February 2013 visit to Maesot, Thailand and Finally into Yangon, Myanmar and Meeting with a Shwe gas activist
- 2025년 5월 27일
- 2분 분량
최종 수정일: 4월 18일
The Clinic made the fourth fact-finding visit this time again to Peace Law Academy in Maesot, Thailand and for the first time into Myanmar in the city of Yangon, and more importantly finally interviewed one activist (identity hidden here for security purposes) who had worked on Kyaukphyu Island to oppose the Shwe gas field development for environmental and community development reasons. The activist described in detail the land transfers made from the farmers on the island to DAEWOO International under the coercion of the military junta for the purpose of building an onshore gas terminal (OGT) which pulls up the natural gas from the suboceanic source and pushes to the pipelines built and maintained by CNPC, the Chinese company. The activist provided the contact information of the local organizations that could connect the Clinic directly to the affected farmers, the potential clients of any type of a Doe-v-Unocal-like lawsuit.
The Clinic again gave the "Korean democracy" lecture series (followed by fact-gathering) in the refugee town of Maesot, Thailand and also in Yangon, Myanmar with the help of Lawyers' Network who provided a secure forum for such activity under the partially liberalized country yet under military control.
No photos of the meeting with the Shwe gas activist or the workshop with Lawyers' Network in Yangon were taken for the reasons of security.
The Clinic also visited with Spectrum, an NGO working for rule of law in Yangon, and also separately met with U Kyaw Myint, a lawyer from Kyauk Phyu Island who was working in Yangon. He explained in detail the legal system of Myanmar and its functioning and commented on the (im)possibility of obtaining adequate compensation for the Shwe gas victims in a Myanmar court of law.