Burma is West of Thailand and South of China. It has a population of approximately 46 million people.

Background
The military government, called the SPDC (State Peace and Development Council) changed the name of the country to Myanmar, but the democratic leadership does not recognize the new moniker.

In 1962, Burma had just gotten its independence from Great Britain and tried to install democracy, but powerful military figures took over using brutal force. One of the leaders killed was Aung San, whose daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, is now the democratically elected leader of Burma. She has not, however, been allowed to take office.

The military has ruled Burma since 1962, turning a country which was once considered the jewel of Asia into one of the poorest nations in the world.

In 1988, students, monks and others revolted against the government. Thousands were killed. Thousand more fled to the border areas near Thailand, where they continue to hide to this day. Their co-habitants along the border are the ethnic minorities who have been fighting the Burmese government for decades to get their independence. There are some 100,000 refugees living on the border.

The Democracy Movement
In 1988, Aung San Suu Kyi, who had been been living in England and studying at Oxford, returned to Burma and became involved in the fight for democracy. She was placed under house arrest but nevertheless managed to lead her National League for Democracy to an overwhelming victory in the elections of 1990. But the military government refused to honor the results of the elections and has kept many of the NLD members in jail, where they often die. Aung San Suu Kyi was technically released from house arrest in 1995, but continues to be a veritable prisoner unless she leaves the country. She knows, however, that leaving would mean the defeat of democracy. In March of 1999, the SPDC refused to honor her husband Michael Aris' dying request that he be allowed to visit his wife to say goodbye before dying of cancer.

Investment
The human rights violations committed by the SPDC are well-documented. Forced labor and relocation, torture, rape and ethnic cleansing are some of the notorious practices of the illegal regime. The government is also widely known to be involved in the heroin trade, helping to provide the United States with 60% of its heroin.

The United States has banned any new investment in Burma, but there are numerous companies still doing business with the regime. One of the most prominent is Unocal, which along with the French company Total has built a natural gas pipeline across Burma into Thailand. There have been substantial reports of forced labor being used along the pipeline. Unocal says it is not responsible for the actions of the Burmese military, but many concerned people disagree.