Several Foreign Investors in Myanmar Score Highly in a New Global Corporate Human Rights Benchmark

A new Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB) published in London on 14 March by a consortium featuring one of Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB)’s two founding organisations, the Institute of Human Rights and Business, features several investors in Myanmar amongst its top-ranked companies. 

These include Nestle and Unilever, as well as apparel companies sourcing from Myanmar, or looking to do so, such as Marks & Spencer, Adidas and H&M.

TOTAL is featured amongst the top extractives companies. GAP, Chevron and Coca-Cola also scored better than the majorities of those benchmarked.

The Benchmark examines companies’ policies, governance, processes, practices, and transparency, as well as how they respond to serious allegations of human rights abuse.  It scores 98 companies in the agricultural products, apparel and extractives sectors on 100 indicators across six measurement themes. A small number of companies emerged as leaders scoring between 55-69%, but the results skew significantly to the lower bands. A clear majority, 63 out of 98 companies, score below 30%.

Other companies which have investment and supply chain interests in Myanmar who scored less well in the Benchmark include CNOOC, ENI, Heineken, ONGC, Pepsi, Petrochina (controlling shareholder CNPC), Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil. Additionally, companies in the Apparel index are believed to be investigating sourcing opportunities.

Vicky Bowman, Director of MCRB commented:

It’s good to see that Myanmar is attracting a few leading foreign investors which have strong frameworks for respecting human rights in their business practices.  The need for effective human rights due diligence in Myanmar, remains as great as ever. MCRB’s experience is that even some of the companies which don’t score so highly in the Benchmark because they don’t have these in place company-wide have to adopt more human rights sensitive market entry strategies for Myanmar. So does the need for responsible investment.  The new Myanmar Investment Law, and the forthcoming Rules, reinforce this trend, by encouraging investment from companies with a strong commitment to sustainability and human rights.

Since 2014, MCRB has published a benchmark index on Transparency in Myanmar Enterprises (TiME) aka ‘Pwint Thit Sa’. This has similarly aimed to use healthy competition to encourage Myanmar companies to publish information on their corporate governance and business practices, including anti-corruption, organizational transparency, and human rights, health, safety and the environment (HSE).  MCRB will review the scoring of its Pwint Thit Sa report this year to align it with the CHRB.

Background

MCRB’s Pwint Thit Sa /Transparency in Myanmar Enterprise(TiME) compares the websites of 100 of the largest Myanmar companies and scores them on what they say on their However, it only scores what information companies publish, and is not an assessment of their actual performance. The aim of the report is to encourage increased transparency by Myanmar businesses. For more details on Pwint Thit Sa/TiME please see

For more information about the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, please visit www.corporatebenchmark.org.  The CHRB initiative is led by:

• APG Asset Management

• Aviva Investors

• Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

• Calvert Research and Management

• The EIRIS Foundation

• The Institute for Human Rights and Business

• Nordea Wealth Management

• VBDO

The Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB) is an initiative funded by the UK, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Ireland, based on a collaboration between the UK-based Institute for Human Rights and Business, and the Danish Institute for Human Rights. The Centre was established in 2013 to provide an effective and legitimate platform for the creation of knowledge, capacity and dialogue concerning responsible business in Myanmar, based on local needs and international standards, which results in more responsible business practices. It is a neutral platform working with business, civil society and government.

Read also

• Responsible Investment – A Way Forward
• Meeting Between MCRB, International Investors and Myanmar Investment Commission to Discuss Responsible Investment in Myanmar
• Working with Community Groups in Kyaukphyu on Responsible Investment
• NGOs Submit Comments on the Third Tranche Draft Myanmar Investment Rules
• NGOs Submit Further Comments on the Draft Myanmar Investment Rules

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