Amnesty International has urged Japan’s Kirin Holdings to cut its links with Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL), operators of Myanmar’s market-dominant Myanmar Brewery.

In a statement released on 10th September Amnesty International reported how it’s investigations had uncovered how international businesses are linked to the financing of Myanmar’s military, including many units directly responsible for crimes under international law and other human rights violations.

It has discovered from leaked official documents how Myanmar’s military receives huge revenues from shares in MEHL, a secretive conglomerate whose activities include the mining, beer, tobacco, garment manufacturing and banking sectors.

One of MEHL’s international business partnerships is with Japanese beer multinational Kirin Holdings.

MEHL shareholder records show that military units, including combat divisions, own about one-third of MEHL’s shares.

Records also detail links between MEHL and the Western Command, which oversees operations in Rakhine State, including alleged atrocities committed against the Rohingya population and other ethnic minorities.

“These documents provide new evidence of how the Myanmar military benefits from MEHL’s vast business empire and make clear that the military and MEHL are inextricably linked.

This is not a case of MEHL unwittingly financing human rights violations – its entire board is composed of high-level military figures,” said Mark Dummett, Head of Business, Security and Human Rights at Amnesty International.

Pan-Pacific, a South Korean clothing manufacturer, announced that it is terminating its business partnership with MEHL in the wake of Amnesty’s findings and the publication of the UN Fact-Finding Mission report of 2019.

Kirin have stated in July this year that they are reviewing their relationship with MEHL.