OxMo-Vol.-3-No.-1

Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration Vol. 3, No. 1
countering cronyism and protecting the political and cultural rights of minorities. Similarly,
the UK pushing for the suspension of multilateral import, export and investment bans to
remain subject to annual review might further encourage progress.
Finally, Britain and the international community would do well to recognise that Burma’s
democratisation is impossible without equitable solutions to its endemic internal conflicts:
persistent insecurity gives the Tatmadaw pretext to retain its undemocratic stranglehold over
25% of Burma’s parliament. For decades, the junta benefited from a xenophobic rhetoric
which painted foreign intervention in internal affairs as a neo-colonial threat to national
security. Burma’s willingness to open itself up to international trade has rendered this
discourse void and makes it vulnerable to multilateral diplomatic pressure. Because of, not
despite, its colonial past in Burma, the UK should lobby aggressively through the European
Union, the UN Security Council and international financial institutions (IFIs) to ensure that
Naypyidaw is held to account for its continuing human rights abuses whilst ensuring that
enhanced engagement does not serve to further marginalise and displace vulnerable ethnic
minorities at Burma’s frontiers.
Daniel Murphy is a British national reading for a Masters in Migration, Mobility and
Development at the School of Oriental and African Studies, where he concentrates on climate
change, human security and mobility in the Asia-Pacific region. He has worked with NGOs
supporting Burmese migrants and marginalised indigenous populations in Southern Thailand
in rights-based development contexts.
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