US jewelers want Myanmar gem loophole plugged
WASHINGTON (AFP) — American jewelers asked the authorities Wednesday to effectively plug a legal loophole allowing gems mined from Myanmar to be sold in the United States despite punitive sanctions against the military-ruled state.
Myanmar-mined gems are exported to the United States by third countries such as Thailand, where the precious stones are cut and polished for jewelers, industry officials said.
Under US sanctions aimed at punishing the military junta, which recently launched a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protestors, imports directly from Myanmar are banned.
Even though the import ban does not currently specify gemstones, the US Customs and Border Protection created an apparent loophole by ruling in 2004 that gems mined in Myanmar but cut or polished in another country could be allowed into the United States, industry officials said.
Jewelers of America, a group representing 11,000 member stores including Cartier, Tiffany and Co. and Zale Corp., sent a letter to Congressional leaders Wednesday asking lawmakers to specify Myanmar-mined gemstones in the import ban.
The group suggested that this be done through an amendment to the import-ban law, known as the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003.
"Jewelers of America members believe it is their responsibility to support and respect the protection of international human rights within their sphere of influence and to make sure the sourcing of gemstones is not complicit in human rights abuses," said the group's president Matthew Runci.
The group "has also taken immediate steps" to inform its members about the situation in Myanmar and to ensure that gemstones are properly sourced, he said.
Cartier said this week that it had stopped buying gems which might have been mined in Myanmar until further notice.
It has also asked its suppliers to confirm on all relevant shipments that the gemstones provided were not mined in Myanmar, according to a company statement.
"What the Jewelers of America and Cartier have done is taken a principled and admirable position, and we praise their forward-looking decision," said Simon Billenness, co-chair of the US Campaign for Burma.
"Burma's gem industry is dominated by the military regime and its cronies," added Jeremy Woodrum, the group's director. "No one with a conscience should buy a ruby because it is almost assuredly from Burma."
But Peggy Jo Donahue, the chief spokeswoman for Jewelers of America, noted that rubies were also mined in Kenya, Madagascar and other locations from where retailers could still obtain supplies.
According to the US Geological Survey, the United States in 2006 imported 1.09 billion dollars worth of non-diamond colored gemstones. The top exporters were Israel, India, Belgium and South Africa.
Thailand however is the number one exporter of rubies, providing just under half of the total US ruby imports worth 101.5 million dollars in 2005, according to an industry journal, Colored Stone.
One of the world's poorest countries, Myanmar is home to a hidden treasure: mainly rubies, jadeite and other gems, among the finest in the world, whose trade is thriving despite the political unrest gripping the country.
Last year, an 8.62-carat Myanmar ruby fetched a record price of 3.7 million dollars (2.6 million euros) or 425,000 dollars per carat at a Christie's auction.
The stones are mined at a huge human cost, with reports of horrific working conditions in Myanmar's ruby mines, whose access is forbidden to outsiders.
Groups of Myanmar exiles have called for a boycott of the gem auctions held by the ruling junta, claiming that the mines rely on forced labor.
