U.S. Urgently Needs plan to Support Reform of Myanmar’s vast, Dirty Jade Trade after Obama Announces Sanctions Lift

Efforts must focus on clearing army companies and families out of sector worth up to $31bn in 2014, and supporting local calls for reform and peace […]

Beneficial Ownership: Tackling Hidden Company Ownership Through Myanmar’s EITI Process

Myanmar is one of many countries where the oil, gas and mining industries have long been synonymous with secrecy and dirty dealing. Too often resource riches which could be used to lift populations out of poverty instead fall into the hands of corrupt elites […]

As Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi makes historic U.S. visit, industry lobbying and vested interests jeapordise Obama foreign policy legacy

U.S. industry lobbying to roll back sanctions on Myanmar (Burma) before critical reforms in the country have kicked in risks undoing its fragile progress towards democracy, prosperity and peace, Global Witness said today […]

As Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi makes historic U.S. visit, industry lobbying and vested interests jeopardize Obama foreign policy

U.S. industry lobbying to roll back sanctions on Myanmar (Burma) before critical reforms in the country have kicked in risks undoing the country’s fragile progress towards democracy, prosperity and peace, Global Witness said today. The warning comes as President Obama prepares to welcome fellow Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to the United States for the first time since her party’s landslide election victory […]

Myanmar government announces ground-breaking reforms of toxic jade business

Myanmar’s new government has announced a major shake up to licensing of its multi-billion dollar jade and gems business. This historic move follows work by Global Witness, Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG), the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) and other Kachin State and Myanmar civil society actors and parliamentarians to expose widespread abuses at the heart of a vast, deeply corrupt trade […]

Victims’ Voices and Healing a Must for Genuine Reconciliation

Much has been made of the series of meetings between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and several key individuals after the elections, including the current Commander-in-Chief of the Burma Army, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. But none generated more headlines than the meeting on 4 December, 2015 with retired Senior General Than Shwe, leader of the former military junta and head of state until 2011, purportedly to discuss and ensure a smooth transition of power.

Such meetings, while raising eyebrows, are more than just symbolic and should be read in the context of Burma’s troubled past with elections and power transfer. The emphatic victory at the November 2015 polls was similar to the 1990 elections, which later saw the annulment of the results and extension of power by the military.

Seen in this light, these meetings reveal the complexity of the power transfer, the actors that still wield considerable political capital, and the different interests in directing the transition. It is also fair to infer that a relatively seamless power transfer to the incoming National League for Democracy (NLD) Government can be expected, given the apparent endorsement and pledge of support from senior figures from the previous military regime such as Than Shwe […]

Rivers of Green Blood

Burma’s multi-billion dollar jade industry is coming under close scrutiny as two new reports demonstrate the corrupt, unaccountable, and dangerous industry that is driving conflict, a heroin epidemic, and hazardous working conditions […]

Myanmar: Lord of Jade

Myanmar’s jade business may be the biggest natural resource heist in modern history. The sums of money involved are almost incomprehensibly high and the levels of accountability are at rock bottom. One of the most dominant and dangerous groups involved is a collection of companies controlled by Myanmar’s most famous drug lord, Wei Hsueh Kang […]

Revealed: How Southeast Asia’s Biggest Drug Lord Used Shell Companies to Become a Jade Kingpin

Southeast Asia’s most notorious narcotics trafficker has become one of the most powerful figures in the country’s corrupt, abusive jade business, a new Global Witness report reveals today […]

JADE: Myanmar’s “Big State Secret”

Since 2011, Myanmar’s rebranded government has told the world it is transitioning from a pariah state run by a ruthless military dictatorship to a civilian regime committed to wholesale political and economic reforms […]