Daewoo and Kogas get warning on Burmese project

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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.