COUP D’ETAT IN MYANMAR – WHAT NEXT FOR FOREIGN INVESTORS?

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The coup d’état by Myanmar’s military has sparked mass protests, which have been met with the imposition of martial law, media and telecommunication blackouts, and human rights violations, including mass arrests and deadly force. Many foreign investors have been required to suspend operations to ensure the security of workers and their investments.

Over the past decade, Myanmar has encouraged foreign investments by providing investors with better legal protections. Foreign investors whose investments have been harmed as a result of the coup d’état, either as a direct or indirect result of the military, State authorities or a State-owned entity’s actions, may thus be able to seek legal redress against Myanmar for breach of an investment treaty, contract or domestic law. In particular, investors from Singapore, Korea, Japan, Israel, Australia and New Zealand may have claims under treaties between their home States and Myanmar and can potentially commence arbitration proceedings to pursue them.

The full article is available here.