Benetton group, the Italian fashion retail giant, has suspended all new orders from Myanmar with immediate effect. The move comes as increasing violence following the ousting of Aung San Suu Kyi’s government last month throws a spotlight both on garment worker abuses in the country and on activism among the workers.

As Primark found itself in the news over claims of abuse at a supplier it uses in the country, Benetton said: “We express our most profound concern for what is happening in Myanmar. The situation presents such problems, both in terms of security and of freedom and rights violations, that we have decided to suspend all new orders.”

The company is aiming to send a “strong and tangible signal” in support of values such as integration and non-violence, it said.

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There have been widespread reports of worker ill-treatment with workers being forcibly restrained from taking part in protests. 

Myanmar is one of the fashion sector’s key supplier countries and garment workers there, many of them women, have been central to many of the protests. They've carried placards calling out for big-name western brands to add their voices to the chorus of disapproval around what’s been going on in the country. H&M also recently said it had suspended shipments and condemned the coup.