Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi meets with US President Barack Obama at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US September 14, 2016.
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“While we certainly appreciate the work Aung San Suu Kyi has done to ensure a democratic transition in Burma, I am somewhat appalled by her dismissive reaction to concerns I raised this morning about the problem of human trafficking in her country”, US Republican Senator Bob Corker said in a statement released to Reuters after a breakfast meeting with Suu Kyi and Vice President Joe Biden.
Sanctions were imposed on the country, formerly known as Burma, in 1997 after decades under a military dictatorship that stifled dissent and showed little regard for human rights.
A local human rights advocacy group said Friday that although a quasi-civilian government took power in 2011 and the country elected its first civilian leaders past year, such killings and torture are still present in Myanmar – especially in ethnic areas.
Military and police, as well as non-state armed groups, in Myanmar have always been accused by rights groups of practicing torture against civilians for confessions.
“In some ways it is a risk, it as much a political risk as an economic risk, because there are those who believe it is not yet time for us to remove the sanctions, but we think that it is time now for our people to depend on themselves, to go forward with the help of our friends”, Suu Kyi said of the decision.
“In part because of the progress that we’ve seen over the last several months, I indicated, after consulting with Daw Suu, that the U.S. is prepared to lift sanctions that we have imposed on Myanmar for quite some time”.
Obama aide Ben Rhodes says the so-called “national emergency” with respect to Myanmar that authorizes the sanctions will be terminated in the “coming days”.
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Obama also announced his intention to take action to lift Executive Order-based economic and financial sanctions on Myanmar.
