Weekly Business Roundup (October 3, 2009)

Danish Pension Fund Boycotts Daewoo over Shwe Gas Project

A European pension fund with investment assets of over US $6 billion has blacklisted the South Korean industrial conglomerate Daewoo International because of its activities in Burma.

Danica Pension, the Danish state pension fund, says it will not invest in Daewoo “because of its breach of international guidelines in connection with its activities in Burma.”�

Daewoo leads a foreign consortium developing part of Burma’s largest offshore gas reserve, the Shwe field in the Bay of Bengal.

Daewoo was recently the subject of a formal complaint to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris.

The South Korean government, as member of the OECD, had failed to properly investigate human rights allegations against Daewoo International and Shwe consortium partner Korea Gas, alleged the human rights groups EarthRights International (ERI) and the Shwe Gas Movement.

The two groups said “human rights abuses have been perpetrated against local people opposing Daewoo’s Shwe Gas Project.”�

Danica, owned by the Danish state bank, says it does not invest “in companies that violate internationally recognized standards for human and labor rights, the environment and anti-corruption.”�

The Shwe Gas Movement this week praised Danica’s action as a “positive trend of investment funds taking responsibility.”

Daewoo and its partners, including two state Indian oil companies, are to spend more than $3 billion to pump up to 200 billion cubic meters of gas from the Shwe field. Virtually all the gas will be sold to China.

ERI last month alleged that the Burmese junta has creamed off billions of dollars from the Yadana gas field, also operated by a foreign consortium, and secretly deposited the money in Singapore banks.

US Agency Accuses Thailand of Using Burmese Child Labor

Thailand has been given ten weeks to answers charges by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) that Burmese child labor is being used illegally in the country’s seafood packaging and garment industries.

The allegations have been made in a report by ICE following secret visits to factories by undercover agents.

Similar allegations were made two years ago but the Thai government at the time denied it, saying child labor in Thailand is illegal.

United States law prohibits the import of goods made using child or forced labor.

This time the Thai Frozen Foods Association, speaking for the country’s major shrimp and other seafood packaging industry, also denied the claims.

The association says no one under 18 is employed in the industry and counter charges that US seafood industry producers “influenced” the ICE report to try to curb Thai shrimp exports to the US.

Thailand’s fishing industry alone employees 70,000 foreign migrant workers, and most are believed to be Burmese. Many are illegally hired on cheap wages.

Australian Firms Urged to End Burma Business Links

Australian companies are coming under pressure to quit Burma, where they are accused of aiding the military regime via their business activities.

They are named by the human rights group Burma Campaign Australia (BCA) as doing business in Burma despite economic sanctions backed by the Australian government.

The campaign’s Zetty Brake said the group had calculated that funding such as operational fees, or royalties, paid by seven Australian firms was sufficient to fully finance the equipping and operational support of more than 700 Burmese soldiers.

The Burmese regime’s army is accused by many foreign human right groups of abuses against Burmese civilians.

Most prominently, the airline Jetstar is accused of making payments to the junta to operate flights between Singapore and Rangoon.

Sydney-based Jetstar made a statement denying that its flights to Rangoon personally benefited the regime. It said the air links were a “positive” benefit to Burma as a whole.

“Jetstar Asia is obliged to meet normal aviation and airport charges in every country it operates in.