United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Urges Corporate Interests in Burma to Use Their Influence with Military Junta to Push for Democratic Refo

http://www.earthrights.org/content/view/593/114/

EarthRights International Special Commentary:
Written by Paul Donowitz and Matthew Smith
Monday, 15 December 2008
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Urges Corporate Interests in Burma to Use Their Influence with Military Junta to Push for Democratic Reforms and Improvement in Human Rights
When asked what advice he would give to private businesses invested in Burma’s (Myanmar’s) energy sector, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon firmly stated that "they should try to use their cooperation or their relationship to impress upon the Myanmar authorities so that they can commit to their democratization process, and also humanitarian and promotion of human rights..." ERI is heartened that the Secretary General recognizes that corporations choosing to operate in Burma must play a positive role. However, ERI continues to document the negative environmental and social impacts of foreign investments in the country’s oil and gas sector, and questions the current commitment of corporations in this sector to influence positive change in the country.

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ERI is particularly concerned about South Korea’s Daewoo International, the operator of a natural gas project set to carry gas from the Bay of Bengal to China through politically and environmentally sensitive regions in Burma. Abuses connected to this project - known as Shwe, meaning “gold” in Burmese - have begun and were documented in a recent Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) complaint filed with the Government of South Korea by ERI and the Shwe Gas Movement (SGM). If the project moves ahead, ERI believes that widespread abuses in the project area are unavoidable, including forced labor, forced relocation, and other abuses perpetrated by the Burmese military on behalf of Daewoo and other companies involved in the project.


Moreover, Daewoo International was recently at the center of a maritime border dispute in the Bay of Bengal between Burma and Bangladesh, exploring for natural gas in disputed waters under the cover of Burmese warships. The company participated in activities intended by the Burmese authorities to exacerbate longstanding differences between the two countries; an act inconsistent with Ban Ki-moon’s call to influence positive change.

Like Daewoo, the US oil company Chevron and the French oil company Total are also failing Ban Ki-moon’s call to use their power and influence to facilitate positive changes in Burma. The companies continue to operate a natural gas pipeline that has been associated with longstanding, widespread human rights abuses in the country’s Tenasserim region. Called Yadana, meaning “treasure” in Burmese, the project officially began in the mid-1990s and since its inception has led directly to human rights abuses by the military – abuses continue today. The project has also financed repression as the project is the single largest source of revenue for the military regime (an estimated US$ 969 million to the junta last year alone, according to ERI).

Since 1996, ERI has researched and published five advocacy reports detailing the suffering of local people and the human rights abuses committed on behalf of the companies’ interests; most recently in the ERI report The Human Cost of Energy: Chevron’s Continuing Role in Financing Oppression and Profiting from Human Rights Abuses in Military-Ruled Burma (Myanmar) (April 2008). The report details how human rights impacts directly connected to the project continue to date, such as forced labor, rape, and killings committed by pipeline security battalions. The companies are aware of these abuses, yet they continue unabated – Chevron, for its part, faces significant legal liability in US Courts for these abuses. The companies continue to deny any wrongdoing, and argue they are benefiting the people of Burma.

Chevron and Total should heed the Secretary General’s call and use their influence to effect positive change in Burma. The companies should stop relying on the Burmese military for pipeline security, publish all payments made to the Burmese regime, and use their financial resources to implement a sustainable socio-economic program in their project area.

Major construction on Daewoo International’s project has not yet begun in earnest – the company should recognize that the best way to heed the Secretary General’s call is to postpone the Shwe Project until local people can be included in development decisions, and until the project can proceed without negative human rights impacts. In the mean time, the company should publish all payments made to the Burmese regime.

Read the full transcript of Ban Ki Moon's interview here.

RELATED NEWS:
- Read Matthew Smith's op-ed about Daewoo's involvement in aggravating tensions between Burma and Bangladesh over maritime boundaries.

- Bloomberg News - "Daewoo-Led Group May Conclude Myanmar Gas Agreement with CNPC"