By Corporation Law Nonprofit


Posted by Admin

By Corporation Law Nonprofit

By Corporation Law Nonprofit

While some companies operating in Burma try to justify their involvement in the country by claiming that pulling out would only harm ordinary Burmese people, most pro-democracy Burmese groups support targeted sanctions. Even Nobel laureate and imprisoned pro-Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi disputes the harm that sanctions cause for the average Burmese person. Targeted sanctions have a role to play because they send a strong political message, as well as an economic one. The Burma Campaign UK publishes The Dirty List, which is a list of all the known companies operating in Burma.

Foreign Companies and Government Profit at Expense of People

To claim that investment in Burma will help the people there is a blatant lie from companies that wish to downplay the role they are playing in supporting the dictatorial regime. Foreign companies can profit greatly from the extremely low pay given to workers, as well as the fact that unions are banned in the workplace and there are only limited health and safety laws in the country, which are rarely enforced. The minimum working age in Burma is just 13 years old, according to the Burma Campaign UK.

Travel Guides and Tourist Companies

Companies that organize tourist holidays in the country are no different. The regime has admitted that it receives at least 12 per cent of everything private tourists spend in the country, and they earn substantially more if tourists stay in regime-owned hotels. Travel book company Lonely Planet defends its guide to travel on Burma, despite not identifying in the guide what hotels are regime-owned or which tourist facilities were built with forced labour. Fodors, owned by Random House, is another travel guide that tries to legitimize travel to the country, along with many others. Tourism is a vital source of revenue for the regime.