EarthRights International and the Shwe Gas Movement just wrapped up several weeks of meetings with partners to strengthen the coalition and brought an official complaint against Korean corporations at the OECD Korean National Contact Point.

> Shwe Gas Movement Files OECD Complaint to Korean National Contact Point

October 30, 2008, Seoul, South Korea, Chiang Mai, Thailand, and Washington, D.C. -- ERI and the Shwe Gas Movement (SGM) filed a complaint with the Korean government regarding current and potential environmental and social abuses by Korea-based Daewoo International and KOGAS in connection to the Shwe natural gas development project in military-ruled Burma. The complaint, filed with the National Contact Point (NCP) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), alleges that the companies are in breach of at least six OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises related to the Shwe Gas Project in Burma. Breaches range from a failure to conduct an environmental impact assessment to a failure to respect human rights in connection to the project. ERI and the SGM are calling on the Korean Government and the companies to postpone the project. To read the press release, the complaint, and SGM’s requests of the Korean NCP. 

Media Contacts: In Chiang Mai, Thailand, Matthew Smith and Wong Aung, +66-87-1810160; In U.S.A., Riptide Communications, 212-260-5000; In Seoul, South Korea, Kim Kyoung, +82-(0)16-230-1633

Media Coverage:

- The Irrawaddy: "Daewoo Named in Human Rights Complaint"
- Business & Human Rights Resource Center

| Read the full text of the complaint |

> ERI and SGM Participate in World NGO Conference on Wetlands in Suncheon, South Korea

ERI and the Shwe Gas Movement (SGM) participated in the World NGO Conference on Wetlands in Suncheon, South Korea on October 26-27, organized by the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement (KFEM). The conference brought together NGOs from over 30 countries fighting to protect environmentally significant wetlands - and the communities that depend on them - from economic development. SGM Coordinator Wong Aung delivered a presentation on the environmental and human rights impacts of Korean natural gas development in his native ArakanState, where Daewoo International and KOGAS are developing the Shwe Gas Project. Wong Aung focused on current and potential Korean corporate complicity in human rights abuses and in the role that natural gas development will play in destroying what remains of Burma’s largest mangrove forest, approximately half of which has already been destroyed by military-controlled shrimp farming, according to SGM sources.

> Seoul Workshop Aims to Improve Corporate Accountability in Korea

ERI and the Shwe Gas Movement (SGM) participated in the Workshop for Domestic Application of International Human Rights Standards on Multinational Corporations in Seoul, South Korea on Oct. 21, organized by the Korean House for International Solidarity (KHIS). SGM Coordinator Wong Aung and ERI Project Coordinator Matthew Smith delivered a presentation on the environmental and human rights impacts of the Shwe Gas Project in Burma, a natural gas project led by the Korean corporations Daewoo International and Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS). The workshop was attended by distinguished Korean academics, representatives from the Korean National Human Rights Commission and Korean trade unions, and activists and lawyers from NGOs and civil society concerned with the impacts of Korea’s growing involvement in energy projects abroad. The SGM is calling for Daewoo and KOGAS to suspend the Shwe Gas Project until local people can genuinely participate in development decisions. The Shwe Project is the subject of a complaint filed this week in Seoul.

ERI's Matthew Smith was interviewed on Arirang TV’s Heart to Heart - click here to watch the interview [log in with username (eriaccess) and password (noshwe) and choose episode #1748]

> Shwe Gas Movement Holds Its Second Annual Strategy Meeting and Partners Workshop in Thailand

In mid-October the SGM in Thailand held its second annual internal SGM strategy meeting to stop the Shwe Gas Project in Burma, followed by an open workshop that convened a diverse representation of Burma’s NGO and political leaders, as well as representatives of international NGOs concerned with the environmental and human rights impacts of the Korean-led Shwe Gas Project in Burma. The SGM is mobilizing and coordinating its efforts to stop the Shwe Gas Project from proceeding at this time due to grave human rights and environmental concerns. ERI is one of five core members of the SGM, which was initiated in 2002 by the All Arakan Student and Youth Congress (AASYC) and includes groups in Burma, Bangladesh, India, and Thailand. Special thanks to Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) for their generous support for the SGM.