Huizenga’s Efforts Benefit Unethical Corporations, Prince

It is not often that the actions of my elected representative intersect with my work as a community organizer in Southeast Asia.

After writing a guest column in late 2017 highlighting U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga’s deceitful efforts to undermine a key anti-corruption law, Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, I assumed that it would be my swansong of commenting on West Michigan politics. I was wrong.

Section 1504 required oil, gas and mining companies to disclose the payments they make to foreign governments. The landmark transparency law was a vital tool to expose and deter backroom deals in a notoriously corrupt industry, to protect investors, and to enable communities to sustainably manage their resources. The law had bipartisan support and the backing of national security experts, investors, and faith-based development groups.

By repealing Section 1504, Huizenga successfully undermined anti-corruption efforts and peace processes around the world (H.R. 4519). He has also compromised global security, as growing evidence indicates that financial secrecy facilitates corruption and corrupt money funds violent extremism.

Then in September 2019 via the Burma Act (H.R. 3190), Huizenga voted to approve legislation holding senior Myanmar military officers accountable for committing genocide against the Rohyinga and a litany of other human rights abuses. I applaud Huizenga for his common sense vote, but ultimately, it is too little and too late.

This vote of approval is proof that Huizenga acknowledges there is a problem in Myanmar. As someone who witnesses the real life impacts of U.S. foreign policy decisions on vulnerable communities, I am perplexed as to why Huizenga’s past voting record does not align with his most recent decision on the Burma Act.

As a native of West Michigan dedicated to serving communities devastated by the actions of irresponsible governments and companies, I continue to be embarrassed by Huizenga’s duplicity. But after seeing Huizenga’s vote on the Burma Act, I feel angry. Angry at the hypocrisy of a politician who undermines an anti-corruption law and then votes for legislation that requires accountability mechanisms like Section 1504 to be effective.

The Burma Act instructs the Myanmar government to reform natural resource governance, increase accountability in government institutions, transparently regulate the mining sector, and disclose the ownership and revenues of mining projects. Sounds familiar, right? Huizenga’s repeal of Section 1504 undermined all of these objectives.

U.S. companies have a long history of unethical business practices in Myanmar. In the 1990s, UNOCAL (merged with Chevron in 2005) partnered with the Burmese military, a known human rights abuser, to construct a natural gas pipeline. The military displaced villagers and forced them to labor in support of the Yadana gas pipeline project, while committing rape and murder.

Perhaps more than anywhere else, anti-corruption measures are critically important for Myanmar. In 2014, experts estimated that the total value of the gemstone jade in Myanmar was over $31 billion. As much as 80 percent of the mineral is smuggled out of Myanmar. This illegal trafficking deprives the people and government of Myanmar of critical revenue, instead benefitting military-linked enterprises, transnational criminal networks, and Chinese businesses.

Huizenga’s success in destroying the Section 1504 anti-corruption law has resulted in two winners: corrupt foreign regimes like the one in Myanmar and companies willing to exploit corruption to defeat honest competitors. Repealing Section 1504 has done nothing for West Michigan, and nothing for the American people. Rather, it serves the interests of powerful corporations and individuals funding Huizenga’s campaigns.

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One such individual is West Michigan native Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater, the private mercenary company that was banned from Iraq after contractors killed unarmed civilians. Prince currently serves as the executive director of Frontier Services Group (FSG), a security firm active in Myanmar since June 2018 that has been associated with senior Myanmar military officials.

Unfortunately, good business for Prince typically implies suffering for the vulnerable. As Phil Robertson, a deputy director for the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch, stated, “In a country like Myanmar, where rights abuses by security forces are all too common, Erik Prince and FSG will sadly fit right in.”

West Michigan takes pride in members of its community humbly serving the world’s most vulnerable populations. But Huizenga’s inconsistent voting record, as made clear by his success in repealing Section 1504 and subsequent vote for the Burma Act, makes his moral and ethical proclamations falsely imply that he is more virtuous than is the truth.

I implore Huizenga to continue to align his votes with REAL West Michigan values; not the corrupt interests of unethical corporations and Erik Prince.