• News Release

  

  

  Related Materials

  • Burma: Time For Change
    Task Force Report
    June 2003

  See Also

  Burma/Myanmar

  Council-sponsored Task Force to U.S. Government: Go to the United Nations, Condemn Burmese Military Crackdown on Democratic Opposition and Impose Sanctions

  June 18, 2003
  Council on Foreign Relations

  
  Senator Dianne Feinstein, Task Force Director Mathea Falco
  and Senator Mitch McConnell at Wednesday's roll out on Capitol Hill.

  ---

  WASHINGTON, June 18 - The United States must urge the UN Security Council to hold an emergency session on Burma to condemn the military government’s recent crackdown on the democratic opposition there, concludes the newly released Council-sponsored Independent Task Force, Burma: A Time For Change.

  In that session, the Security Council should impose targeted sanctions on Burma, including denying visas to leaders of the military regime, freezing their assets, banning new investments and the import of Burmese goods. The Task Force also strongly recommends that the United States adopt an immediate import ban on goods produced in Burma—even if there is no UN Security Council resolution to that effect. At the same time, the United States should increase humanitarian assistance to Burma to help mitigate that country’s massive refugee crisis and public health emergencies, particularly the HIV/AIDS epidemic. “This report will trigger the first serious debate in years about what America believes it stands for in Burma and around the world,” said Council President Leslie H. Gelb.

  Burma is one of the most tightly controlled dictatorships in the world. For over four decades, Burma’s 50 million people have been oppressed by military rulers that have systematically impoverished the country’s natural and human resources. In recent weeks, the Burmese military regime aggressively moved to wipe out the already fragile democratic opposition.

  The Task Force, led by Mathea Falco, president of Drug Strategies and former assistant secretary of state for international narcotics matters, also makes recommendations for U.S. policy toward Burma in the areas of human rights, democracy and the rule of law; humanitarian assistance, particularly HIV/AIDS; narcotics control; and refugees. “The Burmese regime has repeatedly broken its promises to begin substantive dialogue with the democratic opposition,” said Falco, “It is time for the UN and the international community to take action.”

  Among the Task Force’s recommendations, the United States should:

  • Redouble its efforts with the governments of China, Japan and the ASEAN countries— particularly Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia— to press the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) to work with the National League for Democracy (NLD) and ethnic nationalities toward political transition in Burma.

  • Strongly discourage Japan from forgiving outstanding debt from bilateral grants and loans until the SPDC makes substantial progress on human rights and engages in substantive political dialogue with the democratic opposition.

  • Urge Asian investors to press the SPDC to begin implementing the economic measures recommended by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank as one of the prerequisites for further investment.

  • Encourage China to press the Burmese government to reform its economy and move towards democratic governance to promote stability in the region.

  • Tie increased counter-narcotics cooperation to significant steps by the Burmese government to curb methamphetamine production, to arrest leading traffickers, and to stop channeling drug money into the illicit economy.

  • Provide increased humanitarian assistance for refugees along both sides of the Thai-Burma border, and on Burma's borders with India, Bangladesh, and China.

  • In view of Burma's massive public health crisis, the U.S. should increase humanitarian aid, provided that the funds are given to international nongovernmental organizations through a process that requires transparency, accountability and consultation with the NLD and other groups representative of a multi-ethnic Burma.

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  Established in 1921, the Council on Foreign Relations is a nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank, dedicated to increasing America’s understanding of the world and contributing ideas to U.S. foreign policy. The Council accomplishes this mainly by promoting constructive debates, clarifying world issues, producing reports, and publishing Foreign Affairs, the leading journal on global issues.

  Full text of the Council-sponsored Independent Task Force, Burma: A Time for Change.

  TASK FORCE MEMBERS

  MATHEA FALCO
  Task Force Chair
  President of Drug Strategies
  Former Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics Matters (1977-1981)

  MAUREEN AUNG-THWIN
  Open Society Institute

  JANET BENSHOOF
  Human Rights Lawyer

  GEORGE C. BIDDLE
  International Rescue Committee

  ROBERT CARSWELL
  Of Counsel, Shearman & Sterling

  W. BOWMAN CUTTER
  Warburg Pincus

  DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA)
  United States Senate

  ADRIENNE GERMAIN
  President, International Women’s Health Coalition
  Member of the Asia and Women’s Rights advisory committees of Human Rights Watch and the Millennium Development Goals Project Task Force on Child Mortality and Maternal Health

  DAVID L. GOLDWYN
  President, Goldwyn International Strategies, LLC
  Former Assistant Secretary of Energy for International Affairs

  DONALD GREGG
  Chairman, The Korea Society
  U.S. Embassy, Burma (1964-1966)
  Ambassador to Korea (1989-1993)

  JAMES B. HEIMOWITZ
  President and CEO, JBH Consulting Group, Inc

  J. WILLIAM ICHORD
  Vice President, Government and International Relations for Unocal Corporation

  EDWARD KLEIN
  Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair Magazine

  JOSHUA KURLANTZICK
  Foreign Editor, The New Republic

  TOM LANTOS (D-CA)
  United States House of Representatives

  RICHARD LUGAR (R-IN)
  United States Senate

  TOM MALINOWSKI
  Washington Advocacy Director, Human Rights Watch
  Senior Director, National Security Council (1998-2001)

  MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY)
  United States Senate

  ROBERT B. MILLMAN
  Professor of Psychiatry and Public Health, Cornell University
  Director of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services, New York Presbyterian Hospital

  ARYEH NEIER
  President, Open Society Institute
  Former Executive Director, Human Rights Watch

  MARY ANNE SCHWALBE
  Board member, the International Rescue Committee
  Former Executive Director, Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children

  BROOKE L. SHEARER
  Consultant

  GEORGE SOROS
  Open Society Institute
  Chairman, Soros Fund Management LLC
  Author of seven books, most recently George Soros on Globalization

  DAVID I. STEINBERG
  Director of Asian Studies, Georgetown University
  Author of Burma: The State of Myanmar (2001)

  ROSE STYRON
  Poet, journalist and human rights activist
  Former chair, Amnesty International's National Advisory Council

  MONA SUTPHEN
  Managing Director, Stonebridge International LLC
  Former Special Assistant to National Security Adviser Samuel Berger

  KENNETH WOLLACK
  President, National Democratic Institute for International Affairs

  TASK FORCE OBSERVERS

  MORTON I. ABRAMOWITZ
  The Century Foundation

  JOHN BRANDON
  The Asia Foundation

  MATTHEW P. DALEY
  U.S. Department of State

  NANCY ELY-RAPHEL
  U.S. Department of State

  ERIC P. SCHWARTZ
  Council on Foreign Relations

  CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH (R-NJ)
  United States House of Representatives

  NANCY E. SODERBERG
  International Crisis Group

  DANILO TURK
  United Nations Department of Political Affairs

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