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GUEST: Marco Simmons, Legal Director of EarthRights International

A new report by EarthRights International has found that state soldiers in Burma, guarding a Chevron pipeline have killed nearby villagers while ordering others to serve as forced labor. Earthrights accuses the Burmese military of murder and rape, and draws its conclusions from interviews with villagers as well as Burmese refugees in Thailand. Chevron Corp co-owns the Yadana pipeline with the French oil company Total, and a Burmese company. The report calls on these companies to shut down the pipeline as a way to pressure the Burmese state into respecting democracy and human rights. Last year Burma was in the spotlight because of a deadly crackdown on pro-democracy activists and the ruling junta has kept democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi in detention for years. The pipeline co-owned by Chevron is the single largest income source for the Burmese government. It was previously a project of UNOCAL corporation which was sued by local villagers over 10 years ago over the use of forced labor on the pipeline. Chevron then bought UNOCAL’s stake in the pipeline. EarthRights International claims that the same abuses that occurred during the UNOCAL era continue today.

For more information, visit www.earthrights.org.

Download the report on the Yadana Pipeline in Burma here: http://www.earthrights.org/files/Burma%20Project/Yadana/HCoE_pages.pdf