United States Human Rights Policy towards Burma, 1988–91

Official U.S. interests in Burma have principally been concerned with limiting narcotics production, developing trade and investment, and fostering human rights. Throughout the 1980s, U.S. policy and assistance concentrated on Burma's opium production, but the military crack-down of 1988 sharply refocused U.S. attention. The United States suspended all anti-narcotics funding and development assistance to Burma, amounting to US$12 million annually. The renewal of U.S. assistance remains conditional upon improvements in the Burmese Government's respect for human rights and the seating of a popularly mandated government. Many of Burma's regional trading partners took a different position and placed economic relations over human rights concerns, which has meant that the prospects for comprehensive, multilateral trade and arms sanctions are bleak. A multilateral approach would be the most effective means of pressuring the Burmese authorities to improve their human rights record, but such an approach is confined by the limits of the international consensus concerning human rights and how they should be protected and promoted. In the meantime, there are some limited initiatives that the United States can unilaterally undertake, such as facilitating the admittance into the United States of Burmese students who face political persecution as well as easing requirements for granting them refugee status.