An ethnic Rakhine man with homemade weapons walks near houses that were set aflame during fighting between Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities in Sittwe, Burma, on June 10. (Reuters)
31 December 2013
“The United States, I think, has played a really important role in this period in standing up against atrocities and for democracy and human rights” in Burma.
–Samantha Power, U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations, Nov. 20, 2013
“Today, more than 1,000 political prisoners have been released, and we’re helping Burma build a credible electoral infrastructure ahead of its 2015 national elections. We’re supporting a process of constitutional reform and national reconciliation.
As Burma moves toward greater openness and change, we are easing sanctions, while encouraging responsible investment and robust support for the people and civil society activists who suffered so long under the iron fist of dictatorship.”
–National Security Adviser Susan Rice, speech at Georgetown University, Nov. 20, 2013
The Obama administration has often pointed to the recent political reforms in Burma, also known as Myanmar, as one of its foreign-policy success stories. Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, completed her lengthy term of house arrest and was elected a member of parliament as a brutal military dictatorship gave way to a quasi-military, semi-authoritarian process dominated by former regime officials.
President Obama rewarded the government of President Thein Shein with a high-profile presidential visit to Burma in 2012, during which Thein Sein made 11 commitments to deepen democracy and protect human rights. Thein Sein reaffirmed these pledges when he visited the White House in 2013.
Such political transformations are always difficult, and the Obama administration has had to balance its response. The United States was a leader in imposing sanctions on the junta, but in order to encourage more openness, many sanctions have been lifted and business investment now is flowing into the country. Under a constitution written by the military, at least 25 percent of the seats in parliament are reserved for the military; Suu Kyi’s political party is greatly limited in the number of seats it is permitted to contest. A provision in the constitution currently prevents her from running for president.
One key question is whether the rush to lift sanctions robbed the United States of leverage to prod the government to open even further and to curtail human rights abuses, such as brutal attacks on Muslims and continuing ethnic conflicts.
For the purposes of this fact check, we will examine how the administration has stood up against atrocities and shown “robust support for the people and civil society activists,” as asserted by Power and Rice, especially as the United States proposes to step up military cooperation with Burma. The risk is that the desire for a success-story narrative makes U.S. officials increasingly reluctant to speak out.
Power, when she was a White House official, in 2012 laid down some key markers—including the “critical urgency” of “bringing those responsible [for anti-Muslim violence] to justice”– in a blog post that appeared during Obama’s visit to Burma:
The challenge of ongoing ethnic and sectarian violence — including in Shan State, Kachin State, and Rakhine State – remains an area of deep and on-going concern. If left unaddressed, it will undermine progress toward national reconciliation, stability, and lasting peace. Serious human rights abuses against civilians in several regions continue, including against women and children. Humanitarian access to hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons remains a serious challenge and on-going crisis. The government and the ethnic nationalities need to work together urgently to find a path to lasting peace that addresses minority rights, deals with differences through dialogue not violence, heals the wounds of the past, and carries reforms forward. The situation in Rakhine State and the recent violence against the Rohingya and other Muslims last week only underscores the critical urgency of ensuring the safety and security of all individuals in the area, investigating all reports of violence and bringing those responsible to justice, according citizenship and full rights to the Rohingya, and bringing about economic opportunity for all local populations.
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