A/HRC/42/CRP.3 Seasun Star), and how the company bribed a commander of Northern Command to secure its mining license.203 Season Star (or Seasun Star) is one of the main mining companies operating in Tanai.204 92. The Mission has also documented the Tatmadaw’s direct involvement in amber mining in the Namyang mining area, located near Tanai Township. Tatmadaw soldiers abducted civilians for forced labour to mine amber and subjected them to physical and sexual violence. One witness described how in November 2016 the Tatmadaw took five men by force to work for the Tatmadaw in the Namyang amber mining area.205 One woman, who had also been abducted for forced labour at the amber mine, and her son were taken into the forest in the mining area by two Tatmadaw soldiers. She told the Mission, “They did something very bad to me. They harassed me. They slapped me. They threw my son back to me after they were finished.” After she was raped by one Tatmadaw soldier, the other said it was his turn. She told the Mission, “I think he did not finish me off because my son was crying, there are also other tents in the mining area… maybe because of the noise he did not rape me too.”206 2. MEHL and MEC involvement in jade and ruby mining in Kachin and Shan States 93. The majority of jade and rubies on the world markets originate from Myanmar. In addition to direct Tatmadaw involvement, the significant involvement of Tatmadaw companies in the jade and ruby industries means that there is a high risk that revenue from the sale of jade and rubies benefits the Tatmadaw. Ninety per cent of all jade bought and sold in the world in any given year originates from Myanmar.207 Estimates of the value of the Myanmar jade trade are as high as USD 31 billion,208 nearly half the country’s official GDP of USD 69 billion.209 Similarly, according to one estimate published in 2007, 90 per cent of rubies on world markets have at times originated from Myanmar. 210 According to reports, the vast majority of Myanmar’s jade is exported – both legally and illegally – to China.211 Available reliable data indicates that imports of jade into the European Union from Myanmar have spiked since 2016.212 According to additional available reliable data, imports of rubies and other precious stones into the European Union from Myanmar have steadily increased from 2015 to 2017, with the trade value totalling over USD 56.2 million in 2017. 213 As previously noted, the Mission identified 23 MEHL subsidiaries in the jade and ruby mining industry.214 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 PI-061. Thin Thin Aye, Zaw Lynn Aung, K Khine Kyaw and Margaret Wong, “Historical Significance of the Ledo Road,” Department of History, University of Yangon, JARC-YU, Vol. 7, No. 1 & 2, 2018. PI-146. PI-146. Paul Shortell, “Tip-Toeing Toward Transparency: Jade and Gemstone Sector Disclosures in Myanmar,” December 2018, Natural Resource Governance Institute (https://resourcegovernance.org/analysis-tools/publications/tip-toeing-toward-transparency-jade-andgemstone-myanmar). Global Witness, “Jade: Myanmar’s Big State Secret,” 23 October 2015, pg. 26-27. World Bank, data on Myanmar (https://data.worldbank.org/country/myanmar). Russell Shor and Robert Weldon, “Ruby and Sapphire Production and Distribution: A Quarter Century of Change,” Gems & Gemology 45, no. 4 (Winter 2009): 239 (Citing to Robertson S. (2007) Burma: Shades of grey. Gem Market News, Nov.-Dec., pp. 1, 4–7, 15.) Paul Shortell, “Losing Luster: Addressing Tax Evasion in Myanmar’s Jade and Gemstone Industry,” Natural Resource Governance Initiative, February 2019 (https://resourcegovernance.org/sites/default/files/documents/losing-luster-addressing-myanmar-taxevasion.pdf); Global Witness, “Jade: Myanmar’s Big State Secret,” 23 October 2015, pg. 24, which notes that “numerous industry sources have told Global Witness that 50%-80% of jade is smuggled straight over the Myanmar-China border. Chinese customs data supports these claims, showing that less than a third of Myanmar’s official jade production entered China legally, even though China is where almost all Myanmar’s jade ends up.” Imports to the European Union from Myanmar, using commodity codes 710310, 710399, and 711620; JM-001. UN Comtrade data, using commodity code 710391, https://comtrade.un.org/data. See Annex III. MEHL jade and ruby mining companies. 33