Burma's regional and international relations        Burma Fund WebIndex

US law,  policy and relations with Burma (Myanmar)

Photo: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi with US Sec. of State Madeleine Albright

General

• US Information Agency "US Support for Democracy in Burma" US policy statements, legislation and sanction related to Burma

• Recent news on US/Burma relations   From The Burma Project, Open Society Institute.

• New  US Trade with Burma from the US Department of Commerce, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996

• Library of Congress, Internet Law Library--Burma  The Library of Congress has discontinued the Internet Law Library but other sites, such as this one in Australia, continue to host mirrored versions. 

• US and Burma Legal  Resources website

• Burma and the US Congress

Humanitarian aid and US policy

• Remarks of Eric Schwartz, Special Assistant to the President for Multilateral and Humanitarian Affairs on US policy regarding humanitarian aid to Burma

Sanctions and selective purchasing

• The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions against targeted foreign countries, including Burma's military regime.  Contains guide to U.S. Sanctions against Burma in .pdf format.

• Madeleine Albright, The Testing of American Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs Magazine, Dec. 1998.  "Having driven the economy into the ground, the regime desperately needs foreign investment, loans, and aid. By denying these benefits -- and encouraging others to do the same -- we may eventually persuade Burmese leaders to rethink where their own best interests lie."

• Eliott Abrams, Words or War; Why Sanctions are Necessary, The Weekly Standard, July 27, 1998.  "Sanctions against Myanmar reflect civilized outrage at the murderous activities of its rulers."

• Burma Selective Purchasing Laws: A Guide

• Constitutional and WTO Challenges to Burma Selective Purchasing Laws

• Are we dismantling the system that dismantled apartheid? David Morris, Institute for Local Self Reliance.

• A Memorandum of Legal Opinion Re: Constitutionality of Local Laws Restricting Government Transactions With Companies Doing Business in Burma, by Robert W. Benson. An edited version of this legal opinion was published in the Los Angeles Daily Journal legal newspaper, February 11, 1998.

Other

• The Massachusetts Burma law litigation.  The National Foreign Trade Council, an industry group, has challenged the constitutionality of Massachusetts' refusal to do business with companies operating in Burma.  Legal briefs and articles on the lawsuit.

• The Miriam Marshall Segal Case and the rule of law in Burma   A colorful illustration of the value of good connections to a junta member.

• The Yadana gas pipeline and related litigation   Perhaps the most controversial development project in the world due to allegations of forced labor and forced relocation.