For Immediate Release: August 31st, 2004
Contact: (202) 223-0300
BURMA
DEMOCRACY ACTIVIST PRAISE “PRINCIPLED”
DECISION-MAKING

(Washington, DC) - The US Campaign
for Burma today welcomed the cancellation of
three major tours to Burma by the American Museum
of Natural History (AMNH), Smithsonian Institution
(Smithsonian Journeys), and Asia Society. Burma’s
democracy movement, led by the world’s only
incarcerated Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung
San Suu Kyi, has called for a boycott of tourism
to Burma until there is a irreversible transition
to democracy.

“These decisions represent principled reasoning,”
said Aung Din, a former political prisoner from
Burma and policy director with the US Campaign
for Burma, who met with officials of AMNH last
month.

“We’re grateful that such respected institutions
took a fresh look at the situation in Burma
and decided that it is not appropriate to travel
to Burma right now.”

On August 30th, AMNH informed USCB of its intent
to cancel its “Expedition to Burma”
scheduled for October, 2004, three days after
the Smithsonian Journeys cancelled its own trip.
The Asia Society informed USCB of its decision
in a letter dated August 12th.

Tourism is linked to human rights abuses and
benefits Burma’s military
regime in a number of ways. First, the regime
uses forced labor–a modern form of slavery–to
develop its tourist infrastructure. The International
Labor Organization reports that “the military
treats the civilian population as an unlimited
pool of unpaid forced laborers and servants
at their disposal. The practice of forced labor
is to encourage private investment in infrastructure
development, public sector works and tourism
projects.” As a result of the military
regime’s use of forced labor, the ILO has called
for international sanctions on Burma, the first
time the organization has taken such action
in its 80-year history.

Second, thousands of Burmese people have been
forced from their homes to make way for tourism
developments or as part of so-called “beautification”
projects. These people are usually left without
homes or shelter, so that tourists can “enjoy”
the areas where they used to live.

Third, Burma’s regime, desperate to get its
hands on dollars, milks the
tourism industry to maximize government intake.
The country’s Minister of Hotels and Tourism,
Major General Saw Lwin, admitted that the government
receives about 12 per cent of the income even
of private tourism services, while the military
regime receives much larger sums from visa fees
and government-controlled entities.

Many prominent individuals, organizations, and
companies have joined the boycott of tourism
to Burma, similarly to the 1980s boycott of
South
Africa’s apartheid government. According to
the popular “Rough Guides” travel
guide, “There are occasional instances
where any benefits (from tourism) are overshadowed
by the nature of the social and political climate.

Apartheid South Africa was an example. Burma,
with its brutal dictatorship, state control
of the economy and forced labor used to build
its tourist infrastructure, is another. As long
as the military regime remains in power and
Aung San Suu Kyi - leader of the democratically
elected National League for Democracy - requests
that tourists do not visit, Rough Guides will
not publish a guide to the country.”

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