Myanmar has emerged over the last decade as a significant producer of manufactured goods, including apparel. However, the nation’s political progress has been thwarted, and its economic prospects are in doubt.

Workers in Myanmar’s factories have also suffered from significant human rights violations. In 2016, Transparentem began to investigate three apparel factories in Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon. Investigators uncovered problems including hazardous labor, excessive overtime, and audit deception, affecting workers who were often younger than 18. While all seven companies we engaged took some form of corrective action, all international apparel companies seeking to do business in Myanmar must do more to enforce international labor standards in the country’s nascent manufacturing industry.