Position Papers & Petitions

South Korean petition on the Shwe Gas Project to the Korean Human Rights Commission (English) — by webmaster — last modified 2009-08-26 08:19

The Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS), a public corporation whose foreign natural resource development projects are under the control of the Korean government, has been engaged in a major development project in Burma, known as the Shwe Natural Gas Project (Shwe Project). Our research on the project, its objectives, and an assessment of similar prior engagements in Burma lead us to suspect that the Shwe Project will result in a pattern of severe human rights abuses. The experience of previous gas pipeline developments across Burma in the 1990s provides ample evidence of the consequences of the involvement of that country’s military forces in pipeline security and construction: systematic use of forced labor, forced displacement of local residents and the use of torture, rape, and extrajudicial executions to intimidate the population. Forced labor has gained special attention: in 2000, the International Labour Organization (ILO)’s Governing Body called on its members, which includes the Korean government, to review their relations with Burma because of concerns about the Burmese authorities’ widespread practice of forced labor.

South Korean petition on the Shwe Gas Project to the Korean Human Rights Commission (In Korean) — by webmaster — last modified 2009-08-26 08:19