LOS ANGELES, July 11 – Human rights groups have roundly criticized the decision by the U.S. President Barack Obama to ease sanctions against the government of Myanmar, also known as Burma.
“President Obama’s latest decision to remove the investment ban on Burma is grossly irresponsible,” said Tom Andrews, President of United to End Genocide, which recently issued a full report on sanctions in the country.
“The U.S. government has stated a desire to be cautious when it comes to lifting sanctions on Burma, and yet its actions say just the opposite,” Andrews told Watching World Energy.
“In a period of less than two months, President Obama has removed virtually all sanctions on Burma mandated by the executive branch,” Andrews said.
HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES
“Business entities in many sectors of the economy, like oil and natural gas, are responsible for decades of human rights abuses,” Andrews said.
“By lifting the investment ban the U.S. government is encouraging American companies to get into bed with some of the worst human rights offenders and risk becoming complicit themselves,” he said.
“Adding insult to injury, the U.S. government has failed in its obligation to provide guidance to companies on how they can avoid human rights risks Burma,” Andrews said.
Rhonda Mays and Robert Herman of Freedom House also drew attention to the potential effects of the waiver of sanctions on Burma’s oil and gas industry.
CORRUPT AND OPAQUE
“The waiver will permit business dealings with highly corrupt and opaque companies like the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), whose profits have bankrolled a succession of brutal military governments,” Mays and Herman said.
The two writers said that U.S. businesses “are eager” to participate in the potential bonanza of Burma’s largely untapped market and plentiful natural resources.
The firms argue that these opportunities should not be left to Chinese and other foreign competitors, according to Mays and Herman.
However, the two writers denied claims that interactions with U.S. businesses will expose Burmese firms to higher corporate standards on transparency, accountability, labor rights, and environmental protection.
‘REFORM BY OSMOSIS’
“It is doubtful that such reform by osmosis would be sufficient to counter the corrupting effects of a major influx of funds into what remains a profoundly flawed political and economic system,” Mays and Herman said, adding that, “U.S. companies risk compromising their own standards” in such an arena. ”
Andrews of United to End Genocide agreed with that assessment.
“Business entities in many sectors of the economy, like oil and natural gas, are responsible for decades of human rights abuses,” Andrews said.
“By lifting the investment ban the U.S. government is encouraging American companies to get into bed with some of the worst human rights offenders and risk becoming complicit themselves,” Andrews said.
Human Rights Watch also criticized the U.S. government decision, saying that the new policy allowing business activity in Burma’s controversial oil sector will not adequately prevent new investments from fueling abuses and undermining reform.
‘PREMATURE DECISION’
Human Rights Watch said it and other groups have expressed concern that it was “premature” for the U.S. to open up across-the-board investment in Burma. It said they had sought much stronger preconditions, including “an updated sanctions list and binding prohibitions on investment in the country’s problematic oil and gas industry.”
“By allowing deals with Burma’s state-owned oil company, the U.S. looks like it caved to industry pressure and undercut Aung San Suu Kyi and others in Burma who are promoting government accountability,” said Arvind Ganesan, business and human rights director at Human Rights Watch.
In June, Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi spoke before the ILO and called on governments to block investments with MOGE until it meets international standards designed to ensure that public funds are managed in a transparent and accountable manner.
‘PLEAS IGNORED’
“Representatives of ethnic national groups have pleaded for U.S. sanctions to remain in place,” said Andrews, who added that “industry lobbyists clamoring for access to Burma’s rich natural resources” have been prioritized instead.
“It is up to Congress to salvage what economic pressure remains on the regime by continuing the ban on the importation of goods made in Burma,” Andrews said. “Now more than ever it is critical that Congress renew the Burma Freedom and Democracy Act.”
© Glamma Productions Inc. 2012