URGENT: Tell U.S. Corporations to Avoid Risky Business in Myanmar

I got this from Amnesty International: 

http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b=6645049&aid=518890&msource=W1209EASK2

Dear Tracy,

As I write this, I'm traveling to Washington, D.C. to see one of my personal heroes, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, accept the Congressional Gold Medal for her decades of work to promote democracy and freedom in Myanmar (Burma). Amnesty activists like you worked tirelessly on Daw Suu's case as she spent years under house arrest under a government with an appalling human rights record.

Daw Suu is now free, and is in the U.S. for the first time in over 20 years. The government of Myanmar is on a path to reform.

But our fight for human rights in Myanmar isn't over yet. We still need your help.

Tell U.S. corporations that while Myanmar is now open for business, we expect them to put human rights before profits.

Earlier this year, the U.S. government lifted some of the sanctions that barred U.S. corporations from doing business in Myanmar, after the government of Myanmar took some steps forward on human rights issues.

Now, with U.S. companies moving in to do business in Myanmar, it’s our job to remind them that they have a responsibility to respect human rights.

Tomorrow, at Amnesty's historic Rights Generation town hall meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, I’m going to call on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to instruct U.S. companies to follow our advice for doing business responsibly in Myanmar. Our recommendations are basic common sense: corporations need to ensure that their operations are not causing or contributing to human rights abuses.

Please add your name to our petition to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – and be another powerful voice demanding human rights in every corner of our world.

Thanks for everything you do,

Suzanne Nossel
Executive Director
Amnesty International USA

P.S. Watch tomorrow's town hall with Aung San Suu Kyi live on our website, starting at 11:30AM ET at amnestyusa.org/rightsgeneration. Hear Daw Suu answer questions from Amnesty supporters, and inspire the next generation of human rights activists!

P.P.S. Foreign Policy magazine just posted an article I wrote about Aung San Suu Kyi and prisoners of conscience around the world. I hope you’ll take a look and tell me what you think.