Burma

Officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Burma is a Southeast Asian country plagued by oppression, forced labour and human rights abuses. Some of the abuses the Burmese people have suffered include, unjustified imprisonment, forced relocation and forced labour of adults and children. In 2007, thousands of monks and Burmese citizens marched demanding democracy but the military quashed the protests by abducting, imprisoning, torturing and killing the monks and citizens. Aung San Suu Kyi has been at the helm of Burma’s peaceful resistance movement and until recently was under house arrest for 15 of the past 21 years. On the 13th of November 2010 Aung San Suu Kyi was released much to the joy of the Burmese people. Now Burma has hope and a chance at freedom from the oppressors. However, the ruling generals have overwhelming power and money something the people are denied. Much of the military’s wealth comes from foreign companies who invest in the countries oil reserves and industries. With out these investments, the military junta’s wealth would be significantly reduced.
 

The Military

The Burmese military has a total force size of 564,250 troops with an annual expenditure of $1.07 billion USD. It is an acknowledged fact that the military adduct and conscribe children as well as employ forced labour of citizens. Some of the citizens who are forced to forced to work for the military are used as human mine-sweepers. Burma’s weaponry has in the past and in some instances may still be supplied by the following countries; North Korea, Russia, Bulgaria, Canada, Germany, Italy, Poland, Serbia, India, United Kingdom and China. These countries sold weapons or weapons parts to Burma between 1988 to present. China provides around 90% of Burma’s weaponry so without their arms deal, the Burmese military regime would be destabilised.

Aung San Suu Kyi

In 1990, Aung San Suu Kyi’s political party the National League for Democracy won a landslide election victory. However, instead of becoming Burma’s leader, she was imprisoned and her party was never allowed to govern. She was released in 1995 but faced severe travel restrictions and was detained again in 2000 after she attempted to leave the former capital, Rangoon. In 2003 the Burmese military attempted to assassinate Aung San Suu Kyi and attacked her convoy, killing 70 of her supporters. Aung San Suu Kyi was able to escape and the military regime blamed the attack on a riot between two political groups. However, it is clear that the government was behind the attempted assassination. After the attack she was placed under house arrest until her release in 2010.

General Election

In 2010 a general election was held in Burma in keeping with Burma’s new constitution. The National League for Democracy boycotted the election and the United Nations along with Western countries criticised the election result for being fraudulent. In the run up to the election, the junta denied the vote to hundreds of thousands of Burmese belonging to ethnic groups as they were apparently associated with rebel groups and had ties with political prisoners. Political gatherings were monitored and restricted in every way possible and foreign journalists were barred from observing the election. The government backed party The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) took 80% of the parliamentary seats that were up for election.

Blood Rubies

The Burmese ruby trade also referred to as the ‘blood rubies’ trade supplies 90% of the world’s rubies and is Burma‘s third biggest export. The Burmese people are forced into slave labour, at the mines where large scale rape and human rights abuses occur. The USA banned the import of Burmese gemstones with the JADE act in 2008 while the EU prohibits the import of all Burmese rubies and gems. The biggest importers of Burmese rubies are China, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand all of which generated $400 million in sales for Burma in 2009.

Companies in Burma

While there are U.S and E.U trade sanctions against Burma, foreign companies still manage to sell and manufacture products and exploit natural resources inside Burma. Some of the major companies with dealings in Burma include; Alcatel, BMW, Caterpillar, Chevron, Daewoo, Focus Energy, Geopetrol, Halliburton, Hyundai, Kerry Logistics UK, Lloyd’s of London, MAERSK, Mitsubishi, Nippon Oil, Nobel Oil, Siemens, Suzuki, Swift, Total Petroleum, Yeo's. It is also interesting to note most of these companies have no reference to their operations in Burma on their websites.

(CC) Image by lewishamdreamer

(CC) Image by My Mundane Life

Action

Burma is currently in the world’s spotlight after the release of Aung San Suu Kyi so acting now is extremely important in order to help put an end to the military regime. Pressuring the companies involved in Burma is essential so as to stop the regimes money supply. Please make sure you never purchase a ruby or gemstone from Burma as it is more than likely the person who mined the gem would have suffered poor labour conditions and human rights abuses. Please do not purchase any product from Burma until the country becomes a democracy as your money will only go to fund the oppression of the Burmese people. Holding a demonstration to raise awareness of the issues facing Burma encourages others to act and ma encourage them to boycott the companies involved with Burma. Total petroleum and Chevron earn the Burmese junta billions of U.S dollars per year thus, campaigning against these companies is key.