Imprisonment of Union Leader, Myanmar, 2025
On 25 July 2025, 56-year-old union leader Myo Myo Aye of Solidarity Township Garment Labour Organisation (STUM) was arrested at her home in the Shwe Pyi Thar district of Yangon. Various other members of the union as well as Myo Myo Ayes daughter Chue Thwei were arrested in the following days.
On 25 July 2025, 56-year-old union leader Myo Myo Aye was arrested at her home in the Shwe Pyi Thar district of Yangon. The arrest took place under shocking circumstances: the authorities forced her son to kneel down and pointed guns at his head in front of Myo Aye and her husband in order to force Myo Aye to hand over her digital devices. After searching her room, she was taken away in handcuffs. The authorities confiscated her personal belongings and money, among other things. At the same time, officials also searched the STUM office where Chue Thwel (27) was staying. About a dozen civilians, including the district administrator of Shwe Pyi Thar, forcibly entered the office and confiscated laptops and mobile phones. To date, it is not known why Myo Myo Aye is being detained. The following evening (28 July), Chue Thwel, Myo Myo Ayes daughter, was also arrested along with three other STUM employees. Another member was arrested in the early morning of 29 July. In addition, the authorities sealed all three STUM offices, including the office of the affiliated organisation Solidarity of Township Garment Labour Organisation.> To date, it is still unknown where human rights defender Myo Myo Aye, her daughter and the other detainees are being held, or why they are being detained. However, labour rights activists / the CCC fear that they are being held at the Shwe Pyi Thar interrogation centre, a place notorious for torture and degrading treatment. Myo Myo Aye urgently needs medication. However, it has not yet been possible to get these medications to her. All fundamental rights based in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the UN Declaration on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and the ILO Core Conventions were denied to Myo Myo Aye, Chue Thwel and the other detained STUM members. Myanmar's military leader Min Aung Hlaing announced that ‘free and fair elections’ would be held by the end of this year. However, arbitrary arrests of civilians, human rights defenders and trade unionists such as Myo Myo Aye and other STUM members continue. A report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from May 2025 shows that, according to credible sources, as of 31 March 2025, approximately 28,961 civilians had been arrested, 22,165 were still in detention and 172 had been sentenced to death – by military-controlled courts that offer neither constitutional guarantees nor fair trials. The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders has repeatedly expressed concern about security in Myanmar. In 2021, the Myanmar authorities declared 16 trade unions and labour rights organisations – including STUM – illegal. STUM and Myo Myo Aye continued to advocate for freedom of assembly and collective bargaining, fighting for better occupational safety under increasingly dangerous conditions. Although the trade unionists were not arrested at a specific factory, the arrests serve to intimidate employees, especially those in the immediate vicinity of the arrests. Brands that still source from Myanmar must therefore protest against this anti-union climate and demand the release of those detained. As can be seen from the current list of suppliers to the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles (PST) on Open Supply Hub, member companies of the Partnership source from 54 factories in Myanmar. Five of these are located in the immediate vicinity of Myo Myo Aye's detention. These include the Adidas supplier Myanmar Pou Chen Company Limited, further details of which can be found below. In addition to Adidas, the following companies also sourced from factories in Myanmar in 2024 and 2025: In addition to these brands and the PST, several of the factories in Myanmar were inspected or audited by the Fair Wear Foundation (2024 and 2025), the Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production Programme (WRAP, 2025) and the Social & Labour Convergence Programme (SLCP, 2025).
Basic Information
Case ID: 2025.012
Identification Number from Open Supply Hub (OS-ID): MM20191439MJYB6
Affected Country: Myanmar
Date of occurrence: 2025-08-14
Social Sector Risks concerned:
- Freedom of association and collective bargaining (Conventions Nr. 11 & 87 & 98 & 135 & 141 & 154; Recommendations Nr. 91 & 143)
Supplier Details
Pou Chen Corporation
No.600, Sec. 4, Taiwan Blvd.,
Xitun Dist.,
Taichung City, 40764,
Phone
Taiwan
Supplier Website: https://www.pouchen.com/index.php/en/
Production Site
Myanmar Pou Chen Company Limited
No.112/121, No.4 High Way Road, Thardu Kan Industrial Zone Yangon
Shwe Pyi Thar Township
11411 Yangon
Myanmar
Known certifications:
Social & Labour Compliance Program Fair Wear Foundation Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production
Source of information about certifications:
https://opensupplyhub.org/facilities/MM2021116HSG85E (SLCP)
2. Source of information about certificates:
https://opensupplyhub.org/facilities/MM2019083YH8AYG (FWF)
Further information about certificate's sources:
Total number of workers/employees:
5335 (2022)
No gender specific information available.
Workers movement
No information about unions available.
No information about workers commitee available.
Business Relations
Known Buyer/Brands:
- Adidas AG
- Benetton Retail Deutschland GmbH
- Bestseller A/S
- Lidl Stiftung Co. KG
- Next Germany GmbH
Source of information buyers:
https://opensupplyhub.org/facilities/MM20191439MJYB6 (Adidas)
https://opensupplyhub.org/facilities/MM2020281XDEHSB (Benetton Group) https://opensupplyhub.org/facilities/MM2019083GS56RX (Bestseller A/S) https://opensupplyhub.org/facilities/MM2019083YH8AYG (Next Plc., Adidas)
2. Source of information buyers:
https://opensupplyhub.org/facilities/MM20232284P4REH (Lidl)
Further information about buyer's sources:
At least one of the buyers has the duty to report according to the Supply Chain Act / CSDDD.
Follow up
Known Reaction by Buyer(s):
Fair Wear Foundation reacted via a LinkedIn-comment to this case: Thank you for highlighting the deeply worrying arrest of Myo Myo Aye, a strong advocate of workers’ rights in Myanmar and other STUM members in Shwe Pyi Thar. We stand in solidarity with them and all workers in Myanmar who risk their safety to defend their rights. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7361696021522837506?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28activity%3A7361696021522837506%2C7362064303572586496%29&dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A%287362064303572586496%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7361696021522837506%29 Lidl reacted via mail: "Lidl announced at the end of 2023 that it would withdraw from Myanmar in the form of a responsible exit. We finally completed our withdrawal from Myanmar in October 2024. The public supplier lists, including those on platforms such as Open Supply Hub, still refer to the year 2024 and do not reflect current supplier relationships."
Fair Wear expects member brands to disengage responsibly from Myanmar, and to only continue sourcing in highly exceptional circumstances. You can find more information in our policy (linked below) . Situations like this underscore the severe violations to freedom of association, as protected under ILO Convention 87, and reinforce the concerns raised in the ILO’s ongoing Article 33 measures against Myanmar.
Without a safe space for worker representation, the impactful implementation of human rights due diligence and the provision of effective access to remedy remain severely restricted in Myanmar’s garment sector.
link to policy: https://www.fairwear.org/resource/a4PAM000000026A2AQ
Sources
Name of reporting organisation: Kampagne für Saubere Kleidung / Clean Clothes Campaign
Source of information about the case:
https://saubere-kleidung.de/2025/08/myanmar-aufruf-zur-freilassung/
Contributor: SÜDWIND
- Last updated on .