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With President Clinton's term coming to a close, groups have stepped up pressure in order to secure a ban on all imports from Burma. This comes immediately after the International Labor Organization encouraged member states to review all relationships with Burma, so that associations do not support the country's systematic use of forced labor
The Burmese junta is profiting from the export of apparel, and the industry itself is helping to perpetuate an economy based on forced labor. In fact, on any given day it is estimated that 800,000 people are forced into laboring for the junta. If instituted, a ban on apparel imports would cut off about one-quarter of the regime's foreign exchange earnings.
Below are two examples of what organizations are doing to support human rights and democracy in Burma. The first is an urgent sign-on letter to ban Burmese imports, distributed by the Free Burma Coalition (www.freeburmacoalition.org) and following that is a letter sent to President Clinton from John Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO.
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URGENT SIGN-ON LETTER TO BAN BURMESE IMPORTS
* Please sign on by this Friday, December 22 *
--Send sign-ons to dbeeton at freeburmacoalition.org--
December 22, 2000
The Honorable William J. Clinton President Office of the White House Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,
As you near the end of your term, we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to you for the strong, positive steps that your administration has taken in support of the struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma.
We especially thank you for banning new investment in Burma in 1997, a move that clearly led the way for other countries to take strong measures. You may be aware, however, that the spirit of these sanctions has been undermined by the proliferation of imports from Burma entering the U.S., especially of apparel. These apparel imports constitute over 80% of the total imports from Burma and have increased by 272% since 1995.
The International Labor Organization has requested that its member states review their relationships with the Burmese military regime to ensure that those relationships do not contribute to the use of forced labor. The National League for Democracy, led by Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi, has called for foreign companies to stay out of Burma until democracy and rule of law is restored. Following these requests, we urge you to take another action to support freedom and democracy for Burma. We urge you to ban all imports from Burma.
The Burmese junta is profiting from the export of apparel, and the industry itself is helping to perpetuate an economy based on forced labor. U.S. Department of Labor reports document how forced labor in Burma has been used to promote exports. The junta's 5% tax on these exports, as well as the fact that the junta runs the apparel factories themselves, mean that the Burmese apparel industry is enabling an economy dependent on forced labor. On any given day it is estimated that 800,000 people are forced into laboring for the junta, and according to the junta's own data, this modern-day form of slavery constitutes a percentage of the total labor in Burma equivalent to slave labor in the U.S. during the height of slavery.
Your action to implement the ILO decision will greatly benefit the people of Burma in their struggle for a society based on democratic principles and human rights. It would also show that the United States is serious about taking action to protect workers' rights in the global economy. It would be a fitting final step by your administration, which has made its commitment to the Burmese democracy movement a major foreign policy achievement.
We thank you for your action on this issue.
Sincerely,
Free Burma Coalition
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December 14, 2000
President William J. Clinton The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
I was looking forward to having some time to talk with you during the trip to Ireland, which I sadly was unable to join. One of the two things I had wanted to discuss was the very serious situation in Burma. I am glad that your staff and mine have been working together to compile information and review options. I hope that next week's U.S./European Union Summit here in Washington will allow an opportunity for us to press our European counterparts to join with us in a forceful action. I think it would be useful for you to raise the issue with President Chirac and other European officials, including Commissioner Lamy.
As you know, the ILO has taken an unprecedented step by invoking article 33 of its Constitution, and instructing members "to review their relations with Myanmar and take appropriate measures to ensure that such relations do not perpetuate or extend the system of forced or compulsory labour in that country."
Your Administration's work to strengthen and revitalize the International Labor Organization (ILO) has been enormously important and successful, and it is essential that the United States now lead the international community in giving weight and meaning to the ILO's historic action. Failure to act now would risk undermining the legitimacy and credibility of the ILO and the broader effort to insist that workers' human rights must be universally respected.
The AFL-CIO is requesting the United States government to ban immediately all imports from Burma. The totalitarian involvement of the Burmese military government in all economic activity in the country continues to provide crucial financial support to the military leaders, who seized power from the democratically elected government in 1990. The military leaders are guilty of pervasive and deadly forced labor practices in road and other construction projects, commercial ventures, as well as in military porterage. Many of the factories exporting to the United States are jointly owned by members of the military junta, so every time an American consumer purchases an item made in Burma, he or she unwittingly funds one of the most repressive and brutal dictatorships in the world.
Banning imports from Burma is an appropriate and timely response to the ILO' s call to action. The United States is one of Burma's largest consumer markets, and the fastest growing. The legitimately elected government-in-exile, the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, has joined the call for trade sanctions against Burma, as have the exiled trade union representatives in the Federation of Trade Unions-Burma.
Every day that goes by further endangers the prospects for rebuilding democracy in Burma. Many observers believe that the military government is determined to wipe out what is left of Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, before the end of the year. The Medal ofFreedom awarded so meritoriously to Aung San Suu Kyi last week will provide small comfort if her party and her movement are effectively eradicated.
The AFL-CIO is working closely with our trade union colleagues in Europe and around the world to urge their governments to impose an import and investment ban on Burma immediately. We will raise this issue again later this month at the U.S./E.U. Summit here in Washington, when the AFL-CIO and the European Trade Union Confederation will present a joint statement to you and President Chirac.
I look forward to continuing to work with your Administration on addressing this critical situation in a forceful and effective way. I hope I can count on your personal leadership to bring about swift and decisive action to ban imports from Burma. If the current set of horrific circumstances does not warrant such action, nothing ever will.
Sincerely,
John J. Sweeney President