Companies working on the Burmese Shwe project to develop a huge natural
gas field in the Gulf of Bengal have been asked to assess whether the
operation will damage the environment in contravention of international
law and to investigate allegations that social and human rights are
being violated.
Letters have been sent by EarthRights International and the Korean
Federation for Environmental Movement to the vehicle and electronics
multinational Daewoo and Kogas, Korea’s gas corporation, which are
taking part in the project.
The letters say environmental destruction and human rights violations
have already been reported from the Shwe undertaking. EarthRights and
the federation fear Shwe will go the same way as the Yadana and Yetagun
natural gas pipeline projects, for which forced labour was reported to
have been used by the Burmese military despite government assertions
that the practice had ceased.
