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Chevron and the Yadana Pipeline |
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EarthRights International’s new report, The Human Cost of Energy: Chevron’s Continuing Role in Financing Oppression and Profiting From Human Rights Abuses in Military-Ruled Burma (Myanmar), documents Chevron’s ongoing role in financing and profiting from the military regime in Burma. This is the first comprehensive report on conditions in the Yadana pipeline region since Chevron acquired Unocal’s interest in 2005, and documents the continued serious human rights violations by pipeline security forces, including forced labor, murder, rape and torture. The report also describes Chevron’s continuing legal liability associated with abuses in the pipeline region. (See ERI's Press Release on the report.)
The Yadana Gas Pipeline Project represents the single largest foreign investment project in Burma and the single largest source of income for the Burmese military. Run by a consortium including Chevron, Thai company PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP), Total (operator), and the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), the project does little to benefit the Burmese economy or its people.
Abuses including extrajudicial killings, torture, rape and extortion by pipeline security forces have dramatically increased since the Yadana Project was initiated in the early 1990s. Violations committed in furtherance of the project have included forced labor; forced portering, whereby villagers are made to carry arms and supplies for soldiers patrolling the pipeline route; and forced relocation of entire villages to clear the way for the pipeline and provide ready pools of forced laborers.
The influx of soldiers to the previously isolated region has also caused an increase in illegal hunting, logging, and wildlife trade. The Tenasserim region is one of the largest rainforest tracts left in mainland Southeast Asia, home to wild elephants, tigers, rhinos and great hornbills, to name just a few of the rare and important species that inhabit this region. It is also the home to numerous indigenous peoples, including the Mon, Karen, and Tavoyans. These peoples are experiencing the negative impacts of the environmental destruction as well as the human rights abuses that they must regularly suffer at the hands of the soldiers brought into the pipeline consortium partners, including Chevron and Total.
Learn more about the Yadana Pipeline
ERI Reports on the Pipeline:
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ERI Reports on Forced Labor and Foreign Investment in Burma:
Communications with Chevron/Unocal:
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In a September 27, 2008, letter to Chevron CEO Dave O'Reilly, ERI Executive Director Ka Hsaw Wa called on Chevron to use its influence "to help prevent mass bloodshed" as the Burmese military began attacking monks and other peaceful protestors.
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On July 22, 2005, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka wrote to Chevron CEO Dave O'Reilly noting that acquiring Unocal's stake in the Yadana Project would expose Chevron to significant reputational and legal risks due to the associated human rights abuses.
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On August 9, 2005, Trumka followed up with a letter to Chevron's Public Policy Committee Chair Sam Nunn, again expressing concern that "the Yadana pipeline is an unacceptable legal and political risk."
Statements by Unocal/Chevron:
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While Unocal maintained a substantial website on its operations in Burma (Myanmar), Chevron's website includes virtually no mentions of Burma or the Yadana Project. Unocal's old website is archived here.
- Chevron's statements during the September and October, 2007 brutal crackdown against peaceful demonstrators in Burma -- here and here.
ERI Statements Concerning Foreign Investment and Human Rights in
Burma:
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On November 15, 2007, ERI's Matthew Smith published an op-ed in the Bangkok Post, "The Hunt for Energy at Any Cost: The politics of doing business with a brutal regime."
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On March 13, 2008, as the US State Department released its annual report on human rights in Burma, ERI renewed its calls from Chevron and other multinationals to respect human rights in Burma.
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On Human Rights Day, December 10, 2007, ERI called attention to the fact that human rights abuses in Burma, especially in connection with the Yadana Project, were continuing.
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During the crackdown on monks and other peaceful demonstrators in Burma in September and October 2007, ERI called on Chevron and other companies to use their influence to stop the violence.
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During the crackdown, ERI organized an online petition calling on Chevron to use its influence to stop the killing.
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On September 15, 2007, ERI's Matthew Smith and Naing Htoo published an op-ed in the Bangkok Post, "An industry blind to people's tears," about the oil & gas industry in Burma.
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On April 11, 2005, as Chevron was considering acquiring Unocal, ERI released a statement calling on Chevron to stay out of the Yadana Project and pointing out that human rights in the pipeline region continue today.
Submissions to International Organizations:
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To the United Nations Special Representative to the Secretary General on Human Rights, Transnational Corporations, and Other Business Enterprises:
Submissions to National Bodies:
Third-Party Communications with Chevron and Unocal - Letters and Statements:
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USW Oil Workers Call on Chevron, Total to Withdraw their Investment in Burma (November 9, 2007). The United Steelworkers issued a statement in late 2007 calling on Chevron and Total to withdraw from the Yadana project, citing concerns over the continued use of forced labor.
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Letter to Chevron from Social Investors (October 25, 2007). A letter written to Chevron management from several long time investors, requested a meeting regarding concerns over Chevron’s relationship with Burma’s military regime and its investment in the Yadana project.
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Chevron’s Pipeline is the Burmese Regime’s Lifeline (Amy Goodman, October 8, 2007). Commentary on Chevron’s support of Burma’s military regime through the Yadana project, even in the midst of the 2007 uprisings and subsequent crackdown.
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Free Burma Movement to Chevron Texaco: Get out of Burma! (Burma Forum Los Angeles). US-based Burma activists call on Chevron to withdraw from Burma, citing human rights abuses associated with the Yadana project.
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Time for US’s Chevron to Leave Burma (Shwe Gas Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 3; March 2008). In this editorial, Arakan Oil Watch, part of the Shwe Gas Movement, calls on Chevron to leave Burma, citing Chevron’s continued support of the military regime through the Yadana project.
2008 Chevron Shareholder Resolution:
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