An international group of non-governmental organizations on Friday appealed to the Korea-based Posco International, operator of the Shwe Gas Project in Myanmar, to stop the flow of funds to the military junta in Myanmar. It has appealed to government-owned firms from other countries operating in partnership in this project to ensure that funds do not flow to the military.
Violent clampdown in the months since the February 1, 2021 coup saw hundreds of protesters killed, among them children. About 4000 are under arrest, and the stifling of media coverage means we do not have accurate information about the full extent of the violence.
Asian Dignity Initiative, an umbrella group of organizations working to support those struggling to assert their dignity in conflict situations in Asia, joined activists of the Mineral Inheritors’ Rights Association (MIRA), India in this call. Publish What You Pay-Australia, which is part of a global coalition seeking greater transparency in utilization of revenues from oil, gas and mineral wealth, was also part of this group.
The Shwe Gas Project, one of four main oil projects in Myanmar, is located offshore Rakhine State in the Bay of Bengal, Myanmar. Offshore gas sale proceeds are forecast to be about 10% of total GDP of Myanmar for financial year 2021-22. Gas is a non-renewable resource and once extracted it will no longer be available to future generations; sale proceeds cannot be utilized for the military, the statement released by this coalition said. Nearly 30% of Myanmar gas is estimated produced at Shwe, with large quantity exported to China.
The Shwe project started production in 2013, with Gas Authority of India Ltd JJ, ONGC Videsh Ltd, Korean Gas Corporation and Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise as partners. This project alone, the second-largest source of foreign currency, has contributed between US$214 million and US$ 471 million each year between 2014 and 2019 to Myanmar GDP.
The civilian government had been attempting to exercise control over gas revenues until 2020, despite the long history of misappropriation of proceeds through opaque accounting and exchange rate manipulation. The junta now has control over banks, and could use the proceeds from sale of Shwe gas. Any international oil and gas company engaging with Shwe and other projects in Myanmar would be furthering the interests of the military junta and helping crush democracy, the report released by the NGOs stated.
Civil society groups within Myanmar have also called for payments by international agencies to flow into escrow accounts (where funds are held on behalf of the beneficiary by an independent third party comprising an international organization; such arrangements have earlier been used in Iran and Iraq) until the junta is dislodged from power. The civil disobedience movement in Myanmar is opposing the regime by refusing to recognize it and refusing to participate in it. It has called for widespread strikes, and appealed for the cutting off of sources of funding for the junta.
The group of NGOs noted in their report that although the UN and ASEAN and some nations have expressed concern over the violence unleashed by the military junta and the crushing of peaceful protest, the air strikes by the military on Myanmar’s people has continued.
India has not unambiguously criticized the junta and has sealed its border, so Myanmar citizens seeking asylum cannot enter. Korea’s parliament passed a resolution seeking the end of violence in Myanmar. Speaking at a webinar on Friday, Saswati Swetlena of MIRA said, “It is high time Government of India engages with Indian companies operating in Myanmar.”
Kinam Kim of Asian Dignity Initiative said, “State-owned enterprises like ONGC have a higher responsibility to protect human rights. Merely talking about sustainability is not enough.”