An Australian who spent nearly two years in a Myanmar jail is calling on Canberra to sanction the country's state banks to strangle weapons purchases from China or Russia.
Australian academic Sean Turnell spent 650 days in a Myanmar cell after being imprisoned during a military coup for serving as a senior economic advisor to the country's ousted democratic leader.
Sanctioning state banks was critical to stop the junta buying weapons as "the only advantage it has over the opposition is very sophisticated weaponry, air-delivered munitions (and) aircraft", he told AAP.
"But in order to get them, Myanmar's military needs foreign exchange and they're running out, so the state-owned banks are doing all sorts of things to try and access foreign exchange.
"Australia does have some really good financial sanctions on Myanmar but we could extend them."
The military in Myanmar - formerly known as Burma - seized control from the democratically elected government in February 2021.
Dr Turnell was held until November 2022 when he was released during a mass pardon by the military, which has since been revoked.
The junta has been evading international sanctions by switching banks it uses to receive foreign revenue after the United States, European Union and other governments sanctioned military-controlled entities and banks, the UN has said.
The special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar called for nations to "engage at a significantly higher level of sustained action, including by co-ordinating sanctions to weaken the (junta's) capacity to continue its attacks on civilians".
The rapporteur then identified energy companies and subsidiaries that provided aviation fuel enabling "the junta’s atrocities", that Australia hasn't sanctioned.
Two companies helping import spare parts for military aircraft sanctioned by the US, UK, EU and Canada also haven't been targeted by Australia, the rapporteur reported.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has been contacted. Government officials and ministers have repeatedly stated they don't comment on possible sanctions.
Myanmar's opposition "has got the wind at its back at the moment" and was making inroads, meaning the junta had become more brutal as "they are on the run", Dr Turnell said.
"So the more we can sort of squeeze them that way, then I think the Burmese opposition would take care of things themselves," he said.
"The air is really the only way that the regime is staying on top."
After writing about his experience in prison, Dr Turnell wants to shift the focus back to the Burmese people.
The world missed an important story about what reformers and Myanmar's first civilian government in six decades were trying to do before the coup, as it focused on political prisoners such as himself and the horrors of the junta, he said.
"Economics is not the most sexy topic around, even I have to acknowledge that," he said.
"But using economics as well to try and fix the politics to deliberately dilute military rule - that was incredibly courageous and visionary.
"In the end, it failed but it was a great story and I felt compelled to get it down."
