The Norwegian state pension fund has invested approximately 200 million Norwegian kroner (in excess of 32 million USD), in the South Korean company Daewoo. This company is known to have sold weapons and other equipment to the military junta of Burma, writes Inger Lise Husøy, Executive Director of the Norwegian Burma Committee. (14-FEB-07)
 
Based on Husøy’s article published today in the independent Norwegian newspaper Dagsavisen, ths article has been translated and prepared for publication here by HRHF / Niels Jacob Harbitz.

The overseas investments department of the Noregian state pension fund has invested some 200 million Norwegian oil revenue kroner in the Daewoo International. The investment has been reported to the the fund’s ethical council. There are two reasons why this council should advise the Ministy of Finance and the fund itself to withdraw its investment from Daewoo. First, it has been uncovered that the leadership of the company has sold illegal arms technology and accompanying equipment to Burmese authorities and that it stands accused of this in South Korea at the moment. In the ethical guidelines for the fund, it says that the Ministry of Finance can decide to pull the fund out of companies ‘with reference to production of arms that in normal use violate basic human rights principles’. According to Norwegian regulations, it is illegal to sell weapons and related material, directly or indirectly, to Burma.

Second, Daewoo is the main investor in the Shwe gas field in the Bay of Bengal off the coast of Burma. The building of the gas pipelines to India and the People´s Republic of China are scheduled to begin this year. Commercial production will, according to the plans, tart in 2010, and the profit from this field is expected to be the greatest source of income for the mlitary junta. Experience from previous projects of this kind in Burma, like the French company Total’s wellknown building of a gas pipeline from the Yadana field in 1995-98, demonstrate that the consequwnces for the local population in areas affected are severe with regards to both human rights, the environment and living conditions in general. In the Norwegian state pension fund’s ethical guidelines, it says that the fund shall pull out of companies whose business cause an unacceptable risk for accessory to severe or systematic violation of human rights.

To read the full article, in Norwegian, click here.