WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- The U.S. government needs to keep the pressure on Myanmar to avoid supporting serious human rights abusers, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.
Washington and members of the international community began easing sanctions on Myanmar, known also as Burma, in response to political reforms that began with general elections in 2010. Human Rights Watch, along with many of its counterparts, said it was those sanctions that encouraged reforms in the first place.
"The U.S. government should update the sanctions list to clearly identify the people and companies' investors need to avoid," Lisa Misol, a business researcher for Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Thursday.
The rights group joined 35 other civic organizations in calling on President Barack Obama to revise the U.S. list of sanctioned individuals to reflect up-to-date developments. Some military leaders not included on the list are suspected of human rights violations in Myanmar's lingering battle with the various armed ethnic gangs in the country.
Several of the armed groups in Myanmar gathered in Laiza, the rebel-controlled capital of northern Kachin state, to review a draft proposal for a nationwide truce, the United Nations' Integrated Regional Information Networks reported Thursday.
