Foreign investment in Burma ‘costly for companies’- EarthRights International said that foreign businesses partnering with Burmese companies carried significant risks.
Apr 29, 2009 (DVB)–Foreign investments in Burma’s oil and gas sector pose a risk to companies and lead directly to human rights abuses against civilians, including rape and torture, says a human rights watchdog.
Speaking at a conference in Jakarta, Inodnesia, attended by leading figures from the region’s oil industry, EarthRights International said that foreign businesses partnering with Burmese companies carried significant risks.
“Due to the reputation and material risks posed by doing business in Burma’s extractive sectors, it may actually cost a company more to go into Burma than to stay away from it,” said Matthew Smith, Project Coordinator at ERI’s Burma Project.
Furthermore, incidences such as French oil company Total’s investment in the Yadana pipeline in the 1990’s implicates them in severe human rights abuses.
“Documented abuses connected to the Yadana project include land confiscation, forced labour, rape, torture, and killings,” say ERI.
http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=2471
Oil & Gas Development
Burma’s oil and gas sector is associated with massive scale human rights abuses and environmental degradation. The Burma Project monitors Burma’s oil and gas sector, collecting difficult to obtain information from inside Burma on internationally financed oil and gas projects. We also conduct fact-finding and research, which informs campaigning at the local and international levels, and explore the possibilities of litigation against multinational corporations who partner with the junta. ERI is currently campaigning against the Shwe Gas Project.
http://www.earthrights.org/burma/oilandgas/
