Opportunities for reform and the role of myanmars international partners. Myanmar s many tariffs include a 20 percent valuebased tax on jade at mine sites and 10 percent on sales at government jade sales, but global witness. How open company data was used to uncover the powerful elite benefiting from myanmar s multibillion dollar jade industry. However, based on new research and analysis, global witness estimates that the value of. The decision of a myanmar court to sentence two reuters journalists to seven years in prison for violating the official secrets act represents a predetermined outcome to a sham trial, that is having a chilling impact on civil society and press freedom in the country.
Fearing that the new civilian government will assert authority over jade mining, the military initiated violence in mining townships. Kbz responds to global witness report consult myanmar. Myanmar jade rush muddies promise of change, fuels conflict lifestyle the jakarta post. But so far its people have not benefited from the brand. With our partners, we took a virtual journey around the world to tell the story of one of the biggest corporate corruption cases in history and the search for truth and accountability. Myanmar s parliament has passed a new law governing the gemstone sector.
Global witness has released a report into the jade business in myanmar that, for the first time, reveals the scale of the industry and details how it. According to international anticorruption ngo global witness, the law may do little to reform the notoriously corrupt, conflicttainted, multibillion dollar jade sector while allowing companies involved in illegal activities and human rights and environmental harms to secure access to the valuable. Until now the jade sectors worth has been almost impossible to determine. An october 2015 report by global witness noted that myanmars jade industry is exploited by the nations elites. Jade and the generals global witness report update may 2017 1. New documentary shows how jade fuels war in kachin state. Global witness condemns sentencing of two myanmar journalists. Using geocoded data on conflict and jade mines, the authors find evidence for this strategic use of violence. Myanmars big state secret library records od mekong. Global witness issues report on myanmars big state. Governance and innovation estimating jade sales were worth usd 7.
Myanmar s big state secret in october we released jade. An anticorruption group has found ties between wealthy families and the countrys lucrative jade trade. Global witness has been advocating for this since 20, and the resulting regulation contained almost all of our key demands. Jade is most prized in myanmar s giant northern neighbor china and is more valuable than most precious gems. Two senior myanmar officials were purged from their posts this week after an investigation over corruption in the countrys multibilliondollar jade mining industry, authorities said friday. Around 100 people have died in a huge landslide in a remote jade mining area of northern myanmar, officials said sunday, as search teams continued to. Nearly 100 dead, 100 missing in landslide at myanmar jade mine. Myanmar jade rush muddies promise of change, fuels. According to global witness, an organisation that strives to expose corruption and environmental abuse, myanmar s jade. Scores killed in myanmar jade mine landslide arab news.
Aung san suu kyi moves to clean up myanmars murky jade trade. For decades myanmar has been run by a military dictatorship that ruled with one iron fist and stole with the other. At least 6 confirmed dead in landslide at myanmar jade mine. Human rights council the economic interests of the myanmar. According to global witness, most of myanmar s jade is exported or smuggled to china, which. Extractive industries transparency initiative eiti. Its success in raising millions of dollars in taxes from businesses led to a suspension of mining, ordered by the government, from may 2012 to september 2014, the report said. The money is thought to help fund the militarys ongoing conflict against ethnic armed organizations, including the kachin independence army, ever forestalling the prospect of peace. According to estimates by global witness, myanmars jade.
Addressing tax evasion in myanmar s jade and gemstone industry introduction myanmar s mineral wealth is slipping through its citizens fingers. At least 12 dead in myanmar jade mine landslide, many. The authors uncover this dynamic in myanmar, a country transitioning from four decades of military rule. We regard the report as being for the good of the country. Jade and the generals global witness report update may 2017. Evolving environmental governance under a regime in transition. Myanmar s big state secret, the culmination of an explosive 12month investigation.
White paper how open company data was used to uncover. At least 27 people are feared dead following a landslide at a jade mine in northern myanmar, police said wednesday, as heavy rains hampered. Myanmars new gemstone law is flawed says global witness. Myanmar s big state secret that the kia made hpakant a strategic target when con. How open company data was used to uncover the powerful. Myanmar elites profit from corrupt jade industry, study. Impacts of heavy mining machinery employed in myanmars jade mining. According to one ndak administrative officer, it is not easy to get logs anymore and china is not buying no logs, jade or. Hpakant jade mines, or the population of myanmar as a whole.
Myanmar s big state secret the sums involved in what one industry representative calls the governments big state secret are staggering. Myanmar jade rush muddies promise of change, fuels conflict. The country accounts for more than 90 percent of global jade supply, and is a leading source for highquality rubies, sapphires and other varieties of colored gemstone. Kbz will continue to collaborate with global witness to upgrade the standard of the mining industry in myanmar, he added.
From mine to market myanmar s jade industry is worth billions of dollars annually, and yet only a small fraction. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Were not surprised to hear about this terrible incident. Presentations ppt, key, pdf logging in or signing up. For myanmar, jade trading is essential to its economy, contributing almost half of its gross domestic product gdp. Meanwhile, very few revenues reach the people of kachin state, the site of the. Global witness also found many logs and a sawmill in the area of lagwi, in 2006. The global witness report then incorporates more sales data from another local jade fair that was organized in 2014, and applies the harvardproximity 20 percentage split again to this expanded dataset to arrive at what global witness considered to be the most accurate estimate for the value of the jade sector, which was usd 31 billion. Myanmar jade mine landslide kills at least 19 in hpakant region. Myanmar is so closely identified with natural resources such as jade, rubies and teak that its name is a brand in itself.
At least 6 confirmed dead in landslide at myanmar jade. Its the men who haggle at the markets, but myanmar s jade industry is run predominantly by women, and they are optimistic about its future despite the moratorium on jade mining every morning at 9am, the intersection of 86th and 40th streets in mandalay is awakened by the clanging of jade bangles. Remote sensing of mining change between 2002 and 2015. Global witness met with kbz during its yearlong investigation into the sector, and was satisfied with the companys cooperation, he said. This was achieved through the expertise of opencorporates in converting the web pages on the myanmar company register into structured data, and global witness s. This figure equates to up to 48 per cent of myanmar s.
Resources like gas, gems, and timber were shackled to a war economy and treated as the private businesses of elite military families. News myanmar elites profit from corrupt jade industry, study claims. At least 27 feared dead in myanmar jade mine landslide. Myanmar s newly elected government said on tuesday that it plans to tighten safety controls at the countrys poorly regulated jade mines after a landslide swept over a mining encampment, resulting in a death toll expected to reach around 200 people. Aung san suu kyi moves to clean up myanmar s murky jade trade. Civil society groups demand halt to hpakant jade mining. Myanmar jade mining drives rights abuses, disasters and. Global witness myanmar extractives team leader paul donowitz told mining technology. The contextual section on myanmar mining, however, simply mentions that jade is produced from the kachin state in upper myanmar.
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