Burma Campaign UK on Thursday called on five British insurance companies to stop covering aviation fuel deliveries to Myanmar following last week’s junta airstrike on Sagaing Region that caused an estimated 168 deaths.
The five companies are UK Protection and Indemnity (P and I), Steamship Mutual, Britannia, North Standard and Shipowners Club.
The UK-based rights group said the companies have provided P and I insurance to vessels delivering aviation fuel to Myanmar. It added that their role in the fuel supply chain was exposed in the Amnesty International report, Deadly Cargo.
“Any company involved in the supply chain delivering aviation fuel to Burma is potentially complicit in airstrikes against civilians and should stop immediately,” said Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK. “Without insurance, vessels cannot deliver aviation fuel.”
The UK government in February last year called on businesses with links to Myanmar’s aviation sector to conduct supply-chain diligence checks to ensure that jet fuel and other goods did not reach Myanmar’s military.
The United Nations Human Rights Office in March reported 300 junta air raids between February 2022 and January this year, compared to 125 the preceding year.
The regime airstrikes deliberately target civilians.
The attack on Pazi Gyi village in Kantbalu Township on April 11 was the most deadly since the 2021 coup.
According to the civilian National Unity Government, the victims included 40 children, with six aged under five, 24 aged five to 18 and 10 whose ages were unknown.
