Environment campaigners take anti-dam protests to the UN

(GENEVA, SWITZERLAND) Environmental activists from Switzerland and Malaysia have gathered today at lunch time in front of the UN seat at Geneva’s Place des Nations to protest against plans to construct twelve hydroelectrical dams in the Malaysian state of Sarawak on Borneo. Following the rally in Geneva, the Malaysian representative to the UN was given a petition with 6000 signatures from Swiss citizens calling for Malaysia to halt the dam plans. The Geneva action followed a similar protest held yesterday by indigenous communities in Sarawak, Malaysia, to mark the International Action Day for Rivers of March 14th. Worldwide, over 100 actions happened in more than 40 countries.

In a press statement, the Bruno Manser Fund sharply criticized the lack of transparency of the Malaysian dam plans which will cause the forced displacement of tens of thousands of indigenous people and will irreversibly destroy hundreds of square kilometers of tropical forests.

“These dam plans amount to a serious breach of the affected communities’ human rights and would destroy their river-based culture”, the Bruno Manser Fund stated. “It is shocking to see that corruption and not a true energy demand is the main driver behind these projects.”

Malaysia has recently completed the 2,400 MW Bakun mega dam, Asia’s largest dam outside China. The Bruno Manser Fund calls on the International Community to pressure Malaysia to halt all further dam projects on Borneo.

Sign the online petition against the disaster dams in Sarawak: www.stop-corruption-dams.org

(14th of March 2012)