESTSELLER: Heightened due diligence in Myanmar
  • BESTSELLER: Heightened due diligence in Myanmar
  • Blog series: Protecting workers in conflict-affected or high-risk areas
  • Cambodia, Myanmar and the EU's 'Everything But Arms' trade deal
  • Cambodia crackdowns, Rohingya crisis: where business meets human rights

Get the latest

Subscribe to our email newsletters and stay up to speed on ethical trade.
Subscribe

ETI elsewhere

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube

Footer

  • ETI Community
  • Accessibility
  • Contact
  • FAQ
  • Jobs at ETI
  • Press resources
  • Security & privacy
Other ETIs: Bangladesh, Denmark, Norway, Sweden
Ethical Trading Initiative | Registered No. 3578127