Burma

On 13 June this year, Amnesty International released a report on Burma titled "Myanmar. Ethnic minorities: targets of repression." The report states that for the last 13 years this organization has documented "the widespread use of forced labour of ethnic minorities by the Myanmar military" and adds that "perhaps the most common human rights violation of ethnic minorities is forced labour of civilians, who are much more likely to be seized by the army than the majority Burman group."

The growth of the Chinese economy, measured in conventional economy terms, is astonishing: its National Gross Product jumped to U$$ 4 trillion, which represents a 22-fold increase of its value in 1978.

Foreign investment in mining, gas exploitation and dam megaprojects --identified with "development"-- in fact constitute a direct cause for human rights abuses and a threat to environmental sustainability in Burma. The country is governed by a military dictatorship since 1962, which has imposed a regime characterised by state terrorism.

Gas and oil exploitation constitute a cause of forest destruction and human rights abuses in many countries and particularly in Burma. The construction of the Yadana gas pipeline -linking gas fields in this country with Thailand- constitutes one of the hotspots regarding nature conservation and human rights in that country.