German Bundestag Minor Interpellati

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Subject: German Bundestag Minor Interpellation

iUY-the war against the Burmese population, with tourist dollars and to improve their international standing.
The military government has committed massive violations of human rights to set up and extend the tourist infrastructure. Hundreds of thousands of people were forcibly resettled in the run-up to the year of tourism to make room for new hotels and shopping areas. Women, men, old people and children are being forced to build roads, railway lines and airports and restore tourist attractions.
Opening up the country to foreign tourists and investors is not synonymous with a political opening of the country itself. Ethnic minorities continue to be oppressed by the military junta, entire villages forcibly resettled within the framework of "ethnic cleansing", and members of various ethnic groups exhibited as tourist attractions in "human zoos". Burma's pro-democracy movement is being forcibly suppressed by the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), which came to power as a result of a putsch in 1988. As recently as late September 1996 hundreds of members of the opposition were arrested again and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi severely restricted in her freedom of expression and movement.
The opening up of Burma to tourism will bring in revenue which will not, however, benefit the impoverished population but Burma's rulers and foreign investors. On several occasions tourists who wanted to visit the opposition leader have been refused a visa by the Burmese rulers. At the end of September three tourists who wanted to listen to an address by Aung San Suu Kyi were arrested. Under these conditions tourism does not help promote democratization and enforcement of human rights.
The Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has appealed to the international community and to all tourists not to visit Burma at the moment, since it is in her view wrong to support the policy of the military government. The opposition leader has recently urged the European Union to impose rigorous economic sanctions on the military rulers.
The European Union and the USA have imposed sanctions on the military rulers in Burma. Representatives of the Burmese junta may, for instance, no longer travel to the USA or the European Union. Large international concerns, such as the Dutch brewery Heineken or the Danish company Carlsberg have broken off their business relations with Burma - under the pressure of boycott threats (TN: Carlsberg cuts Burma plan of 26.6.96).
A specialist group from the Swiss Travel Agents' Association has recommended its own industry not to promote Burma at the moment (Working Group on Tourism and Development of 5.11.96, inter alia). British tour operators have announced that, given the human rights violations in Burma, they would not offer any trips there (The Times, 6.6.96; News Release of Tourism Concern London, 7.5.96). On 5 November 1996 the Swiss Working Group on Tourism and Development, together with the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers Associations (IUF), advised against offering or making trips to Burma. Regardless of the international protest and sanctions, German operators will offer trips to Burma: the CONDOR airline is already offering flights to Burma, the tour operator NECKERMANN Reisen (NUR-Touristic) has announced that it will include Burma in its programme by winter 1996 (Frankfurter Rundschau of 7.9.96).
We put the following questions to the Federal Government:
1.	As far as the Federal Government knows, are there any other German tour operators who are currently offering trips to Burma or intend to offer trips to Burma in the next few months? If so, which operators are they?
Reply: The Federal Government has no information going beyond that available from generally accessible sources (travel brochures) about tour operators who are offering trips to Burma.


2.	As far as the Federal Government knows, has the German travel industry made any recommendation, comparable to that of the Swiss tourist industry, that Burma should not be promoted under the current political conditions?
Reply: The Federal Government is not aware that the German travel industry has made any such recommendation.

3.	In the view of the Federal Government, is it responsible for German travel companies to offer trips to Burma despite the continuing human rights violations there?
Reply: In the view of the Federal Government, the question of whether trips to Burma should be offered is in principle a matter to be decided by travel companies.

4.	What is the Federal Government's response, in view of the conditions in Burma described above, to the conduct of German tour operators (such as CONDOR and NECKERMANN) who are currently offering trips to Burma?
Reply:	See reply to question 3.

5.	In what way is the Federal Government influencing the travel industry not to include any trips to Burma in its catalogues on account of the human rights violations in Burma?
Reply:	See reply to question 3.

6.	Is the Federal Government using the talks with the tourist industry, within the framework of the dialogue with this branch of industry and the Advisory Council to the Federal Ministry of Economics on Tourism, in order to draw its attention to the precarious political situation in Burma and to influence it not to offer any trips to Burma at the moment? If not, why not?
Reply: The talks with the tourist industry as part of the dialogue conducted with various branches of industry and the meetings of the Advisory Council to the Federal Ministry of Economics on Tourism are forums for a broad discussion of questions concerning the tourist industry. At the same time, these bodies serve to promote an exchange of views and experience between representatives of the tourist industry and the Federal Ministry of Economics. In line with the Federal Government's approach, they are not used to influence the decisions freely taken by companies on the range of tourist services they offer.

7.	Given the political situation in Burma,will the Federal Government recommend holiday-makers not to travel to Burma at present? If not, why not?
Reply: The Federal Foreign Office issues travel information, recommendations and warnings which indicate, on the basis of the information available and considered reliable, the concrete situation in individual countries which poses a threat to business travellers or tourists in terms of crime or health or in any other way. The Federal Ministry of Economics sends this information to interested sections of the tourist industry. Given the current situation in terms of the danger to tourists and business travellers in Myanmar, there is in the view of the Federal Government no cause to recommend not travelling to Myanmar. Moreover, in the opinion of the Federal Government, it is up to the individual to decide whether he or she wishes to travel to Myanmar.

8.	Did the Federal Government approve Burma's admission to the World Tourism Organization in 1995? If so, why did it do so, although the human rights violations in connection with the establishment of the tourist infrastructure were already known in 1995?
Reply: Pursuant to Article 5 of the Statutes of the World Tourism Organization, membership is open to all sovereign states. The Statutes do not provide for any special votes or conditions.

9.	Will the Federal Government actively advocate Burma's exclusion from the World Tourism Organization in view of the continuing human rights violations? If not, why not?
Reply: In the view of the Federal Government, the exclusion of Myanmar from the World Tourism Organization would not have the intended political effect.

10.	What political and economic sanctions has the Federal Government already imposed on the military rulers in Burma to bring about democratization and an end to the human rights violations?
Reply: The measures of the Federal Government to promote progress on the road to democratization and the release of political prisoners in Myanmar have been taken on the basis of the Common Position of 28 October 1996 defined by the Council of the European Union on Myanmar.

11.	Is the Federal Government planning to impose political and economic sanctions on the military rulers in Burma to bring about democratization and an end to the human rights violations?
Reply:	The Federal Government does not at present consider economic sanctions to be an appropriate instrument to induce the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) to change its policy in the direction of democratization and respect for human rights. Myanmar is one of the poorest countries in the world. Economic sanctions would above all cause the economic situation of broad sections of the population to deteriorate further without having a lasting effect on the rulers.

12.	Has the Federal Government imposed sanctions on Burma comparable to those imposed by the USA and the European Union?
Reply: The newly imposed restrictive measures against Myanmar reaffirmed by the European Union in the Common Position of 28 October 1996 are comparable with the sanctions imposed by the United States of America. The restrictive measures are:
-	expulsion of all military personnel attached to the diplomatic representations of Myanmar in Member States of the European Union and withdrawal of all military personnel attached to diplomatic representations of the Member States of the European Union in Myanmar;
-	an embargo on arms, munitions and military equipment;
-	suspension in principle of non humanitarian aid or development programmes;
-	a ban on entry visas for senior members of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and their families;
-	a ban on entry visas for senior members of the military or the security forces who formulate, implement or benefit from policies that impede Myanmar's transition to democracy, and their families;
-	suspension of high-level bilateral governmental (Ministers and Officials at the level of political director and above) visits to Myanmar.
	The Federal Government of course endorses these measures. 

13.	Will the Federal Government actively advocate, within the European Union, the imposition of rigorous economic sanctions on Burma, as demanded by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi? If not, why not?
Reply:	See reply to question 11.

14.	Is the Federal Government actively advocating that, on account of its human rights violations, Burma be denied the favourable European Union import duties granted under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP)? If not, why not?
Reply:	Under Council Regulation (EC) No 3281/94 applying a four-year scheme of generalized tariff preferences, these preferences may be withdrawn in the event of any contravention of the Geneva Conventions of 25 September 1926 and 7 September 1956 and International Labour Organization Conventions Nos 29 and 105. The European Commission is currently investigating whether these conventions are being contravened in Myanmar. The Federal Government will study carefully the report which the European Commission will submit upon completion of its investigations, and will then decide its position on possible withdrawal of preferences in the case of Myanmar.

15.	As far as the Federal Government knows, which German companies currently maintain business relations with Burma?
Reply:	The Federal Government has no extensive knowledge about what companies are currently involved in activities in Myanmar and the projects which they are carrying out. Where it knows of individual cases, the Federal Government is unable, on account of the generally applicable principle of the protection of trade and business secrets (Section 30 of the Law on Administrative Proceedings), to name the companies concerned.

16.	What projects are currently being carried out by German companies in Burma?
Reply:	See reply to question 15.

17.	Is the Federal Government actively advocating that these companies break off  their business relations with Burma, as the Dutch brewery Heineken and the Danish company Carlsberg have done? If not, why not?
Reply:	In the opinion of the Federal Government, it is in principle up to the companies concerned to decide whether, in view of the generally accessible information on Myanmar, they wish to do business in that country.

18.	Is the Federal Government currently promoting tourism-related projects in Burma? If so, what projects?
Reply:	No.

19.	Are tourism-related projects in Burma being promoted by national institutions (e.g. Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit, Development Loan Corporation, German Finance Company for Investments in Developing Countries) or multilateral institutions (e.g. World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Asian Development Fund) in which the Federal Government is financially involved? If so, what projects are being promoted?
Reply:	No.

20.	Will the Federal Government impose rigorous economic sanctions on the military government in Burma, as recently demanded by the Burmese opposition leader? If not, why not?
Reply:	See reply to question 11.

21.	Is the Federal Republic aware of any diplomatic difficulties which the new Burmese Ambassador in Bonn, Mr. Tun Ngwe, had during his diplomatic activities in Japan in 1990? (Asian News of 9.2.90 and 15.2.90)? If so, what is the response of the Federal Government?
Reply:	The Federal Government has no information on the previous work of the current Ambassador of the Union of Myanmar in Bonn which might affect his work in Germany.

22.	What is the response of the Federal Government to cooperation between the SLORC government and drugs barons, such as Khun Sa (Robert S. Gelbard: FEER: SLORC's drugs LinKs of 21.11.96 and Burma ALERt, Volume 7, No. 3, March 1996)?
Reply:	The Federal Government uses every opportunity to encourage the Government of Myanmar to take firm action to combat drug production and the drugs trade.

23.	What is the Federal Government's position on recognition of the elected government of Burma, the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), which is currently in exile?
Reply:	The Federal Republic of Germany maintains diplomatic relations with the Union of Myanmar.

24.	Are there any contacts with the military government in Burma at diplomatic level? If so, what form do these diplomatic relations take?
Reply:	The Federal Government maintains an embassy in Rangoon, whose tasks include maintaining contact with the government of the host country. These contacts are used to express our views on human rights issues and questions concerning democracy and to call for improvements in these fields.

25.	What diplomatic activities is the Federal Government engaging in so as to strengthen the Burmese democratic opposition and improve the human rights situation?
Reply: The Federal Government was actively involved in drawing up the Common Position of 28 October 1996 defined by the European Council on Myanmar.Germany was one of the cosponsors of this year's UN resolution on the human rights situation in Myanmar. The Federal Government conducts regular talks, via the German Embassy in Rangoon, with the democratic opposition and Nobel peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The Federal Government also has discussions with the "National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma" (NCGUB). Moreover, the Federal Government supports measures taken by the political foundations which benefit the democratic opposition in Myanmar. Furthermore, the Federal Government is seeking, in talks with its partners in the ASEAN states, to encourage the latter to bring their influence to bear on the Government of Myanmar in order to improve the situation in that country.

Bonn, 26 November 1996

Halo Saibold, Angelika Koster-Lossack, Wolfgang Schmitt, Joseph Fischer, Kerstin Muller and the parliamentary group of ALLIANCE 90/THE GREENS
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s an embassy in Rangoon, whose tasks include maintaining contact with the government of the host country. These contacts are used to express our views on human rights issues and questions concerning democracy and to call for improvements in these fields.

25.	What diplomatic activities is the Federal Government engaging in so as to strengthen the Burmese democratic