On March 14, 2007, Karen Rivers Watch, a partner of Earthrights International in Southeast Asia, organized an event on the Salween River for the International Day of Action Against Dams. ERI attended this event along with with around 500 villagers who will be impacted by the Salween River dam plans. Villagers came together to pray and send the following message out to the world:
“Currently, the plans to dam the Salween River are a major issue for the local people living along the Salween river. What the “DEVELOPMENT” means for the SPDC is one of the main strategies to subjugate the ethnic areas and to exploit the natural resources form the ethnic minorities’ land along the Salween river. The SPDC military operations for the development is resulting in different forms of human rights abuses, such as increasing SPDC camps to control the areas, forced relocation, forced labor, land confiscation and an increasing number of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) due to the Salween dam issue.
“Around 500 dam impacted community members from both Thailand and Burma are calling on this day for the withdrawal of the plan, which is leading to “Damming at Gunpoint.”
For more information on the Salween Dam plans click here: www.salweenwatch.org.
