EU foreign ministers deliberate on ban on imports of precious stones from Burma

The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) has welcomed the decision of the European Union to impose a ban on the import of precious stones and precious metals from Burma. "The ban on precious stones is important because it takes from the junta one of their main sources of revenue”, said the GfbV Burma expert, Ulrich Delius. For Burma’s minorities the ruthless mining of precious metals has turned into a curse, since it endangers their environment and health. The GfbV warned of a circumvention of the embargo since a large proportion of the precious stones is already exported illegally to India, Thailand and China.

The GfbV made in its criticism special mention of the German jewellers who are keeping silent on the import of precious stones from Burma. "The fact that the German jewellers have waited for a political decision before closing the controversial trade with Burma does not exactly speak for their integrity and ethical awareness”, said Delius. In Great Britain, France, Italy and the USA, on the other hand, leading jewellers have already called for a boycott of the trade with Burma.

The trade with rubies and other precious stones between April 2006 and March 2007 produced according to the official figures an income of 297 million US dollars. Three times a year Myanmar invites foreign dealers to auctions of precious stones. At the last auction in March 2007 stones to the value of 185 million US dollars were sold. So the export of precious stones was, besides the trade with teak and mineral oil and natural gas, the most important source of income for the country.

The precious stones are mined on the land of the ethnic minorities in the north and east of Burma. Those most affected by the consequences of the ruthless mining are the Christian Kachin, the Shan and the Mon. In the case of the Kachin areas as large as Schleswig-Holstein (or the county of Yorkshire) were released for mining purposes by the junta. The use of quicksilver and cyanide in gold-mining has resulted in the contamination of several rivers, meaning the end of fishing, the traditional basis of sustenance. The "Northern Star Minerals” company, which is controlled by the junta, is the largest mines operator.

The precious stones are mined in over one thousand mines, to which foreigners are not allowed access. Burma produces 90% of all rubies in the world and is planning an expansion of this trade. 215 new licences for the mining of jade and precious stones have been issued (99 in the federal state of Kachin and 77 in the region of Shan).