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To
Guillaume Faury
CEO of Airbus SE
10 December 2024
Subject: Airbus’ business relationship with Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC)
More than three years after the February 2021 attempted coup in Myanmar, the military junta continues to commit war crimes, crimes against humanity and other gross human rights abuses against the people of Myanmar with total impunity. This campaign of terror is only possible through the junta’s continued access to arms, including combat aircraft, and related technical maintenance, repair and overhaul assistance.
A key supplier of military aircraft and maintenance to the junta is the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC).[1]
Your company is a key investor and partner of AVIC. With ongoing credible documentation and reporting at the United Nations of the human rights crisis in Myanmar[2] and the role of AVIC in supplying arms to the junta,[3] you must have known that your collaboration with AVIC is highly problematic. Yet your company has maintained collaboration with AVIC and continued to invest in multiple AVIC subsidiaries through the Hong Kong publicly listed company, AviChina Industry & Technology Company Limited (AviChina). Your company is the biggest international shareholder of AviChina.[4] As such, you have significant influence over AviChina’s strategic business decisions.
AviChina’s most recent annual report (fiscal years 2022-2023) states that the company “principally operates through its subsidiaries” and that AviChina group is “mainly engaged in the development, manufacture, sales and upgrade of civil aviation products and defense products such as provision of helicopters, trainer aircraft, general-purpose aircraft and regional jets for domestic and overseas customers; and the co-development and manufacture of aviation products with foreign aviation products manufacturers.”[5] The group’s principal products include the K-8 trainer aircraft and the Y-12 multipurpose aircraft, according to the same annual report.[6] Both aircraft have been commissioned by the Myanmar military since its coup attempt and continue to be frequently documented as used by the Myanmar air force for indiscriminate airstrikes on the civilian population.[7]
We note that other institutional investors, including the Norwegian Government Pension Fund, have excluded AviChina from its portfolio over unacceptable risks associated with the transfers of arms to “a state that uses these weapons in ways that constitute serious and systematic breaches of the international rules on the conduct of hostilities”.[8]
Under international standards on business and human rights, your company has an independent responsibility to respect human rights in their business activities, and should do so by exercising appropriate due diligence on your entire value chain to identify human rights risks and harms that you cause, contribute to, or are directly linked to by virtue of your business relationships, including in relation to the end-use of your products and financial investments. Put differently, your company has an independent responsibility to ensure that you do not enable atrocity crimes through financial and strategic links to AVIC and directly associated companies such as AviChina.
Moreover, your company is taking a risk by providing financial support to a junta arms dealer, as Myanmar has been subject to a European arms embargo. This restriction, renewed in 2018 by the Member States, specifies that it is forbidden for a European entity to:
“Provide financing or financial assistance related to military activities, including in particular grants, loans and export credit insurance for any sale, supply, transfer or export of arms and related materiel, as well as equipment which might be used for internal repression, or for the provision of related technical assistance, brokering and other services directly or indirectly to any person, entity or body in, or for use in Myanmar/Burma”[9].
In other words, by owning shares in AviChina, Airbus could be in violation of the EU arms embargo.
We invite you to assume this responsibility and urge you to take meaningful and concrete action to block the Myanmar military junta’s access to military aircraft, spare parts and related maintenance, repair and overhaul services which continue to be provided to the junta by AVIC subsidiaries and partners.
We specifically ask your company to:
1. Use Airbus’ leverage over AVIC and its subsidiaries so that they halt all ongoing and planned transfers of military aircraft, arms and associated equipment to the Myanmar military and cease any ongoing or committed maintenance, repair and overhaul on supplied aircraft.
2. Through ongoing partnerships and collaboration, AVIC has several points of access to Airbus technology and products and this access is likely to prove beneficial for AVIC’s military manufacturing. Because of these known risks, we ask you to conduct heightened due diligence on any current and future partnerships with AVIC and its subsidiaries and make that due diligence public.
3. Responsibly divest and end your relationship with AVIC if AVIC refuses to end all business with the Myanmar military junta.
Sincerely,
311 international and local revolutionary groups, and civil society organizations
For more information, please contact:
Blood Money Campaign, bloodmoneycampaign21@protonmail.com
A total of 311 organisations, including 72 groups that can't be named because of security reasons, have signed this letter.
1. 5/ of Zaya State Strike
2. Action Committee for Democracy Development (ACDD)
3. Action Committee of Basic Education Students (ACBES)
4. Ah Nah Podcast - Conversations with Myanmar
5. All Arakan Youth Organizations Network (AAYON)
6. All Aung Myay Thar San Schools Strike Force
7. All Burma Federation of Student Unions (Monywa District)
8. Alliance for Democracy for Myanmar
9. Alliance of Students' Union – Yangon (ASU-Yangon)
10. ALTSEAN-Burma
11. Anti Dictatorship in Burma DMVPA Area
12. Anti-Junta Alliance Yangon-AJAY
13. Anti-junta Forces Coordination Committee (AFCC -Mandalay)
14. Anyar Taw Eain
15. Arakan CSO Network
16. Athan - Freedom of Expression Activist organization
17. Aung San Suu Kyi Park Norway
18. AWDO (Magway Region)
19. A-Yar-Taw People Strike
20. Basic Education General Strike Committee (BEGSC)
21. Basic Education Worker Unions - Steering Committee (BEWU-SC)
22. Basic Education Worker`s Union (Bago)
23. Blood Money Campaign (BMC)
24. Board Of Education (Bago)
25. Boston Free Burma
26. Burma Campaign UK
27. Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN)
28. Burmese Canadian Network (BCN)
29. Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK)
30. Burmese Women's Union -BWU
31. Campaign for a New Myanmar
32. CAN-Myanmar
33. CDM Medical Network (CDMMN)
34. Chanmyatharzi Township People's Strike
35. Chaung Oo Township Youth Strike Committee
36. Chin Community in Norway
37. Chin Social Association (Mae Sot)
38. Chindwin (West) Villages Women Strike
39. Civil Information Network (CIN)
40. Civil Society Organizations Coordination Committee (Monywa)
41. Coalition Strike Committee – Dawei
42. Co-operative University Mandalay Students' Strike
43. Coordination Team for Emergency Relief-Karenni (CTER)
44. CRPH & NUG Supporters Ireland
45. CRPH Funding Ireland
46. CRPH Support Group, Norway
47. Daung Sitthe Strike
48. Dawei (Ashaetaw) Women Strike
49. Dawei Youths Revolutionary Movement Strike Committee
50. Democracy, Peace and Women’s Organization
51. Democratic Party for a New Society, Norway
52. Democratic Youth Council
53. Depayin Township Revolution Steering Committee
54. Depayin Women Strike
55. EarthRights International
56. Enemy Air Route (EAR)
57. Equality Myanmar (EQMM)
58. Ethnic Youth General Strike Committee (Mandalay)
59. ETOs Watch Coalition
60. Federal School
61. Former ABSDF
62. Former Political Prisoners and New Generation Group – Monywa
63. Free Rohingya Coalition
64. Freedom and Labor Action Group (FLAG)
65. Friends Against Dictatorship (FAD)
66. Future Thanlwin (FT)
67. Gangaw Women Strike
68. General Strike Collaboration Committee (GSCC)
69. General Strike Committee of Basic and Higher Education (GSCBHE)
70. General Strike Coordination Body (GSCB)
71. Generation Network Myanmar
72. Generation Wave
73. Generations’ Solidarity Coalition of Nationalities (GSCN)
74. Global Action Against China's Meddling in Myanmar (GAACMM)
75. Global Myanmar Spring Revolution (GMSR)
76. Global Shan Network (GSN)
77. GMSR Korea 글로벌 미얀마 봄혁명 연대 -တကမ္ဘာလုံးဆိုင်ရာ မြန်မာ့နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေး
78. HTY Scout Channel
79. Human Rights Foundation of Monland
80. India for Myanmar
81. Industries Strike
82. Information & Scout News (Hlaing)
83. Inter - Religious Institute for Peace (IRIP)
84. Interim Myanma Railways Administration Council (IMRAC)
85. International Campaign for the Rohingya
86. Justice & Equality Focus (JEF)
87. Justice For Myanmar (JFM)
88. Justice Movement for Community-Innlay
89. Kachin Association Norway
90. Kachin Peace Network
91. Kachin Student Union
92. Kalay Township Strike Force
93. Kalay Women Strike
94. Kamayut Scout Channel
95. Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
96. Karen Peace Support Network (KPSN)
97. Karenni Human Rights Group (KnHRG)
98. Karenni National Women's Organization (KNWO)
99. KayahLi Phu Youth-KLY
100. Kayan New Generation Youth (KNGY)
101. Kayaw Women Association
102. K'cho Ethnic Association (Europe)
103. Keng Tung Youth
104. Kyae Lak Myay
105. Kyain Seikgyi Spring Revolution Leading Committee
106. Kyauktada Strike Committee (KSC)
107. Land In Our Hands - ဒို့မြေကွန်ရက်
108. Latpadaung Region Strike Committee
109. Legal Aid for Human Rights
110. Let's Help Each Other (LHEO) - အလုပ်သမား အချင်းချင်းရိုင်းပင်း ကူညီရေးအဖွဲ့
111. LGBT Alliance
112. LGBT Alliance Myanmar (Kalay Region)
113. LGBT Alliance Myanmar (Kyaukse Region)
114. LGBT Community Yangon
115. LGBT Union – Mandalay
116. Madaya Federal School
117. Magway People's Revolution Committee
118. Maharaungmyay Township People's Strike
119. Mandalar University Students' Strike
120. Mandalay Alliance Coalition Strike
121. Mandalay Medical Family (MFM)
122. Mandalay Strike Force (MSF)
123. Mandalay Women Strike
124. Mandalay Youth Strike
125. Mandalay-based People's Strike
126. Mandalay-Based University Students’ Unions (MDY_SUs)
127. MATA စစ်ကိုင်းတိုင်း
128. Mayangone News
129. MayMyo Strike Force
130. Milk Team Alliance Thailand (MTAT)
131. Mon State Development Center (MSDC)
132. Monywa LGBT Strike
133. Monywa People's Strike Steering Committee
134. Monywa Women Strike
135. Monywa-Amyint Road Strike Leading Committee
136. Monywa-Amyint Road Women Strike
137. Multi-Religions Strike
138. Mya Taung Strike
139. Myanmar Campaign Network
140. Myanmar Catholic Community in Norway
141. Myanmar Community in Norway
142. Myanmar Democratic Force (Denmark)
143. Myanmar Federal Democratic Mission Collection (MFDMC)
144. Myanmar Hindu Union
145. Myanmar Institute of Information Technology Students' Strike
146. Myanmar Labor Alliance (MLA)
147. Myanmar Tourism Committee (MTC)
148. Myaung Youth Network
149. MyaYar Knowledge Tree
150. Myingyan Civillian Movement Committee
151. National League for Democracy (Monywa Township)
152. Nattalin Board of Education
153. Nay Myo Min (IMRAC)
154. Network for Human Rights Documentation
155. Network of University Student Unions – Monywa
156. New Myanmar Foundation
157. New Power Generation
158. New Step
159. NLD Organization Committee (International) Norway
160. No Business With Genocide
161. No.12 Basic Education Branch High School (Maharaungmyay) Students' Union
162. NOK Information & Scout Echo
163. North Dagon & East Dagon News
164. Norway Falam Community
165. Norway Matu Community
166. Norway Rvwang Community
167. Nway Oo Guru Lay Myar (နွေဦးဂုရုလေးများ)
168. Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica
169. OCTOPUS (Youth Organization)
170. Oway Institute
171. Pakkoku Youth Development Council (PYDC)
172. Pakkoku Youth Network
173. Pale Township People's Strike Steering Committee
174. People Defense and Supporting Force (PDSF)
175. People's Embrace
176. Peoples of Longing
177. Political Prisoners Network Myanmar (PPNM)
178. Progressive Muslim Youth Association (PMYA)
179. Progressive Voice
180. Purple Window Counselling
181. Pyi Gyi Tagon Strike Force
182. Queers of Burma Alternative (QBA)
183. Representative Committee of University Teacher Associations (RC of UTAs)
184. Revolution Through Art (RTA)
185. Rise Again Myanmar (RAM)
186. Rohingya Community in Norway
187. Samgha Sammaga-Mandalay
188. Save and Care Organization for Ethnic Women at Border Areas (SCOEWBA)
189. Save Myanmar San Francisco
190. Save Myanmar USA
191. Sein Pann Strike Column
192. Seinpann Strike
193. Shan MATA
194. Shwe Pan Kone People`s Strike Steering Committee
195. Sisters2Sisters
196. Sitt Nyein Pann Foundation
197. South Dagon Scouting Infos (SDG)
198. Southern Dragon Myanmar
199. Southern Youth Development Organization
200. Spring Revolution Myanmar Muslim Community
201. Support Group for Democracy in Myanmar (NL)
202. SYSO, Seoul
203. Tai Pin Phaw online counseling Service
204. Tamwe Nway Oo Channel
205. Taze Strike Commitee
206. Taze Women Strike
207. Technological Teachers’ Federation (TTF)
208. Thaketa & Dawbon Scout Channel
209. Thakhin Kodaw Mhine Peace Network (Monywa)
210. Thayat Chaung Women Strike
211. The 88 Generation Peace and Open Society (Monywa)
212. The Mekong Butterfly
213. Thint Myat Lo Thu Myar Organization
214. TPN-SBO - သပြေညိုရွှေဘိုပန်း
215. Twitter Team for Revolution (TTFR)
216. University Students’ Unions Alumni Force
217. Volunteers in Myanmar
218. Wetlet Revolution Leading Committee
219. Wetlet Twonship Women Strike
220. White Coat Society Yangon (WCSY)
221. Women Alliance Burma (WAB)
222. Women's Organization of Political Prisoners (WOPP)
223. Yadanabon University Students’ Union (YDNBUSU)
224. Yangon Deaf Group
225. Yangon Women Strike
226. Yasakyo Township People`s Strike Steering Committee
227. Yinmarpin and Salingyi All Villages Strike Committee
228. Youth for Democratization of Myanmar (YDM)
229. Youth Scout For Democracy (YSD)
230. Zomi Christian Fellowship of Norway
231. Zomi Community Norway
232. ကြာအင်းဆိပ်ကြီးသပိတ်အင်အားစု/ကရင်
233. ပြည်သူ့သပိတ်အင်အားစု
234. ပုလဲလူထုသပိတ် တိုက်ပွဲဦးဆောင်ကော်မတီ
235. မျိုးဆက်-Generations
236. မြန်မာမွတ်စလင်အစည်းအရုံး (BMA)
237. ယိမ်းနွဲ့ပါး
238. ဝေါမြို့နယ်ပညာရေးဘုတ်အဖွဲ့
239. အညာလွင်ပြင်ရပ်ဝန်း
[1] Justice For Myanmar and Info Birmanie 2024. ‘Airbusted: How Airbus' close partner AVIC is supplying arms to the Myanmar military and what Airbus should do about it’, https://www.justiceformyanmar.org/stories/airbusted.
[2] See, for example, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, 2022. Conference Room Paper of the Special Rapporteur, Enabling Atrocities: UN Member States’ Arms Transfers to the Myanmar Military. 22 February 2022. A/HRC/49/CRP.1, paragraph 36; United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, September 2023. Situation of human rights in Myanmar 2 - Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (A/HRC/54/59). Paragraph 11; United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, 2024. ‘Turning tide in Myanmar requires stronger international action as desperate, dangerous junta escalates civilian attacks: UN expert’; and UN Human Rights Council, 2024. Resolution A/HRC/55/L.17. Situation of human rights in Myanmar. Adopted 4 without a vote on 4 April 2024.
[3] Report A/HRC/42/CRP.3, ‘The economic interests of the Myanmar military’, of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar; United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, 2022. Conference Room Paper of the Special Rapporteur, Enabling Atrocities: UN Member States’ Arms Transfers to the Myanmar Military. 22 February 2022. A/HRC/49/CRP.1; Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, ‘SIPRI Arms Transfers Database’.
[4] AviChina’s largest controlling shareholder is AVIC, followed by the Chinese state-owned Tianjin Free Trade Zone Investment and Airbus. AviChina, 2022. Annual Report.
[5] AviChina, 2022. Annual Report.
[6] AviChina, 2022. Annual Report.
[7] Janes, 2021. ‘Myanmar Air Force inducts new aircraft’. 17 December 2021 (Y-12); Burma News International, 2023. ‘China-Made Y-12 Aircraft Increasingly Deployed by Air Force in Recent Bombing Raids Across Several Combat Zones’. 21 December 2023 (Y-12); Burma News International, 2023. ‘China-Made Y-12 Aircraft Increasingly Deployed by Air Force in Recent Bombing Raids Across Several Combat Zones’. 21 December 2023 (Y-12); Myanmar Witness. ‘Hongdu K-8 Karakorum profile’ (K-8); Free Burma Rangers, 27 June 2023 (K-8); Myanmar Witness, 2023. ‘Airstrikes and massacres in Pinlaung’. 17 March 2023 (K-8).
[8] Norges Bank Investment Management, 2023. ‘Decisions on Exclusion’. 24 January 2023.
[9] Council of the European Union Decision 2013/184/CFSP, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX%3A32013D0184
