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Assignment 02 Be Fall 2022

The document presents a case study about the mining and sale of amber in Myanmar. It describes how the Myanmar government has taken control of lucrative amber mines in the Kachin region, displacing thousands of inhabitants, in order to fund its ethnic civil war. The case raises ethical questions for university scientists considering whether to purchase amber from Myanmar given the risk that their purchases could support the government's armed conflict against ethnic minorities.

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Shary Khan
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53 views

Assignment 02 Be Fall 2022

The document presents a case study about the mining and sale of amber in Myanmar. It describes how the Myanmar government has taken control of lucrative amber mines in the Kachin region, displacing thousands of inhabitants, in order to fund its ethnic civil war. The case raises ethical questions for university scientists considering whether to purchase amber from Myanmar given the risk that their purchases could support the government's armed conflict against ethnic minorities.

Uploaded by

Shary Khan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Karachi Institute of Economics and Technology –North Nazimabad Site

Course: Busniss Ethics

Faculty: prof Dr Sajida Parveen Max Duration

Class ID:CCC Class ID : Total 05


Marks:
Assignm Examination: ASSIGNMENT 02 Date:5-11-2022

Myanmar Amber

CASE STUDY

INSTRUCTIONS:

Dear students you have been go through the ethical approaches which are very
common not only in our daily life & business scenarios. what is wrong and what
is right all the decisions are made on these ethical approaches ,(Deontological ,
Utilitarianism , Concequentialism) , read this case study carefully and answer the
questions given below.

Myanmar Amber
Amber is a resin material that is formed from fossilized conifer tree sap during years of
constant pressure and heat. This yellow to reddish-brown translucent material has
been used in a number of ways, including to make jewelry, in Egyptian burials, and in
the healing arts. Amber also plays an invaluable role in research. In some cases,
amber contains inclusions, such as insects, whole or parts of animals, and plants that
are trapped and preserved. The ability to hold a piece of history untouched by time has
resulted in a number of scientific discoveries and advances such as feathers on a non-
avian dinosaur dated 99 million years ago and the biosynthesis of gene clusters for
novel antibiotics.

One of the oldest amber deposits in the world, dating back 100 million years, is located
in the Northern region of Myanmar. Myanmar amber is plentiful, high quality and
contains inclusions within the resin. The mining of these amber specimens in Myanmar
is the center of many legitimate and blackmarket sales to university researchers and
private collectors alike. Over the last ten years, more than one billion dollars in legal
revenue has been generated from the mining and sale of amber.
Myanmar is a small southeast Asian country that contains about 130 diverse ethnic
groups recognized by the government. There is no official state religion but the Myanmar
government favors the majority Theravada Buddhism population. This favoritism has
created ethnic and religious conflicts resulting in government-enforced discrimination.
For example, the government has made it difficult for Christian and Islamic groups to
gain permission to repair or build new places of worship. The Kachin Independence
Army, which includes ethnic minorities who live in the northern Kachin and surrounding
regions of Myanmar, has been in armed conflict with the Myanmar government for the
restoration of minority ethnic groups’ rights.

For many years this mining area has been protected by the Kachin Independence
Army. However, in 2017 the Myanmar government dropped leaflets from helicopters
informing the population in northern Kachin that civilians and Kachin militants who
remain in the region will be considered hostile opposition to the government military
forces. The government then forced more than 5000 inhabitants from their homes and
villages, as well as from the amber mines. This hostile takeover of the profitable Kachin
amber mines ensures that amber purchases from researchers and private collectors will
help fund the government side of the Myanmar ethnic civil war.

While some researchers and universities feel as though they should refrain from
making such amber purchases, their failure to participate enables many private
collectors to remove collections from the public or to charge researchers an exorbitant
fee for access.

Furthermore, many of the miners in the Kachin region, on both sides of the conflict, are
not fully aware of the value of the amber that they are selling and are therefore being
exploited by the wholesalers who purchase from them. Myanmar classifies amber as a
gemstone, not a fossil, so it can be legally removed from the country, unlike fossils that
have restrictions on removal.
Discussion Questions

1. If you were a university scientist, how would you decide whether it is ethical for
you to buy amber from Myanmar?

a. If
you took a deontological approach, what would your reasoning look like?
What moral principles would you take into account?

b. Ifyou took a utilitarian approach to answering this question, what would your
reasoning look like? What facts would you weigh in making the decision?

2. Indeciding whether it is ethical for you to buy amber from Myanmar, do you
need to guard against the self-serving bias unduly affecting your decision? If so,
how would you go about guarding against it have a deleterious impact?

3. Are there other cognitive biases and heuristics that might adversely affect your
moral reasoning if you are not careful? Which ones?

4. Are you aware of comparable situations around the world where individuals and
corporations that wish to be moral buyers should be similarly wary, knowing that their
purchase price might aid the seller’s bad acts? Is this ever a consideration that buyers
should take into account? Is it always a consideration that buyers should take into
account?

5. What can scientists considering the morality of trading in Myanmar


amber learn from the debate over “conflict minerals” in Africa?

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