Update: In December 2017 Cartier agreed to stop sourcing gemstones from Myanmar. 

This was a people powered victory. Thanks to thousands of SumOfUs member like you, Cartier agreed to do the right thing.

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Thank you. Last month, 140,000 members of the SumOfUs community stood together and demanded a global arms embargo against Myanmar to stop the slaughter and ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Rohingya people.

But it’s still ongoing, and it’s urgent.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya men, women, and children have been murdered or forced from their homes by military troops and vigilante mobs, in a systematic campaign of mass shootings, rapes, house burnings, and beheadings.

We can not wait any longer for governments to act, so we’re taking a more direct route. We’re targeting the companies profiting from the murder and mayhem in Myanmar -- the high end jewelry retailers funding Myanmar’s military.

Cartier is one of those companies.

Tell Cartier: stop using conflict gems from Myanmar.

Myanmar produces over 95% of the world’s rubies and over 99% of the world’s superior quality jade. These gems are estimated to be Myanmar's third largest export, netting close to $300 million -- and that’s just the official figure.

The military controls a majority share of every gem mine, controls distribution of licensing and permits, and runs gem auctions in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, that raise hundreds of millions of dollars.

The U.S. and EU used to ban the imports of all gems mined in Myanmar, but those sanctions were lifted in 2016 and 2013.

In a perfect parallel, Cartier announced in 2007 that it had stopped buying “gemstones which may have been mined in Burma… until further notice.” The company’s boycott seems to have quietly ended with the introduction of the Tutti Frutti High Jewelry collection, in which Burmese sapphires, or non-red rubies, feature prominently.

This is outrageous, but it also gives us a clear and direct strategy. We will cut the money off.

If we can get Cartier to adopt a public policy of not sourcing gems from Myanmar, we will deprive the military from one of its main sources of income.

Tell Cartier: please adopt a policy of selling no conflict gems from Myanmar.

Tiffany & Co. has maintained its boycott of gems from Myanmar, but Cartier won’t follow suit. Cartier even co-founded the Council for Responsible Jewelry Practices in 2005, but in a hugely hypocritical move, gems from Myanmar are used in at least four of Cartier's new Tutti Frutti pieces.

Cartier is a world famous, leading brand that can more than afford to take an ethical stand. And if it says no to purchasing gems from Myanmar, we know that others will follow.

By not taking a stand, Cartier and other retailers like it are funding the Myanmar military. The same military that has been carrying out attacks on the Rohingya people. The same military that has been shooting people from behind as they flee.

Tell Cartier: please adopt a policy of selling no conflict gems from Myanmar.

340,000 Rohingya children are now living in dire conditions with limited access to food, water and healthcare in Bangladesh refugee camps, still traumatized by the atrocities they have seen. 12,000 more children are arriving every week.

When corporations are profiting from slaughter we have to say no. SumOfUs stands for people and planet before profit, and the distinction has never been clearer than it is now in Myanmar.

In the face of inaction and silence from Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and from governments worldwide, we’re taking our collective power to where we know we can make a direct and tangible difference -- to the companies who are currently funding and profiting from this persecution.

Stand with us, and stand up to Cartier.

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