Myanmar’s exiled National Unity Government (NUG) called on the EU and ASEAN to impose effective sanctions on companies selling aviation fuel to the Burmese junta.

It said that doing this would“ dismantle the junta’s capacity to inflict further atrocities on the civilians.”

The NUG made the remark in its 19 December announcement welcoming the Joint Leaders' Statement from the 14 December EU-ASEAN Commemorative Summit, the first EU-ASEAN Commemorative Summit marking 45 years of dialogue between the EU and the ASEAN.

The NUG statement went on to say: “An EU-ASEAN commitment to human rights and fundamental freedoms must respect the democratic will of the Myanmar people by upholding the results of the 2020 General Election and blocking all attempts by the junta to hold slam elections. It must see support for the Federal Democracy Charter and rejection of the junta’s unlawful state of emergency.”

It also called on the EU and ASEAN to put intense pressure on the junta so that they stop executing more political prisoners.

Similarly on 9 December, 516 Civil Society Organizations including Burma Campaign UK and Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) wrote to the British Foreign Secretary, calling on the British Government to take action against British companies directly or indirectly selling jet fuel to the Burmese military, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA).

According to the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar, the military junta has recently been carrying out airstrikes. It said that at least 57 airstrikes were carried out across the country in October this year, resulting in at least 37 civilian deaths in October alone.