We need your help!

This page explains why we need “Secret Shoppers” for Burma.  Click here to learn how.

Why do we need “secret shoppers”?

Recently, Congress decided to ban the import of Burmese “Blood Rubies” in response to Burma’s military regime’s atrocities against ethnic minorities and the violent suppression of peaceful Monks and democracy activists.  “This bill hits the Burmese leaders where it hurts – in the wallet. It’s our hope that these sanctions will push other countries to examine their own financial dealings with Burma,” said Representative Berman, a Democrat from California.

Regardless of their aesthetic value, buying rubies that fuel oppression in Burma is immoral.  The recently enacted “Block Burmese JADE (Junta’s Anti-Democratic Efforts) Act” now makes it illegal for jewelers and their suppliers to import rubies from Burma.  This was a huge victory in the movement for a free and democratic Burma.  However, it is possible that in anticipation of this new law, jewelers and their suppliers may have stockpiled rubies from Burma because it is not illegal to sell rubies that were imported prior to the JADE Act.

Our goal is now twofold: 1) Identify jewelers who continue to sell Burmese rubies 2) discourage jewelers from selling and consumers from buying any Burmese rubies, regardless of their legality, because it is a symbol of the oppression of the people of Burma.  It has been public knowledge for a long time that the ruby trade contributes to oppression in Burma, yet a loophole in US law has allowed Burmese rubies into the US while most other Burmese products were banned.  Jewelers who have continued to stock Burmese rubies should not be rewarded with our hard earned dollars.

HERE IS WHERE YOU COME IN: We will need “secret shoppers” to go into jewelry stores across America to find out which jewelers still carry Burmese Rubies. While we are using the term “secret” shopper, in reality there is nothing “secret” about this effort.  We simply want you to inquire at jewelry stores in your area if they continue to sell Burmese rubies.

Once you identify a jeweler selling Burmese rubies, you should inform us. We will write to the jewelers to inform them of the situation in Burma, the Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE Act, and why it is important not to sell Burmese Rubies.  We will ask them to do the ethical  thing and stop selling all Burmese rubies.  If the jewelers are not interested in ceasing to sell Burmese rubies, we will take further action, including a possible consumer boycott of that company.

We hope that you do this to help the Burmese people in their long struggle for an end to despotic military dictatorship.

Background on Burma’s Ruby Trade:

• Burma is the largest producer of high-quality rubies in the world, which are known for their highly coveted deep red color.   With over 90 percent of the world’s rubies, 98 percent of the world’s jadeite, and a wide range of other gemstones, including sapphire, spinel, and peridot, coming from Burma ,  the military junta relies on the sale of these gems to bring in money to finance their human rights abuses.

• According to a leading expert, trade of Burmese rubies and jadeite brings the military regime upwards of $562 million per year, much of which comes from unsuspecting American consumers!

• The gem trade in Burma is wrought with human rights abuses. Mining areas in Burma are plagued by “rampant land confiscation, extortion, forced labor, child labor, environmental pollution, and unsafe working conditions for miners.  HIV/AIDS, drug-resistance malaria, and tuberculosis are increasingly common in mining areas”  as well.

• Burma’s military regime has destroyed more than 3,300 ethnic minority villages in their scorched earth ethnic cleansing campaign which resulted in creating more than 1 million refugees, they have forcibly conscripted up to 70,000 child soldiers (more than any other country in the world), and have nearly doubled the number of political prisoners in the last 18 months to more than 2,100.

• The world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy have called for the international community to cut economic ties to the regime.  This strategy is similar to that used successfully by Nelson Mandela and the ANC to defeat Apartheid in South Africa.

• Many Jewelers have already done the right thing on Burma.  Some Jewelers took the lead on seeing that their industry does not support atrocities in Burma. For years, Leber Jeweler Inc. and Tiffany and Co. have had company policies in place to not sell gems from Burma.  In October 2007, “Jewelers of America” joined Leber Jeweler Inc. and Tiffany and Co. and issued a call to Congress to eliminate the legal loophole that permitted the importation of Burmese gems from third countries.

• The Block Burmese JADE Act, unanimously passed Congress and President Bush in July, and went into effect on October 27th, 2008. This act bans the import and sale of Burmese rubies and jadeite within the U.S.  Although the U.S. did have a ban on the trade of Burmese gems previous to this act, this new measure closes an important loophole that has allowed the import of Burmese gems into the United States via third countries, such as India and Thailand.

Click here to learn how!