Australian craft beer brewer faces criticism over partnership with Myanmar military
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Version 0 of 1. Brewer’s parent company, Kirin, provides foreign currency to military accused of genocide Australian craft beer brewer Lion Little World has faced international criticism over a business partnership with the Myanmar military, which is accused of genocide in its persecution of the Rohingya ethnic and religious minority. Australia-based Lion Little World Beverages is a wholly owned subsidiary of Japanese beverage giant Kirin, which owns a little over half of both Myanmar Brewery and Mandalay Brewery in partnership with Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (MEHL), a conglomerate of the Myanmar military. The business partnership with Kirin provides not only much-needed foreign currency for the isolated Myanmar military – which is subjected to global arms embargoes – but also, crucially, is a source of international legitimacy. Kirin was named in a United Nations Fact-Finding Mission report as having donated money to the Myanmar military – known as the Tatmadaw. The donations came as the military sought to raise money it then used in so-called “clearance operations” against the Rohingya, which included mass murder, including of children, gang rape, torching of villages in a scorched earth policy, and widespread systemic torture. Kirin has acknowledged making three donations but says much of the money was given to civilians for humanitarian purposes. In addition to the direct donations, totalling about US$12,000 ($17,000), the report warned that MEHL’s revenue was funnelled to the military, further enabling the armed forces’ crackdown against the country’s minority Rohingya. The UN report said “any engagement in any form” with the Myanmar military was “indefensible”. A Kirin spokeswoman said it took the allegations of human rights abuses “very seriously”. “At Kirin, respect for human rights is fundamental to all of our business activities,” she said. “Consistent with Kirin’s ongoing monitoring of the situation, we will now conduct a further examination of our operations and relationships in Myanmar.” Wholly owned by the Kirin beverages empire, the Australia-based Lion Little World Beverages is the global craft beer division of Australasian brewer Lion, which brews beers such as XXXX, Tooheys, James Boag, James Squire and Little Creatures. This month, the employee shareholders of New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado, approved its acquisition by Lion Little World. In a letter announcing the deal, the New Belgium chief executive, Kim Jordan, said the company had a “crazy enthusiasm for being a business role model”. “We’re dedicated to being a force for good as a business.” But others in the Fort Collins community, and around the world, have condemned the deal. “The sale of New Belgium to the conglomerate of Lion Little World Beverages and Kirin is shameful,” the Fort Collins Community Action Network wrote in an open letter. “You must certainly know that Kirin has been internationally condemned for its human rights abuses and connection to ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. How dare you connect the Fort Collins community with such a deplorable corporation. “The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights described the attack on the Rohingya as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. Because of the donations that Kirin made to the Myanmar military at that time, Amnesty International called on the Japanese government to investigate Kirin for criminal misconduct.” A joint statement from groups representing the Karen, another ethnic minority in Myanmar which has faced systemic military persecution, said “the Burmese state and its key actors have committed genocide against the Rohingya and crimes against humanity against other ethnic minorities”. “These crimes are enabled by the Burmese military’s business interests, including their US$960m partnership with Kirin. As a subsidiary of Kirin, New Belgium would become part of a key financial network empowering the Burmese army to continue committing genocide and crimes against humanity,” the statement from the Karen Organisation of America, the Karen Community of North Carolina (where New Belgium also has operations), and Inclusive Development International, said. The pressure on companies allied with the Myanmar military comes as Myanmar’s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi – whose father, the independence hero General Aung San, is regarded as the founder of the country’s military – appeared at the international court of justice in The Hague to respond to charges of genocide over the military’s campaign that drove 700,000 members of ethnic and religious minority Rohingya community to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh. Suu Kyi acknowledged in court there may have been some war crimes or crimes against humanity but insisted they did not rise to the level of genocide. She also maintained Myanmar’s official line that the crackdown on the Rohingya was a legitimate military operation, not aimed at civilians but at armed Muslim militants in Rakhine state. The UN fact-finding mission urged the international community to cut off all financial support to Myanmar’s military, saying its commanders need to be isolated and brought before a credible court to answer charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. “The actions of the Tatmadaw (Burmese military) in Kachin, Rakhine and Shan states, in particular in the context of the ‘clearance operations’ in northern Rakhine state in 2016 and 2017, have so seriously violated international law that any engagement in any form with the Tatmadaw, its current leadership, and its businesses, is indefensible,” it said. In the wake of the UN report, Kirin announced it was re-evaluating its partnership with the Myanmar military, through its international advisory board, whose members include Australians Sir Rod Eddington and Paula Dwyer. That re-evaluation will begin next month. Eddington and Dwyer could not be reached for comment. In a statement to Nikkei, Kirin said that “respect for human rights is fundamental to all of its business activities” and that it was taking steps to protect human rights in its operations. “In Myanmar, we will continue to actively work with MEHL, our joint-venture partner, to improve transparency and governance, reduce negative risks including human rights, and have a positive impact on Myanmar’s society and economy.” |