Northern Ireland: Amnesty concerned companies may be helping to arm Myanmar (Burma)

With fears growing over how the Myanmar (Burmese) military government will react to the growing calls for democracy, Amnesty International has voiced fresh concern that Northern Ireland companies could be helping to arm the Myanmar government.

Last week's groundbreaking Amnesty report into Northern Ireland's arms industry, Northern Ireland: Arming the World, identified at least two Northern Ireland-based companies which may be indirectly helping to equip the Myanmar military with attack aircraft, effectively undermining an EU arms embargo on ther country.

Amnesty International repeated its call for a tightening of UK arms export controls to prevent the export of military equipment via third countries to destinations such as Myanmar, where such equipment might be used to facilitate human rights abuses or other breaches of international law.

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