A British human rights group has issued a report accusingLloyd's of London and 15 other insurance companies of helping toprop up the "brutal dictatorship" that rules Myanmar.

The Burma Campaign UK report also said that after it had appliedpressure, some of the world's largest insurance firms, includingAmerican International Group, had decided not to provide insuranceto companies in Burma and were on Burma Campaign's "CleanList."

Johnny Chatterton, author of the report and Campaigns Officer atBurma Campaign UK, said in a statement that foreign carriers byselling insurance to companies operating in Burma "are propping upa regime that rules through fear--raping, torturing and killingBurma's civilians.

"These companies are putting profit before ethics, they arehelping to finance a regime that less than a year ago was shootingpeaceful protestors on the streets of Rangoon. They ensure that theregime can afford its guns, bullets and tanks."

According to the report, the Burmese regime encourages foreigninvestment to generate foreign exchange, which finances theregime.

It said "insurance is vital for the companies that invest inBurma. This campaign aims to make Burma much less attractive toforeign investors by making it more expensive and more difficultfor them to insure their operations in Burma."

The report said that Lloyd's provided reinsurance to thegovernment-operated Myanma Insurance, and its syndicates have soldinsurance to a government-owned airline.

According to Burma Campaign, Lloyd's said in 2005 it could notcompel members to end involvement in Burma, and claimed that itwould be "against competition law for members to collectivelydecide not to operate in Burma."

The group said that pending investigations of these claimsLloyd's was removed from its "Dirty List," but investigationsfailed to identify any U.K. law or act to substantiate Lloyd'sclaims, and Lloyd's conceded in July 2008 that "competition law isnot relevant in this case."

When asked to make a statement to their syndicates alerting themto the human rights concerns associated with selling insurance tocompanies in Burma, Lloyd's issued a July 23 statement that,"Unless there are official U.N. sanctions in place, Lloyd's doesnot instruct the market where it can and cannot write business.Competition Law is not relevant in this case. However, we do notmake public comments on the politics or economic policies ofnational or international bodies."

A Lloyd's spokesperson said today that "a very small amount ofreinsurance is written at Lloyd's in Burmese shipping and aviation.We are unaware of any businesses at Lloyd's defying internationalsanctions. If we discovered any underwriters breaching sanctions,we would take action immediately."

In addition to Lloyds, among those on the "Dirty List" areHannover Re, Catlin, Atrium Underwriting (managing two Lloydssyndicates) XL, Tokio Marine and Nichido Fire Insurance Co. Ltd.,Sompo Japan, Mitsui Sunitomo Insurance, QBE, ACE, Labuan Re, OCBCBank, Pana Harrison, Target Insurance Broker, Arab Insurance Groupand Al Wasl.

Among companies on the "Clean" list, in addition to AIG, areMunich Re, ING, Swiss Re, Aon, Allianz, Willis and Aviva.

The full listing is online athttp://www.burmacampaign.org.uk.

Burma Campaign said its "Shamed" list of companies that wouldnot reply about policy on Burma or state they do not provideinsurance there includes Chubb, MMC, HSBC, Jardine Lloyd Thompsonand Heath Lambert.

The group said it contacted 500 insurers for its listings. Italso contacted NU Online after the news service reported onindependent adjuster activity in Myanmar to find out what firms theadjusters worked for. NU referred the organization to theadjusters.

Willis, one of the companies the Burma Campaign said it hadpressured, when asked for comment gave this as the reason for itsaction.

"Willis is a commercial organization that complies with the lawsthat apply to i. and we constantly review our presence in allmarkets to ensure that our activities are in line with thesanctions that may be imposed, from time to time, by the UnitedNations, The European Union or specific countries in which weoperate. We also employ a principled, transparent approach toeverything that we do. With this in mind, after reviewing oursituation in Burma, we decided to cease all business activity thereas of April 2008."

AIG did not respond to a request for comment.