INFRACCIONES GRAVES

Conflict, isolation and ceasefire agreements

Political and social isolation caused by years of conflict has resulted in greatly increased vulnerabilities to drug use and trade in Myanmar . First, a history of drug production has resulted in a disproportionate number of dependent heroin and opium users . Second, exclusion of NGOs from govern- ment development planning and their lack of access to provide services in these regions have resulted in poor health care, drug treat- ment and other interventions such as harm reduction services .

Opium eradication

The rapid eradication of opium in Myanmar has forced many opium farmers to seek alternative livelihoods . Despite considerable investment in alternative development, the impact of eradicating opium farming could have dramatic effects . When opium farming was banned by the leaders in Kokang Special Region 1 in Northern Shan State in 2003, 60,000 people were forced from their homes in search of food and money . This resulted in health clinics closing down, and increases in labour exploitation (Economist, 2005) .

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A potentially larger humanitarian disaster has developed in the Wa Special Region 2 where leaders have also enforced a total opium ban effective from April 2005 . The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates there are about 300,000 people dependent on opium farming in the region . In an interview, Jen-Luc Lemahieu, UNODC representative in Myanmar, said: ‘I don’t see enough [alternative] income coming in for the opium poppy farmers and I am concerned that we will have a humanitarian crisis on our hands as a result’ (Transnational Institute, 2003) .

Jade mines

Labour exploitation, especially in the jade mines of northern Myanmar, highlights another vulnerability to drug use . It is estimated that one million people are employed in the jade mines, many of whom are dependent heroin users . Scott-Clark and Levy (2002) report that nearly all males (the majority of miners) who are employed in the mines use heroin .

Historical and cultural interactions with drugs

The traditional Wa people of Myanmar claim their relationship with the opium poppy and tobacco dates back to the death of Ya Lem, a beautiful goddess in the mountainous region of Loi Mu . The legend states that opium and tobacco sprouted from her dead body and have been grown by their people ever since (Hideyuki, 2002) .

Actual accounts of opium trade, use and production in Myanmar date back to the late 16th century around the time opium

entered the markets of other Southeast Asian countries . By the early 17th century, influ- ences from both the Chinese and the Dutch East Indian Company saw the production of opium increase in line with growing market demands and its profitability as a trading commodity (Reid & Costigan, 2002) . After annexing the southern region of Myanmar in 1852, the British began importing large quantities of opium from India and estab- lished a government-controlled monopoly . Opium use continued to increase among the Burmese and Chinese until the Opium Act was passed in 1878 . The Opium Act precluded the sales of opium to anyone other than regis- tered addicts . In 1906 the trading of opium was made illegal in Myanmar and in 1921 the sale of opium from government shops was totally banned . However, neither of these laws greatly affected the use or production of opium (Spencer & Navaratnam, 1981) . Since independence from the British in 1948, international politics and internal conflict have played a huge role in shaping drug trade in Burma . Shortly after indepen- dence, civil war engulfed Myanmar, largely due to disagreements between the U Nu Barman government and ethnic minority groups arguing for self-determination and autonomy . At the same time in northern Myanmar, elements of Chiang Kai-shek’s Chinese Nationalist Army (KMT) withdrew into the Shan State and began developing opium trading networks to fund their army, thus beginning the history of opium being used to fund insurgencies in Myanmar (Trans- national Institute, 2003) .

By 1962 when General Ne Win took power from the U Nu government in a military coup, dissatisfaction among ethnic groups about their unequal position within Myanmar led to additional rebel armies in the Shan and Kachin states . In an attempt to control the upris- ing — especially in the Shan State — Ne Win introduced the Ka Kwe Program . This program provided arms for local militia groups to fight against the opposition groups, particularly the Shan State Army, in return for protection and the creation of autonomous regions . However, many of the militia groups became involved in the opium trade and increased rather than decreased lawlessness in the region . Further, and as a result of Ne Win’s isolated socialist policies, the Burmese economy continued to fail, and led to the economic necessity for many of the opposition armies to continue their involvement in the opium trade, and increasingly in the heroin trade (Transnational Institute, 2003) .

In 1988 large-scale political protests lead to Ne Win’s government being replaced by the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) . Despite elections being held in 1990, the SLORC refused to hand over power to the elected National League of Democracy and continued to rule by way of a military dictatorship . The SLORC, however, changed the country’s trade policy to a quasi-open market structure and initi- ated trade with China and Thailand . Also the SLORC quickly began negotiating with the rebel armies offering ceasefire agree- ments to them . The ceasefires, however, were merely military accords which allowed the opposition groups to control their own terri- tories and maintain their arms . The ceasefires have brought an end to the bloodshed and

some civil rights abuses, but they had little effect on bringing economic stability to the areas or reducing the army’s involvement in illegal activities such as drug trafficking, logging, gambling and human trafficking (United States Department of State, Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforce- ment Affairs, 2003) .

Focused international efforts have targeted drug supply in Myanmar with alternative development and crop eradication programs since 1985 . While these have contributed to a continual reduction of opium and heroin production in the region, they have been unable to address the growing production of amphetamine-type stimulants (United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, 2002a) . Amphetamine production has increased dramatically in Myanmar since the mid-1990s when increased law enforcement activities in China and Thailand saw many manufactur- ing laboratories move into Myanmar . Despite a reduction in the amount of opium and heroin produced in Myanmar, drug use has continued to increase from the 1970s with the estimated number of users more than doubling every 10 years until the 1990s (Reid & Costigan, 2002) . This relationship highlights the increased local consumption of drugs in the region, and is associated with the rapidly expanding HIV epidemic among injecting drug users in Myanmar and the border regions, especially in Yunnan Province in China and Manipur State in north-east India, where Burmese drugs are filling an expanding market .

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A9 .2 Prevalence of drug use