Accepting Myanmar refugees signals immigration shift
This still does not absolve the Government from turning a blind eye to business as usual with Burma/Myanmar by Canadian corporations.
Friday, 14 August, 1998
The US government argues that Burma is close to economic collapse partly because of sanctions. It points to falling foreign exchange reserves, a declining exchange rate (350 kyats to the dollar on the informal market, as opposed to the official rate of six), and strict limits on the export of capital abroad.
Ivanhoe Mines
Ivanhoe Mines is a Canadian mining company with very close links to the regime in Burma. As the largest foreign mining investor in Burma it operates the Monywa Copper mine in a joint venture with the regime. Rail and power infrastructure in the area of the mine was built using forced labour. The mine could be earning the regime over $40 million a year.
BURMA: As a part of their systematic campaign to pressure companies operating in Burma, the Canadian Labor Council (CLC) and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) called for Canadian-based mining company Ivanhoe to withdraw from Burma. In a letter written to CEO of Ivanhoe, Fred Higgs, ICEM General Secretary said that Ivanhoe's relationship with the Burmese government in the Monywa copper mine helps supply, "funds for the coffers of a regime that has been irrefutably linked to forced labour and narcotics trafficking." ICEM is a trade union of twenty million people who work in mining all over the world. Ivanhoe said it would proceed with a US$280 million expansion of the Monywa mine. Also, the ICEM along with the US-based AFL-CIO spoke at a Shareholder's meeting of US-based Halliburton in June, to convince the company to pull out of Burma. Halliburton helped to construct the Yadana oil pipeline, which used forced labor and will provide the military dictatorship government of Burma with US$150 - US$400 million dollars for decades. Halliburton, who's former CEO is US Vice President Dick Cheney, has worked to oppose economic sanctions against Burma for its human rights violations. (Asiaweek, June 17, 2001, Press Release of CLC and ICEM, June 14 2001; Press Release, AFL-CIO and ICEM, May 15, 2001)
Two statements prior to the 2002 Ivanhoe Annual General Meeting on its position in Burma
Canadian Investment in Burma
Canadian Business and Burma
Stop Canadian Corporate Complicity with Burma's Military Regime
Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Burma, refugees, investment, corporations, Canada, government, Myanmar, Karen, Ivanhoe-Oil
No comments:
Post a Comment