Two Dutch pension funds invest US$2.3 billion in companies linked to the Myanmar military’s atrocities

As the Myanmar military ramps up its brutal violence against the people of Myanmar following the brutal and illegal February 1, 2021 coup, Dutch pension funds are profiting from the military’s prolonged oppression through their holdings. Gross human rights violations have become widespread and systematic as the Myanmar military violently kill innocent, peaceful people, including children.  These violations amount to crimes against humanity.

Amid the increasingly widespread and systematic crimes committed against the people of Myanmar, Justice For Myanmar has revealed the equity stakes collectively valued at US$2.3 billion held by two Dutch pension fund asset managers – PGGM and APG – across 20 publicly-traded companies operating in Myanmar. These companies – a selection from the oil and gas, telecommunications, real estate, consumer goods and military technology industries, among others– have either a direct and longstanding commercial tie to the Myanmar’s military, or to state entities that the military now controls as a result of the coup. Through these ties, the pension funds could be complicit in the Myanmar military’s grave violations of human rights in Myanmar.

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Table: Multinational companies linked to Myanmar’s military and Dutch pension investment value (as of last filing)

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We call on Dutch pension funds and other institutional investors to divest from those companies that have longstanding ties to the military and demand that other investee companies immediately stop financially enabling the Myanmar’s military. We call on the Dutch government to urge the EU to impose immediate targeted sanctions against the Myanmar military, their businesses and significant business associates, and to advocate for a global arms embargo.

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Read the full brief

Investing in the Military Cartel

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Press Release