Major Chinese & Korean Companies Linked to Rights Abuses in Burma

On March 29th, we released a damning report linking major Chinese and Korean companies to widespread land confiscation, and cases of forced labor, arbitrary arrest, detention and torture, and violations of indigenous rights connected to the Shwe natural gas project and oil transport projects in Burma (Myanmar). The publication, The Burma-China Pipelines: Human Rights Violations, Applicable Law, and Revenue Secrecy, draws primarily on two years of clandestine interviews with affected populations from Arakan State, Magway Division, and Mandalay Division, as well as leaked documents that provide new insight into secretive payments between the oil companies and the military regime, controversial security arrangements, and inadequate corporate due diligence.

Recent Killings Near Gas Pipelines in Burma as Norwegian Government Announces Updated Investments in Companies in Burma’s Energy Sector

Also in March, we issued a statement condemning recent killings and torture connected to the Yadana and Yetagun gas pipelines in Burma, and called on the oil companies operating the projects to do everything in their power to prevent more violence. This statement came just days after the Norwegian government announced it had increased its multi-billion dollar investments in oil companies operating in Burma, in violation of its own rules for responsible investment, which we analyzed in detail in our December 2010 report Broken Ethics: The Norwegian Government’s Investments in Oil and Gas Companies Operating in Burma (Myanmar).

ERI Comments on UN’s Draft Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights

For the past five years, ERI has been engaging with Harvard professor John Ruggie, the United Nations’ Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. The culmination of the Special Representative’s mandate is the Draft Guiding Principles for the Implementation of the United Nations “Protect, Respect, and Remedy” Framework, which are designed to implement the framework for business and human rights adopted by the Human Rights Council. In February, we submitted our latest comments on the Draft Guiding Principles. (The final draft of the Guiding Principles was released in March, and was the subject of a three part analysis on our blog).

Stories you may have missed

We had a very busy month back in December, when stories tend to get lost in the hubbub of the holidays. Here’s a quick recap, in case you missed them the first time around:

• We won our appeal in Maynas Carijano v. Occidental Petroleum Corp., in which we represent indigenous Achuar victims of the toxic contamination of their communities in northern Peru. The case had been sent to Peru, but this victory should bring it back to federal district court in Los Angeles–where Oxy is headquartered, and where the plaintiffs had traveled to seek justice. Marco Simons, our Legal Director, later blogged about the road ahead for our plaintiffs in this case.
• We submitted public comments to the SEC in an effort to prevent the oil and mining industries from weakening Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. We also contributed to comments from the Publish What You Pay (PWYP) coalition, and assisted our allies in Burma in participating themselves.
• The Class of 2010 at the EarthRights School Mekong (ERSM) completed their field research and celebrated their graduation, culminating seven months of intensive study and research on issues facing communities in the Mekong region.
• Finally, as noted above, we released the report Broken Ethics: The Norwegian Government’s Investments in Oil and Gas Companies Operating in Burma (Myanmar), which accused the Government of Norway of complicity in human rights violations and violations of its own Ethical Guidelines through its pension fund’s investment in oil and gas companies operating in Burma.

More from our blog:

In the first 100 days of 2011, we published 30 posts on our blog, with the most popular being “The Kitchen Sink Defense,” Marco Simons’s post about Chevron’s retaliatory lawsuit against indigenous Ecuadorians. Subsequent posts covered the landmark $8 billion judgment issued against Chevron and the temporary restraining order and preliminary injuction blocking enforcment of that judgment.

Among the dozens of other recent blogs posts are commentary on Oklahoma’s “Sharia Ban”, Spain’s new criminal code, one victory for earth rights defenders in Mexico and another in Brazil, and the tragic assassination of Columbian lawyer Ricardo Alberto Sierra. Most recently, we highlighted documents made public last week by the National Security Archive, which shed light on Chiquita’s payments to Colombian paramilitaries.

EarthRights International (ERI) combines the
power of law and the power of people
in defense of human rights and the environment.

Learn more about our work at
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