Gems Trade Focused in Push for Sanctions

A service provider examines a jade stone displayed on the Gems Emporium in Naypyitaw, Myanmar on Nov. 13, 2018. Human rights activists are lobbying main jewelers to cease shopping for gems sourced in Myanmar as a technique to exert stress on Myanmar’s army leaders by limiting income from the nation’s profitable mining trade.

AP Photograph/Aung Shine Oo, File

BANGKOK (AP) — Human rights activists are lobbying main jewelers to cease shopping for gems sourced in Myanmar as a technique to exert stress on Myanmar’s army leaders by limiting income from the nation’s profitable mining trade.

A report by the group World Witness launched Wednesday outlines how the military is concerned in gemstone mining regardless of a moratorium on new licenses put in place earlier than the army seized energy on Feb. 1, ousting the federal government of Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

It comes as laws is pending within the U.S. Congress, the Burma Act of 2021, which might prohibit all U.S. imports of Myanmar gem stones.

“There isn’t any such factor as an ethically sourced Burmese ruby,” Clare Hammond, senior Myanmar campaigner at World Witness, stated in a press release. “These gem stones are bought as symbols of human connection and affection, but the availability chain is steeped in corruption and horrific human rights abuses.”

Final week, luxurious jeweler Harry Winston introduced it will not purchase gem stones with Burmese origins no matter after they have been imported.

Indian jewellery firm Vaibhav World stated in late November it had eliminated all listings of merchandise together with Myanmar gems whereas it investigates their sourcing. Vaibhav’s merchandise are bought extensively on-line, together with on Amazon, Overstock and Walmart’s websites.

Tiffany & Co. by no means resumed utilizing Burmese gems after U.S. sanctions in opposition to Myanmar have been lifted in 2016 when the nation was within the midst of political and financial reforms following a long time of army rule. Cartier, Signet Jewelers – the proprietor of the Zales, Kay Jewelers and Jared chains – and Boodles even have declared they aren’t sourcing gem stones from Myanmar.

However prized Burmese “pigeon blood” rubies and different lovely gem stones are simply accessible on many e-commerce websites, as are pricey gadgets of jewellery adorned with gems from strife-torn Mogok and different mining areas.

World Witness and different teams are urging all retailers of gems and jewellery to observe swimsuit in halting purchases and gross sales of such merchandise, describing the jade and gemstone sector as one of the army’s most vital sources of funding, particularly following the takeover 10 months in the past that has ignited widespread political turmoil.

Smuggling and illicit gross sales make it arduous to know precisely how huge the trade is, however revenues from gross sales of jade, pearls and gem stones are estimated to run into the billions of {dollars}.

Myanmar’s “pure useful resource wealth is proving to be a lifeline for the generals,” the report says. “For many years the army has consolidated its rule by looting the nation’s helpful pure sources.”

Confronted with widespread public opposition to their seizure of energy, the army has engaged in mass torture, launched assaults on medics and forcibly disappeared hundreds of individuals. Since February, troopers and police have killed not less than 1,300 individuals and arrested greater than 10,800, based on the Help Affiliation for Political Prisoners, which screens deaths and arrests.

Two state-run Myanmar conglomerates, Myanmar Financial Corp. and Myanma Financial Holdings Ltd., dominate the jade and gems commerce by way of numerous subsidiaries. Different gem merchants are thought be associates of Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who led the army takeover.

The U.S. and different governments have imposed sanctions on some military-affiliated corporations, military leaders and their households. One of many corporations topic to sanctions is Myanma Gems Enterprise, which is in control of licenses and permits for mining gems and jade and collects revenues from their sale.

The World Witness report, which analyzed official information, estimates that the gemstone trade alone generated revenues of $346 million to $415 million when it was in full operation, although a lot of the gems commerce is carried out by way of illicit channels.

Suu Kyi’s authorities suspended renewing or granting new licenses in 2016 and the final current license expired in 2020. So mining exercise now could be unauthorized, or not less than not primarily based on publicly disclosed licensing.

A lot of the mining is in Mogok township, the place most of Myanmar’s rubies, sapphires and different gems are unearthed. With huge operators not in enterprise, mining is generally performed by hand below perilous situations, the report stated.

Many gem stones are processed in Thailand and by the point they’re imported their origin has change into unclear, it stated.