POSITION PAPER ON THE INCLUSION OF
The National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB) is an umbrella group of 30
pro-democracy organisations, including ethnic nationality groups.
The NCUB’s position is that the ADB should exclude Burma from all GMS
projects until Burma is ruled by a government that is committed to the
principles of transparency, accountability, public participation in
decision-making processes, and independent monitoring.
Briefly, NCUB’s position is based on the following grounds:
GIVING LEGITIMACY & THE WRONG MESSAGE:
Inclusion of Burma in ADB’s GMS projects will give the military regime
further legitimacy and worse still, send a wrong message to the junta. The
regime will assume that its use of the civilian population as hostages to
international funding, its economic mismanagement and severe human rights
violations are tacitly acceptable to the international community.
PROVIDING INCOME TO THE REGIME:
The regime, through various state-owned enterprises such as the Union
of Myanmar Economic Holdings (UMEH) and Myanmar Economic Corporation, retains a
strong hold on Burma’s formal economy.
Hence the regime, its leaders, and partners such as the notorious Union
and Solidarity Development Association (USDA), will be able to enrich
themselves from injections to the formal economy. It is unacceptable that the
USDA, an organization involved in several attacks on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,
including the May 30 Depayin Massacre last year, could be “rewarded” through
ADB projects.
The track record of the regime indicates that any “trickle down effect”
from wealth generated by GMS projects will be offset by increased “taxation”,
corruption and extortion of ordinary civilians. The experience of the 90s’
economic boom in Burma has shown that the regime tends to use increased income
for military expansion at the expense of education, health and other urgent
needs of the people.
EXPOSURE TO MONEY LAUNDERING & TRANSNATIONAL CRIME:
Several business partners of the regime, including two banks, have been
outlawed by the US government for involvement in drug production and
trafficking. The Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) has consistently cited Burma
as failing in adopting adequate countermeasures against money-laundering. The
regime’s infrastructural development priorities have coincided with an
increased flow of drugs including heroin and amphetamine type stimulants (ATS)
to Burma’s neighbours.
Inclusion of Burma in the GMS road transportation project is likely to
bring greater benefit to the drug cartels and their associates by providing
more efficient transportation facilities, along with the spread of HIV/AIDS, as
has been evidenced in the case of India and China.
In addition, such projects are more likely to involve companies linked
to transnational crime. For example, the Pyin Oo Lwin – Muse road construction
was awarded to the Asia World Company, owned by the family of infamous
druglord, Lo Hsing Han. Asia World, a company that has also been involved in
several large infrastructure development projects including the Rangoon Ahlone
port project, is likely to become an indirect partner of the ADB through GMS
projects in Burma.
FORCED LABOUR & SERIOUS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS:
Forced labour continues to be a severe problem
with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) noting at its International
Labour Conference in June this year that “forced recruitment of
children and even the use of persons as minesweepers were still in use”.
The ADB’s support for the Burmese regime’s infrastructure projects
through the GMS plan will lead to increased human rights violations including
forced relocation, confiscation of land and property, extortion, and even extra
judicial killings and sexual violence. All these violations have been widely
documented in conjunction with various economic and infrastructural development
projects conducted by the regime.
In addition, it is likely that forced recruitment of children into the
army will increase, to meet the need for more security on such projects.
CONCLUSION:
The ADB should fully engage with Burma when there is a government which
truly represents the will of the people of Burma, a government that is
committed to the principles of accountability and transparency.
If the ADB rushes into Burma, and uses GMS projects as a “backdoor” to
Burma, it risks being connected to human rights violations and transnational
crime.
In the meantime, the ADB should consult and meet regularly with elected
members of parliament especially those of the National League for Democracy
(NLD) which won the 1990 election with 82% of the vote. The ADB should also
consult and maintain contact with the NCUB, an umbrella organisation that
fulfils a vital role to link 30 organisations form Burma with the international
community.