Letter to Japanese Consul

[sbillenness@xxxxxxxx]

NEW ENGLAND BURMA ROUNDTABLE

December 15, 1998

Letter to Japanese Consul

Please find below the text of a letter that was delivered to the Japanese
consulate in Boston today.

The Japanese consular official who received us read the letter in our
presence and immediately asked questions about the potential consumer
boycott of Japanese companies. He promised to pass on the details of our
letter to the Japanese foreign ministry.

We took our action in Boston in conjunction with other Free Burma groups
around the world which are holding similar meetings with their Japanese
consulates and embassies over the next few weeks.

Simon Billenness
*for the New England Burma Roundtable*
Franklin Research & Development
711 Atlantic Avenue, Boston, MA 02111
(617) 423-6655, x225
(617) 482-6179 - fax
sbillenness@xxxxxxxx
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On the letterhead of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee,
Cambridge, MA.

December  15, 1998

Mr. Nobuyasu Abe
Consul General
Japanese Consulate
Federal Reserve Plaza
14th Floor
600 Atlantic Avenue
Boston, MA

Dear Mr. Abe:

I am writing as a representative of the Unitarian Universalist Service
Committee (a human rights organization with 20,000 members nationally) and
on behalf of the New England Burma Roundtable.  The Roundtable is a group
of committed individuals and organizations working to support human rights
and democracy in Burma .

We wish to express our concern over the Japanese government?s policy of
encouraging closer economic ties with the Burmese military government.
Conditions in Burma continue to deteriorate, and the military has shown no
sign of lessening its repression of the people.  The National League for
Democracy headed by Aung San Suu Kyi and human rights groups such as Human
Rights Watch have documented many of the abuses of human rights committed
by SLORC/SPDC, including the fact that duly elected Members of Parliament
are subject to harassment, arrest and detention without legal cause. 

Given this history, we are deeply troubled that the military regime is
being sustained by  deepening Japanese economic engagement at a time when
other nations are supporting divestment and disengagement for humanitarian
reasons.  Indeed, when the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has taken action
for reasons of conscience to shun companies who do business with the
Burmese regime, Japan and the European Union have sought to interfere with
our rights, as Massachusetts citizens, to do just that.

Presently Suzuki, Mitsui, Bank of Tokyo, and many other Japanese companies
are doing business in Burma.  By so doing, these companies risk becoming
the target of  boycott campaigns.  American companies such as PepsiCo,
ARCO, Reebok and others, after losing business due to their presence in
Burma, have withdrawn their economic presence there.  To date, Japanese
companies have experienced no significant consumer boycott activity and
comparatively little publicity has attended their entry into the Burmese
economy.  The continuing trend of repression by SLORC/SPDC makes it
increasingly likely that Japanese companies? connections with Burma will be
pointed out to consumers and that their products too will be boycotted.

More important, the continued Japanese involvement in Burma goes against
the clearly expressed wishes of Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese democracy
movement.  We would strongly urge that the Japanese government and Japanese
corporations consult closely with democratic forces inside Burma concerning
existing investments or future decisions to invest there, in light of the
worsening repression of human rights and democracy advocates.

We would appreciate it if you could communicate our concerns to the
Japanese government and to Japanese corporations now doing business in
Burma or contemplating taking such a step.

Sincerely,	

Shalini Nataraj
Acting Director, International Programs
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, Cambridge, MA
snataraj@xxxxxxxx
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