From Earthrights International:
Today, ERI released two major reports which link energy giants Total and Chevron to serious human rights abuses in Burma, including showing how revenues from the companies’ infamous Yadana gas project are helping to prop up the country’s brutal military regime. The first report, Total Impact, provides the most comprehensive coverage to date on the billions of dollars earned by the regime from the Yadana pipeline and how the generals are secretly stashing it away in two Singaporean banks, while the people of Burma see none of the benefits. Meanwhile, as the second report entitled Getting it Wrong demonstrates, Total and Chevron continue to cover up the severe human rights abuses- including forced labor, killings and confiscation of property – committed by the military which provides security for their Yadana gas project.
Read the Reports
These reports are based on years of exhaustive research, including first-hand interviews with the people inside Burma most directly affected by the Yadana project. They are intended not just to call Chevron, Total and the Burmese junta to account but also to counter the effects of the misinformation which has so far dominated the debate about responsible investment in Burma. As long as the junta has easy access to the revenues generated by projects like the Yadana pipeline it can remain insulated from the potential effects of US and EU sanctions. Moreover, by concealing the true impacts of the projects, these companies are sending a dangerous and false message to the corporate sector and investment community – that it is possible to do business with the corrupt and despotic junta without contributing to the continued oppression of Burma’s peoples.
With the recent sham trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, growing internal unrest, the upcoming Burmese elections and US policy towards the country under review, it is a critical time for Burma. Doing business in Burma is rife with inherent risks which have the potential to undermine the efforts of those searching for a positive way forward for the country – we think that Total and Chevron have a duty to their investors, the international community and most importantly, the people of Burma, to be honest about that.
From The Washington Post and The U.S. Campaign for Burma:
An ‘Election’ Burma’s People Don’t Need 
By U Win Tin
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Much attention has been focused on Sen. James Webb’s recent visit to my country and his meetings with Senior Gen. Than Shwe and incarcerated Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi. I understand Webb’s desire to seek a meaningful dialogue with the Burmese ruling authorities. Unfortunately, his efforts have been damaging to our democracy movement and focus on the wrong issue — the potential for an “election” that Webb wants us to consider participating in next year as part of a long-term political strategy. But the showcase election planned by the military regime makes a mockery of the freedom sought by our people and would make military dictatorship permanent.
In our last free election, the Burmese people rejected military rule in a landslide, awarding our National League for Democracy party more than 80 percent of the seats in parliament. Yet the military has refused to allow the NLD to form a government. In the 19 years since that election, Burmese democracy activists have faced imprisonment, intimidation, torture and death as they have peacefully voiced demands for justice, individual and ethnic rights, and a democratic form of government that is representative of all Burma’s people.
While never ending our struggle for democracy, the NLD has continually sought to engage the regime and open a dialogue — based on peace and mutual respect — that could address Burma’s critical political as well as social problems. Make no mistake — these two issues are linked. Burma was once the rice bowl of Asia. Today, because of the regime’s destructive economic policies and its use of oppression to maintain military rule, Burma is a shattered, poverty-stricken country.
The regime is seeking to place a veneer of legitimacy on itself through showcase “elections” and claiming that “disciplined democracy” will be instituted next year. Yet in May 2008, just days after a massive cyclone devastated Burma and killed more than 100,000 people, the regime used a farcical process to claim that 93 percent of voters chose to adopt a constitution that permanently enshrines military rule and prevents those with undefined “foreign ties” from holding public office — catch-all provisions that would bar Suu Kyi and democracy activists from seeking office.
Some international observers view next year’s planned elections as an opportunity. But under the circumstances imposed by the military’s constitution, the election will be a sham. We will not sacrifice the democratic principles for which many millions of Burmese have marched, been arrested, been tortured and died to participate in a process that holds no hope whatsoever for bringing freedom to our country.
The demands of the NLD are reasonable. In April we issued another declaration to encourage engagement with the military that called for the release of all political prisoners, a full review of the constitution, reopening of all NLD offices and the right to freely organize. The regime’s answer is the continued jailing of Suu Kyi and 2,000 other activists, massive military offensives against ethnic groups and the enforcement of rules to gag democracy.
How can the international community play a meaningful role? First, officials such as Webb should stop fear-mongering about China. His language about containing China, and working with Burma’s regime to do so, is based on an outdated and unrealistic thesis. Suu Kyi rejected such notions by informing Webb that “we will not deal with anyone with fear and insecurity. We will deal with anyone, China, America, India, equally and friendly. As we can’t choose our neighbors, we understand that we need to have a good relationship with China.” Second, the NLD encourages other countries and international organizations to engage with Burma’s military leaders to persuade them to engage with us and Burma’s ethnic groups. The United States and many other nations have imposed sanctions on Burma. That is their decision and in keeping with their justified solidarity with the democratic values that we all hold so dear. If the regime genuinely engages with the NLD and ethnic representatives, releases political prisoners, ceases attacks against ethnic minorities and takes additional steps to build a true democratic state, these sanctions will be repealed at the right time.
In the meantime, let no one doubt our resolve. The NLD is a reflection of Burmese society. We will not be cowed or coerced into participating in a fatally flawed political process that robs the Burmese people of the freedom for which we struggle. We stand ready to engage, but we are more than willing to continue our struggle for the democratic values that so many have given their lives and their freedom to achieve.
U Win Tin is a member of the Central Executive Committee and a founder of Burma’s National League for Democracy party. He was a political prisoner from 1989 to 2008. Support 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and the struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma:
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