On February 1, 2021, the Myanmar military carried out a coup d’etat against the country’s democratically elected government. The military’s increasingly repressive crackdown against pro-democracy protesters has led to more than 5,000 deaths, including summary executions, and tens of thousands more detained, tortured, and injured. The coup followed the military’s ethnic cleansing campaign against the minority Rohingya community, which began in 2017. That campaign led to over 700,000 Rohingyas fleeing to Bangladesh, their ongoing persecution in Rakhine State, and charges of genocide and crimes against humanity being brought against Myanmar and military officials.

In response to the military coup, Heartland, Storebrand Asset Management, the Investor Alliance for Human Rights, and Domini Impact Investments organized an investor statement on human rights and business activities in Myanmar. Investors and their representatives with more than $4 trillion in combined assets under management or advisement called on companies with operations and relationships in Myanmar to uphold their corporate responsibility to respect human rights by undertaking enhanced due diligence to identify and address human rights harms and in so doing, mitigate legal, financial, and reputational risks associated with such violations.