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dam-l LS: Burma Dam--Forced Labor & Japan Connection


PRESS BACKGROUNDER: A JAPANESE DAM FOR BURMA'S GENERALS: THE TA SANG
DAM, FORCED LABOR AND THE JAPAN CONNECTION.
Press backgrounder #3 for a briefing at the Foreign Correspondent's Club
of Japan by Harn Yawnghwe, Euro-Burma Office and Dr. Thaung Htun, NCGUB
representative to the United Nations, May 30, 2000.
***Inset box***
Tasang Dam facts
Location of dam: Burma's southern Shan State 80 km north of Thai-Burma
border
Height of dam: 188 m (tallest in Southeast Asia)
Installed capacity: 3,300 MW (3/4 to be sold to Thailand)
Flood area: Reservoir will flood 230 km back up along the Salween River
Cost of dam: At least US$3 billion
Developer: GMS Power Public Co. Ltd.(Thailand)
Japanese connection: Electric Power Development Corporation (Japan), a
quasi-governmental corporation is conducting the feasibility study. The
only plausible funder is the Japanese treasury, probably by way of the
Asian Development Bank.
Status of dam plans: Feasibility Study has been
or is about to be completed (= Step 4 in the 5-
step dam planning process).
Abuses already occurring: Forced labor and forced relocations. A number
of Burmese army battalions have moved into the area to provide
protection for Japanese workers for EPDC.
***
The Salween River, the only major free flowing river remaining in
Southeast Asia, flows down from the Himalayas in China into Burma and
then forms a natural border between Thailand and Burma.
Now, with financing from Japan, Burma is planning to dam the Salween to
export electricity to Thailand. Although only in the planning stage,
the project is already causing massive human rights abuses in Burma's
Shan State.
The dam, to be located at Ta Sang in southern Burma's Shan State is 80
kilometers from the Thai border. At 188 meters high, the dam will be
the tallest in Southeast Asia, creating a reservoir 230 kilometers
long, flooding an area of at least 640 sq. km, storing approximately
one-third of the Salween's average annual flow. The cost of building
the dam will be at least US $3 billion.
In the last four years, Burmese troops have intensified their military
operations in the Shan State, resulting in the forced relocation of
more than 300,000 people. In 1999, troops from four Burmese army
battalions took up positions to guard workers from the Japan's Electric
Power Development Corporation (EPDC), a quasi-governmental company.
Human rights reports from the area indicate those battalions are using
forced labor and committing other abuses.


Forced Labor
According to the 1998 International Labor Organization (ILO) finding on
forced labor in Burma, rendered by a quasi-judicial proceeding, there is
abundant evidence that the SPDC military pervasively uses forced
civilian labor for the construction and maintenance of military camps
and other infrastructure. A 1998 Human Rights Watch Burma Report states
that the use of forced labor has not abated but appears to have
increased with the collapse of the economy.
Forced labor involving thousands of workers has been used on previous
major dam projects, including the Nam Wok dam in Shan state completed in
1994. There are compelling reasons to believe that the Ta Sang dam
development will also involve the SPDC's use of forced labor, such as:
In the January 1999 report submitted to the UN Commission on Human
Rights, Special Rapporteur, Mr. Rajsoomer Lallah, received reports of
villagers from Murng Pan, Larng Khur, Murng Ton and Nam Zarng being
forced to work by the SPDC army for periods of up to two weeks splitting
rocks near the Salween River crossing of Ta Sang.
SPDC's widespread practice of using forced labor for construction of
infrastructure projects is well documented and publicized. The Yadana
gas pipeline project brought worldwide attention to such inhumane
practices.


Forced relocation
Human Rights Watch reports an intensification of civilian forced
relocation and the subsequent human rights abuses inflicted by the SPDC
military from 1996 to 1999, especially in the Shan State. Forced
labor, forced portering, forced relocation and extrajudicial killings
have in the last four years dramatically increased throughout the Shan
State of northern Burma.
Forced displacement is occurring in precisely the same areas that dam
site surveyors began feasibility studies on the proposed dam site. From
1997, the SPDC military extended its relocation program in Shan state to
include both sides on the Salween river, as well as the Nam Parng
tributary upstream from the planned dam, and including Murng Pan
township, which forms the western side of the Ta Sang dam site.
Already, there are more refugees from Burma than there are people in
Kosovo. Aid groups estimate that more than 500,000 are internally
displaced within Burma. Upwards of 100,000 more are in camps along the
Thai Burma border and Thailand estimates that at least another 500,000
are in Thailand outside the camps. The largest group of refugees are
Shan. If the dam is to proceed, the number of Shan seeking refuge in
Thailand in order to escape SPDC's forced relocation program and its
subsequent human rights abuses will increase substantially.

The Japanese connection:--Japan's Electric Power Development Co.'s work
on the Ta Sang dam
Japan's Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. (EPDC) has been hired to
conduct feasibility studies on the Tasang project for the Government of
Burma. EPDC is a quasi-governmental company, controlled by the Japanese
government. 1(Footnote 2 EPDC's ten shareholders are the Ministry of
Finance, with 66% and nine electric power utilities, collectively owing
33.3%. Japan's Cabinet has slated EDPC to be privatized by 2002. See
http://www.epdc.co.jp/english/index.htm) On International project, EPDC
typically provides feasibility studies and arranges project financing.
The Salween river area of the Shan State is a war zone. Since
mid-1999, the Burma Army has been fortifying positions along the Salween
River near the dam to protect the companies - including EPDC--have been
carrying out feasibility and survey work. Units from 4 Infantry
Battalions, 330, 332, 518 and 520, numbering 400-500 troops took up
positions on both sides of the river at Tasang. (Source, SHAN HERALD
AGENCY FOR NEWS: JUNTA FORTIFYING THE SALWEEN DAM SITE 4 October, 1999).
Refugees arriving in Thailand are reporting abuses by the troops from
these battalions.
The use of a Japanese quasi-governmental company to carry out the
feasibility studies hints at what will likely be the most significant
Japanese connection funding. At US $3 billion, the project dwarfs
Burma's ability to pay. Thailand, still recovering from the Asian
financial crisis, is also in no position to pay for such a risky
project. Western governments are intensely opposed to funding any
projects that benefit the military regime until it begins a transition
to democracy. The World Bank's own regulations prohibit it from
involvement. Nor is the private sector likely to pick up the tab. The
Thai developer, GMS Inc., is by any reasonable accounting standard
bankrupt and was delisted from the Thai stock exchange. Which leaves
the Japanese treasury, probably by way of the Asian Development Bank.
The Japanese government has been secretive about its involvement in
Tasang but it has recently announced a resumption of aid to Burma for
small and medium sized companies. Japan also recently funded, under the
guise of humanitarian aid, an extension of the runway at Rangoon's
airport to boost the tourism industry by allowing larger jets to land.
For more information
Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. (EPDC)
6-15-1 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061, Japan
Phone: 03-3546-9385
Fax: 03-3544-1819
http://www.epdc.co.jp/
For more information on the massive forced relocation, forced portering,
forced labor and other abuses in the Salween area, see:
A Dam for Burma's Generals, a report by Terra, a Thai environmental NGO
http://www.mhoneshweyee.com/mar00/032500a.html
The Burma Army's Salween River offensive
http://metalab.unc.edu/freeburma/humanrights/khrg/archive/khrg95/khrg9512.html
"Killing the Shan", a report by the Karen Human Rights Group http
://metalab.unc.edu/freeburma/humanrights/khrg/archive/khrg98/khrg9803.html

For information updates, please contact Salween Watch. Salween Watch is
an NGO that monitors the dam project and publishes a periodic
newsletter. They can be reached by email at salweenwatch@hotmail.com
____________________________________________________

PRESS BACKGROUNDER: THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT'S FUNDING OF FORCED LABOR IN
BURMA
Press backgrounder #2 for a briefing at the Foreign
Correspondent's Club of Japan by Harn Yawnghwe, Euro-
Burma Office and Dr. Thaung Htun, NCGUB representative to
the United Nations, May 30, 2000.
The Tasang Dam on the Salween River in Burma is not the first project
since the Second Wold War sponsored by the Japanese government to cause
forced labor in Burma. The US Department of Labor has identified the
South Nawin Dam, built by the Burmese regime with planning and
engineering paid for by the Government of Japan, as having used some
260,000 forced laborers during the mid 90s (See US Department of Labor
Report on Labor Practices in Burma, Sept. 1998, Appendix III,
INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS USING UNPAID LABOR: 1988-1996. Available on
the Internet at:
http://www.dol.gov/dol/ilab/public/media/reports/ofr/burma/main.htm#AP3).

The South Nawin Dam, funded by loans from the Japan Bank for
International Cooperation and
Development. In an article in Burma's state press in 1995, referring to
the hundreds of thousands who "contributed voluntary labor" for the dam,
the regime wrote:
"Speaking of a brief history of the dam, he said OECD of Japan
conducted survey for drafting the Project for Allround Development of
the Upper Sector of Ayeyawady Delta Region from 1977 to 1979 and the
feasibility report was submitted in 1980. Based on the report,
consultant of Sanyu Group were hired for drawing design beginning April
1983...Ambassador of Japan to Myanmar Mr Takashi Tajima expressed
pleasure at the completion of the dam
for which OECF of Japan loaned yen 8,150 million" (See "Newly
inaugurated South Nawin Dam to supply water to 62,600 acres and to
irrigate 98,100 acres of crops in three townships," The New Light of
Myanmar, April 29, 1995.)







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Aviva Imhof
South-East Asia Campaigner
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley CA 94703 USA
Tel: + 1 510 848 1155 (ext. 312), Fax: + 1 510 848 1008
Email: aviva@irn.org, Web: http://www.irn.org
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