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Letter to NYC Teak Retailer
6/16/97
Owner/Manager
Danish Designs
319 E. 53rd Street
New York, NY 10017
Dear Sir,
As Representative for UN Affairs of the National Coalition Government
of the Union of Burma and Executive Director of Rainforest Relief, we
are requesting that you cease selling Teak that has originated in Burma
since 1962 in any and all of your stores, unless that Teak carries the
label of an independent certifier accredited by the Forest Stewardship
Council.
Since 1962, when a military coup supplanted the democratically elected
government of Burma, illegitimate leaders have been oppressing the
people of Burma and committing large-scale human rights abuses as well
as selling off the natural heritage of the country.
General elections were held by the current regime in 1990. The National
League for Democracy (NLD) party, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi, won 82% of the parliamentary seats. However, the
military refused to yield power, nullified the elections and proceeded
to arrest many of the NLD leaders, some of whom are still in prison
today.
Logging of Teak in Burma has accelerated dramatically since the military
takeover, especially since 1988 when a new set of generals took power.
There is no enforcement of sustainable forest management and Burma has
one of the highest rates of deforestation in the region.
Additionally, all the income from the sale of Teak and other hardwoods
goes directly to the government which uses this money to buy more weapons
to further oppress the people. Especially oppressed are the ethnic
minorities, some of whom are currently at the receiving end of a
military offensive designed to wipe out their quest for democracy and
self-determination.
Since Thailand instituted a ban on logging within its borders and
Cambodia followed, Teak being sold by Thailand, Singapore, China and
India is almost assuredly originating in Burma. Hundreds of trucks of
hardwood logs stream out of Burma destined for processing in Thailand,
China or Singapore. Much of this ends up as furniture in the U.S. and
Europe.
The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (the
democratically elected government in exile) and Rainforest Relief
consider that all Teak logged from public lands within Burma by the
illegitimate military government as having been stolen from the people
of Burma.
We respectfully request that you immediately cease your sale of any
Teak that has originated from Burma since 1962. If you cannot cease
your sales of this material immediately, please let us know within the
next two weeks of a date by which you intend to do so, since we have
targeted Teak re-sellers for further actions should we not hear from
them within that time.
Thank you for your consideration of this highly important matter.
Sincerely,
Dr. Thuang Htun, Representative for UN Affairs
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB)
Tim Keating, Executive Director
Rainforest Relief