SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

In 2017, the EU started the "enhanced engagement" with Myanmar due to concerns with the country's overall adherence to human and labour rights.

Five years on from the 2021 military coup, condemned by the EU, Myanmar remains affected by protracted armed conflict and a severe humanitarian crisis. Grave human rights violations persist, including arbitrary arrests, airstrikes on civilians, and widespread displacement.

While the EU has refrained from any formal engagement or direct contacts with the regime, the enhanced engagement process was maintained during the 2023-2025 reporting period through exchanges with economic operators, civil society organisations, and democratic stakeholders. The priority areas for enhanced engagement remain focused on supporting restoration of democratic processes and civilian rule; responding to setbacks in women and children’s rights and economic, social, and cultural rights; addressing systematic forced labour and violations of freedom of association; ensuring unimpeded delivery of aid to populations affected by conflict.

In response to the grave human rights and labour rights violations, the EU has adopted successive rounds of restrictive measures against individuals and entities associated with the military regime and its economic interests and stands ready to adopt further measures against those responsible for ongoing violence, serious human rights violations and transnational crime.

The EU has sought to ensure that its response remains proportionate and avoids unintended adverse effects on the civilian population, in line with the "do no harm" principle. EU measures have been designed to remain targeted, while preserving economic activity that supports livelihoods. This calibrated approach has informed the EU’s continued engagement with Myanmar under the EBA.

By maintaining EBA preferences, the EU aims to ensure that the pursuit of the poverty reduction goal continues at a time of a severe humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. This is particularly relevant in labour-intensive sectors such as garments, which provide employment to a significant share of the workforce, notably women and internal migrants, who otherwise could have found themselves outside the formal labour market. Against the backdrop of the acute humanitarian crisis, any adverse impact on the livelihoods of the civilian population, in particular vulnerable groups, as a consequence of a potential withdrawal of EBA preferences, should be avoided. The EBA also allows the EU to preserve leverage and sustain a responsible economic footprint in Myanmar. Economic operators linked to EU supply chains, subject to enhanced due diligence requirements, continue to contribute to comparatively higher labour and social standards than their competitors.

Looking ahead, as the largest donor responding to the crisis, the EU and its Member States remain committed to finding effective ways to deliver much needed assistance to those affected.

The EU continues to regularly reassess its policy on EBA engagement with Myanmar, taking into account developments on the ground as well as relevant international processes. With regards to the labour rights situation the findings and recommendations of the ILO’s 2023 Commission of Inquiry remain the basis of the EU’s assessment.

For more information about Myanmar's compliance with the GSP conventions, see the convention compliance database. Also see the factsheet on Myanmar.

Core international conventions on human rights and labour standards

Ratified

• Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)
• International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (1976)
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1981)
• Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990)
• Convention concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour, No 29 (1930)
• Convention concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, No 87 (1948)
• Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment, No 138 (1973)
• Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, No 182 (1999)

Not Ratified

• International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1969)
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976)
• Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1987)
• Convention concerning the Application of the Principles of the Right to Organise and to Bargain Collectively, No 98 (1949)
• Convention concerning Equal Remuneration of Men and Women Workers for Work of Equal Value, No 100 (1951)
• Convention concerning the Abolition of Forced Labour, No 105 (1957)
• Convention concerning Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Occupation, No 111 (1958)

Additional Conventions

• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (1973)
• Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (1987)
• Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (1989)
• Convention on Biological Diversity (1992)
• The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992)
• Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2000)
• Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (2001)
• Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1998)
• United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961)
• United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances (1971)
• United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (1988)
• United Nations Convention against Corruption (2004)

Access all info about EU-Myanmar relations on the International Partnerships website.