Staff Writer
Following claims of torture against garment workers following the military takeover in 2021, Swedish apparel major H&M said on Friday that it will start shutting down its business in Myanmar.
In an email to AFP, H&M stated, “After careful thought we have now taken the decision to gradually phase out our business in Myanmar.
Since the leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s government was overthrown in a coup in February 2021, the Southeast Asian nation has been torn apart by terrible bloodshed, which has triggered fighting in large portions of the country.
The company stated, “We have been closely following the most recent changes in Myanmar and we see additional hurdles to conduct our activities in accordance with our standards and criteria.
In a report released this week, the rights organization Business & Human Rights Resource Centre stated that from February 2022 to February 2023, there were 156 publicly recorded cases of alleged labor and human rights abuse, compared to 56 during the preceding 12 months.
In other words, the situation for garment workers is rapidly worse, according to the research.
Twenty of the 212 incidents that the NGO has tracked since February 2021 have been connected to H&M suppliers.
H&M claims that while there are 39 factories in the nation owned by 26 suppliers, the company does not have any textile manufacturing facilities of its own.
In the wake of the military takeover, a large number of foreign corporations have departed the nation.
