Hundreds of Myanmar civil society organisations filed a formal complaint with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Tuesday accusing Norwegian telecoms giant Telenor of “irresponsible disengagement” from the country.
The Netherlands-based Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) submitted the complaint on behalf of the 474 Myanmar groups. Together, they alleged that the Telenor Group’s sale of its Myanmar operations to the Lebanese M1 Group is in violation of OECD standards outlining the requirements for a responsible exit from the country.
The hasty $105m deal, of which less than half is being paid up front, was announced on July 8—a fraction of the $782m value once assigned to the operations. It has been met with outrage from activists, rights groups and Telenor customers who fear that the sale exposes them to increased surveillance by Myanmar’s brutal junta in partnership with the new operator, M1.
“Telenor has failed to conduct appropriate risk-based due diligence and has failed to seek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts potentially arising from the sale of its Myanmar operations,” the OECD complaint said.
The complainants added that Telenor also “failed to meaningfully engage with relevant stakeholders” and has not been transparent regarding the details of the sale.
M1 Group was founded by Najib Mikati, who on Monday was nominated to be Lebanon’s prime minister-designate amid a political deadlock. The Guardian described Mikati as “the country’s richest man”; the billionaire has previously held the position of prime minister twice, and remains a controversial figure due to his extreme wealth, charges of corruption, and investments in conflict-torn nations’ telecoms infrastructure.
The OECD complaint describes M1 Group, a Mikati family enterprise, as an unsuitable partner for Telenor’s handover due to the business and human rights guidelines to which Telenor is bound under both the OECD and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
The Mikatis “have a history of business in authoritarian countries including Syria, Sudan and Yemen, as well as unresolved allegations of corruption and terrorist financing,” Myanmar civil society organisations said.
In Tuesdays’ complaint, SOMO senior researcher Joseph Wilde-Ramsing described Norwegian state-owned Telenor’s “irresponsible disengagement” from Myanmar as “disappointing,” given the rights-based standards that Norwegian businesses are believed to abide by.
“When entering risky contexts like Myanmar, companies like Telenor should be mindful of more than just profits and be prepared with a responsible exit plan. Telenor’s lack of due diligence and preparation does not give it license to leave the people of Myanmar in the lurch,” he is quoted as saying.
Ko Ye, an activist who took part in the OECD complaint, said he had “no trust” that M1 Group would “uphold their human rights responsibilities or do business with integrity,” and asked the OECD’s Norwegian focal point to intervene regarding Telenor’s deal with the entity.
“The sale to M1 Group must be suspended before it leads to more killings and torture,” he said.
As of Monday, some 934 people had been killed by the Myanmar military in its crackdowns on the public since the February 1 coup, according to data provided by theAssistance Association for Political Prisoners.
A Telenor spokesperson recently confirmed to Myanmar Now that the sale of its Myanmar infrastructure to M1 Group would include call data records of its 18 million subscribers. Experts and activists have said that this identifying information could be dangerous in the hands of the junta, with which M1 is expected to work closely.
Despite Telenor’s reputation for conducting responsible business, Tuesday’s OECD complaint is the second submitted in recent years against the company concerning its commitment to due diligence.
During genocidal military operations against the Rohingya population of Rakhine State in August 2017, eyewitnesses reported that a telecommunications tower owned by Irrawaddy Green Towers and leased to Telenor in Alethankyaw, Maungdaw Township, was used by Myanmar army soldiers as a sniper post. From the tower, the troops allegedly shot and killed fleeing Rohingya villagers and buried many of the bodies at its base.
The Committee Seeking Justice for Alethankyaw filed a complaint with the OECD against Telenor on the issue in December 2019. Telenor is currently the subject of an OECD investigation launched last year by its Norwegian focal point to determine whether the company breached due diligence regulations in establishing a tower in the area.
A UN Fact-Finding Mission also identified Telenor’s Myanmar buyer, M1 Group, as a shareholder of Irrawaddy Green Towers. Irrawaddy Green Towers also leases phone towers to Mytel, a telecoms provider part-owned by the military.
