Myanmar’s Sanctions
The history of conflict and human rights abuses in Myanmar is unfortunately long and little progress has been made on the matter. In the 1990’s, the Myanmar government was reported by the Human-rights groups of numerous abuses such as the jailing of trade unionists and the increased use of members of ethnic minority groups as forced laborers. In November of 2000 the International Labor Organization called for sanctions against Myanmar because of the country's use of forced labor. Significantly, the economic measures were not imposed because they would be barred by the World Trade Organization, to which Myanmar belongs. The United States and European Union (EU) have imposed limited economic sanctions, but allowed their petroleum corporations to remain in Myanmar as major investors. The Myanmar government has also come under considerable international criticism for its complicity in the country's massive drug trade. Myanmar is one of the world's largest producers of opium and heroin. More recently, in May 2008 Myanmar suffered a blow from Cyclone Nargis, a natural disaster which caused over 10,000 deaths as well as leaving much of the population homeless and in desperate help of humanitarian aid. However, the sanctions imposed on Myanmar prevented a sufficient amount of humanitarian aid accessing the country.
In the issue of reconsidering Myanmar’s sanctions, it is important to consider the history of the conflict in the area. Although it is undeniable that Myanmar has an unfortunate record of breaking international laws on basic human freedoms, imposing sanctions is stunting the growth of the country. A sanction by International Law is an action by one or more states toward another state calculated to force it to comply with legal obligations. There are different types of sanctions: economic, diplomatic, and military, all of which should be considered when developing a position on the matter. In negotiating these sanctions, think about what must be achieved for your country to take away sanctions on Myanmar, or what is your history with Myanmar. This issue is highly controversial and deserves a lot of thought, so please research and develop your countries position prudently and thoroughly.
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