An alternative perspective for acquisitions of amber from Myanmar including recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Council

Adolf Peretti

doi:10.1186/s41018-021-00101-y

Abstract

Recent publications have been actively recommending strong embargos on Burmese amber trade and research. Although the motivation of these actions seeks to prevent armed groups from obtaining capital via amber trade, which in the views of the authors helps further fueling the armed conflict, here, I demonstrate that this claim is not accurate. In this analysis, I prove that these preventative actions undertaken by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology and echoed by others do not resolve the situation in Burma, but on the contrary, aggravate the problem by negatively affecting the Burmese miners. My analysis is congruent with other independent analyses of the Burmese Amber trade. In line with the recommendation of the United Nations, and as an alternative approach, it is possible to support the amber economy that is in opposition to the Burmese military and help the Burmese scientific community to increase their capability and knowledge to engage in a niche market that is largely not accessible to unethical players. This would lead to a sourcing of research material that fulfills the demand of the international scientific community for ethical standards.

Highlights

Main Text A recent correspondence to Nature (Engel 2020) echoes a communication by the directors of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) where they recommend to editors from over 300 journals around the world to ban submissions of research projects based on amber specimens acquired from Myanmar after June 2017 (Rayfield et al 2020a)
There are a number of reasons the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission (United Nations Human Rights Council 2019 and 2020) on natural resources in Myanmar and a separate, recent private fact-finding mission on the amber trade have not recommended a ban on Burmese amber acquisitions even after 2017 (Peretti 2020)
Dr Engel referred to an April 2020 letter issued by directors of the SVP (Rayfield et al 2020a) regarding perceived and potential human rights issues associated with the mining, trade, and research of Burmese amber, and which called

Summary

Introduction

A recent correspondence to Nature (Engel 2020) echoes a communication by the directors of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) where they recommend to editors from over 300 journals around the world to ban submissions of research projects based on amber specimens acquired from Myanmar after June 2017 (Rayfield et al 2020a). Main Text A recent correspondence to Nature (Engel 2020) echoes a communication by the directors of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) where they recommend to editors from over 300 journals around the world to ban submissions of research projects based on amber specimens acquired from Myanmar after June 2017 (Rayfield et al 2020a).

Results

Conclusion