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BURMA/CHINA: Avoid ‘Blood Jade’ Olympic Souvenirs – Activists

Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Aug 7 2008 (IPS) - They make attractive mementos for the thousands of visitors to Beijing for the Summer Olympics. But souvenirs and jewellery made out of prized jade from Burma are ridden with a history of abuse and blood, say activists from the military-ruled country.

Visitors to the Beijing Games should ‘’boycott souvenirs and jewellery made of Burmese jade in order to avoid supporting Burma’s abuse ridden jade mining industry,’’ declared the All Kachin Students and Youth Union (AKSYU) in a report released on the eve of the Olympics opening ceremony, on Friday.

Close to 90 percent of jadeite (a variety of jade) on sale in China comes from Burmese mines, in Hpakant, in the Kachin state, along the Burmese-Chinese border, according to the report, ‘Blood Jade: Burmese Gemstones and the Beijing Games’.

‘’In addition to being a major source of foreign currency, the military-controlled industry is plagued with deplorable working conditions, and HIV/AIDS epidemic, and environmental destruction,’’ added the report brought out by AKSYU, representing the Kachin ethnic community from northern Burma, and another pro-democracy Burmese group based in New York. ‘’Thousands have lost their land due to the expansion of mining areas. Deaths from pit collapses and company vigilantism are commonplace.’’

‘’We realised that the Chinese were buying more and more jade from Burma for Olympics souvenirs about two to three years ago,’’ Naw Law, a researcher with AKSYU, told IPS. ‘’They were going to use the jade for souvenirs, jewellery, rings.’’

The workers in these open-pit mines are badly paid, some getting about one US dollar a day, and ‘’they have to work 12-hour shifts or longer, sometimes at night, and with little breaks,’’ added Naw Law. ‘’The mining companies belong to cronies of the junta. They care little about abusing the people, their rights, and even destroying the environment.’’

Other groups that have monitored the gem and jade industry in Burma offer as disturbing a picture. ‘’The working conditions in the mines are dreadful,’’ David Scott Mathieson, Burma consultant for the global rights lobby Human Rights Watch (HRW), told IPS. ‘’Jade has been used as a war commodity for years in Burma to finance wars in that part of the country, first by the Kachin rebel groups and now by the Burmese regime.’’

Burma is known for its ‘’imperial jade,’’ a ‘’gem-quality’’ jade with a colour that ranges from a white to moss green, stated HRW in a report early this year on the gem and jade trade that has helped to keep afloat the country’s repressive military regime. ‘’The (junta) has a direct stake in many mines, in some cases through joint ventures with private entrepreneurs.’’

‘’Burma’s mines are ruled with an iron hand by military authorities and mining companies,’’ the HRW report added. ‘’Deplorable conditions at the mines reportedly include rampant land confiscation, extortion, forced labour, child labour, environmental pollution, and unsafe working conditions for miners.’’

Precise figures of how much the junta earns from the sales of gems and jade are not available, although official export figures place them as the third highest foreign exchange earner after export of natural gas and agriculture products. ‘’The trade in Burma’s gems and jewellery was valued at 647 million US dollars in fiscal year 2007-2008 (April 2007 through March 2008),’’ states HRW, quoting figures from the country’s ministry of commerce.

‘’Customs figures cited elsewhere, however, gave the value of gem exports during the calendar year 2007 as 651 million US dollars,’’ added HRW. ‘’Either figure, if accurate would represent a marked increase in exports of Burmese gems, since declared gem earnings in fiscal year 2006-2007 stood at 297 million US dollars.’’

According to the AKSYU Burma’s military regime may be earning 300 million dollars annually from jade exports, mainly to China.

China’s interest in Burmese jade began in the mid-1990s, after the Burmese junta signed a peace deal with a Kachin separatist group. It coincided with the year – 1995 – when Beijing officially recognised the new military rulers in Rangoon. That year, after the junta opened the doors for gem and jade traders from many foreign countries, the Chinese made their presence felt, accounting for nearly a third of the exports.

Chinese presence at the regular gem and jade auctions in Rangoon has grown dramatically in the years since. Early this year, a visiting Asian buyer was struck by the dominance of Chinese at a recent sale of Burmese jade.

‘’Almost all the buyers of some 300 people were Chinese. Most of them were from the mainland, with a few from Hong Kong and Taiwan,’’ the buyer told IPS. ‘’This was for two hours, towards the end of a day’s auction.’’

For that jade auction, there were large, uncut slabs of rough jade. ‘’One was the size of a car and another the size of a big table and these were what the Chinese buyers were attracted to,’’ the buyer said. ‘’The initial auction price for a chunk of rough jade the size of a chair was one million Euros (1,546,770 dollars). The average prices of the smaller pieces were about 300,000 to 500,000 Euros (464,031 – 773,385 dollars).’’

At this rate of exploitation, activists like Naw La are left with little choice but appeal to the Olympics tourists in Beijing to help make a dent in the demand for jade by refusing to buy products made out of the precious mineral.

‘’Our mountains have disappeared and our youth are dying. The generals are letting their cronies mine away our future,’’ he says. ‘We urge people not to buy blood jade from Burma.’’