Great Decisions 2012 Spring Update: Promoting Democracy

Great Decisions Updates are issued seasonally and provide groups with the latest news and analysis on topics. The Spring 2012 Update is current as of May, 2012. Download the Spring 2012 Update as a PDF here.

by Leslie Huang, assistant editor

 

Democratic reforms in Myanmar have prompted the West to roll back sanctions and other measures that isolated the ruling military government. On April 1, opposition figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi and her party ran in historic parliamentary by-elections. She and other members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) won 43 out of 45 seats at stake, in a landslide but largely symbolic victory. Myanmar’s Parliament has 664 seats, 25 percent of which are reserved for the military.
 

The reforms of President Thein Sein have encouraged the EU to suspend economic sanctions against Myanmar for one year. (An arms embargo is still in place.) The suspension of sanctions by the EU, as well as Australia and Canada, will encourage investment in timber, mining and other industries. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon visited Myanmar on April 30 and called on the international community to support democratic reforms by lifting more sanctions and providing development aid. The U.S. has upgraded its diplomatic relations with Myanmar’s government and is beginning to open the door for foreign investment, but is proceeding at a slower pace.
 

Democracy advocates and exiled dissidents caution, however, that reforms are taking place at a slower pace than international sanctions are being rolled back. Sein’s government still holds political prisoners and the military is still engaged in a long-running conflict with rebels seeking greater autonomy, such as the Kachin ethnic minority in the north.

In a diplomatic standoff, Egypt’s military government brought criminal charges against 43 foreign NGO workers, including 19 Americans, in February. Egyptian judges claimed that the nonprofit groups were improperly influencing Egyptian politics and secretly collecting information. The foreigners were officially accused of operating unlicensed nonprofit organizations and accepting foreign financing. Seven of the Americans charged took refuge in the U.S. embassy while Egypt’s government imposed a travel ban and President Barack Obama warned that the U.S. could withhold over $1.3 billion in aid to Egypt’s military in response. After weeks of tension that brought U.S.-Egyptian relations to a new low, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI) paid approximately $4 million in bail so that 11 workers, including 6 Americans, could leave the country. One American, Robert Becker of the NDI, chose to remain in the country to stand trial in Cairo on March 8.
 

In April, eight U.S. nonprofit groups that applied to operate in Egypt were rejected by the Insurance and Social Affairs Ministry. The legal problems facing these groups, in addition to the charges brought against the NGO workers, suggest that nonprofit organizations in Egypt will face increased difficulties in the future.