Over the course of 30 years of operations in indigenous Achuar territory in the Corrientes River Basin of the Peruvian Amazon, Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Oxy) knowingly engaged in destructive practices which severely contaminated unique and sensitive ecosystems and caused profound impacts upon the rights and health of the communities living there.

In March 2006, the Federation of Native Communities of the Corrientes River (FECONACO) asked EarthRights International (ERI) to undertake a mission to the Corrientes River basin in the northeastern Peruvian Amazon to investigate the social, environmental, and human rights impacts of more than 30 years of petroleum production activities.

In recent years, several laws have been used to allow lawsuits in United States courts for human rights violations, and other harms, that occured in other countries. Such transnational lawsuits have been brought through the concerted efforts of victims, local and international activists, and legal teams. Most recently, several major multinational corporations have been sued in the U.S. for human rights abuses committed around the world.

Since the publication of the first edition of this manual in 2003, major legal trends have led to new strategies and arguments by multinational corporations in order to avoid liability for human rights and environmental abuses. As more cases are brought and corporations widen the scope of their arguments against transnational litigation, it becomes all the more important that these cases are litigated competently and that all of the relevant considerations are thought through beforehand. Consequently, ERI has recently published a revised second edition in response to these legal trends.

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In recent months, both China and India have signed agreements with the Burmese military junta indicating their willingness to buy gas from the proposed Shwe gas project in western Burma, with Thailand also expressing interest. If built, the Shwe project would be Burma’s largest gas evelopment project ever.  Matthew Smith and Naing Htoo analyze the events surrounding the recent agreements and the inevitable consequences if the project were to proceed. Read the full article here. Please also see the more detailed report about these latest developments.

This report describes how human rights and environmental abuses continue to be a serious problem in eastern Pegu division, Burma – specifically, in Shwegyin township of Nyaunglebin District. The heavy militarization of the region, the indiscriminate granting of mining and logging concessions, and the construction of the Kyauk Naga Dam have led to forced labor, land confiscation, extortion, forced relocation, and the destruction of the natural environment. The human consequences of these practices, many of which violate customary and conventional international law, have been social unrest, increased financial hardship, and great personal suffering for the victims of human rights abuses. 

A paper on the The International Law Standard for Corporate Aiding and Abetting Liability, prepared by ERI in collaboration with the University of Virginia International Human Rights Law Clinic was recently submitted to the United Nations Special Representative to the Secretary General (SRSG) on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises.

This paper grew out of EarthRights International’s support for the United Nations Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights (the Norms). The Norms were adopted by the U.N. Sub-Commission on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights in August 2003, and are the result of consultations of members of an Expert Working Group with other U.N. agencies, business associations, corporations, and NGOs, as well as U.N. Member States.

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Burma's many conflicts seem frustratingly intransigent, and it is the political, social, and military problems that have gained international attention. While much attention is rightfully paid to the violence and repression around these conflicts, much less is paid to ideas about the natural resources that fuel them – what EarthRights International calls “conflict resources.” Inadequate attention goes, too, to the traditional mechanisms of conflict transformation used at the local level in Burma, which represent a good deal of hope for the future of democracy and peace in the country.

The purpose of this report is to document the experience of the Shipibo-Conibo people of Canaan de Cachiyacu in the Loreto region (of Peru) in their struggle with the American oil company Maple Gas Corporation.

Fact Finding Mission Report: Oil Impacts in the Territory of the Native Communities Canaan de Cachiyacu, Peru. Prepared by Nathalie Weemaels for EarthRights International. 

 Fact Finding Mission Report (English) 187.52 Kb

 Fact Finding Mission Report (Spanish) 960.92 Kb

The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) optimistic forecast has not yet come true. Much of the route linking Mawlamyine (Moulmein), the capital of Mon State in Burma, to Myawaddy, opposite Mae Sot on the Thai border, remains little more than a narrow road that varies from a dirt track in sections to a single-lane of cracked asphalt. But if the ADB has its way, the primitive road will become a sophisticated, multi-lane highway by 2008, facilitating the movement of consumer goods and passengers.

In April 2004, Thailand’s Energy Ministry and Burma’s Ministry of Electric Power agreed to develop four of the proposed projects. Joint feasibility studies began this past fall, prompting representatives from several different Burmese ethnic groups to urge Thailand to reconsider.