On January 28, EarthRights International (ERI) released French and Burmese language translations of the Executive Summary and Recommendations from the ERI reports Total Impact and Getting it Wrong, which were originally published in September 2009. The reports connect the oil giants Total and Chevron to forced labor, killings, high-level corruption, and authoritarianism in military-ruled Burma (Myanmar). 

"ERI's findings demonstrate Total and Chevron’s complicity in abuses associated with one of the most controversial development projects in history," said ERI Coordinator Naing Htoo, a principal author of the reports. "A wider audience now has information about the true cost of the companies' impacts in Burma."

The reports found that despite the efforts of local communities and groups like ERI, serious and widespread human rights abuses continues to be associated with the Yadana natural gas pipeline in Burma and Total and Chevron continue to misrepresent their impacts in the country. In October 2009, Total published a 12-page categorical rejection of ERI’s September findings. ERI responded in turn in December 2009 with its third report of last year related to Total and Chevron’s impacts in Burma, entitled Total Impact 2.0: A Response to the French Oil Company Total Regarding its Yadana Natural Gas Pipeline in Military-Ruled Burma (Myanmar). That report clarifies how Total’s response to ERI failed to refute ERI’s research and documentation of widespread human rights abuses in the company’s gas project area. Total Impact 2.0 re-issues key recommendations to Total, Chevron, PTTEP and other companies in the oil and gas sector, the international community, the ruling State Peace and Development Council, and investors.  

"These new translations amplify local voices from the pipeline area in French and Burmese-speaking societies," added ERI Coordinator Matthew Smith, "which compliments ongoing work toward corporate accountability, human rights and environmental protection, and revenue transparency in Burma’s extractive industries."

Notably, Total Impact calculates that the companies’ 40-mile (60-km) natural gas pipeline in Burma has generated over US$7.5 billion dollars in revenue since 2000. Rather than benefiting the people of Burma, ERI has discovered that a significant portion of the military junta’s share of this revenue is located  in non-government accounts in two leading banks in Singapore. ERI is working with a range of actors internationally to combat the corruption associated with Burma’s gas sector. 

Upon their original publication in September 2009, the reports generated widespread attention from governments and international media. ERI is building on the momentum of these reports to advocate for meaningful changes associated with the human rights, environmental, and revenue-related impacts of large-scale extractive industry projects in Burma, for the benefit of both local and national communities in the country.  

ERI would like to thank the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) for their generous support in the French translations.