Three dams slated to be constructed on the Salween River on the Thai-Myanmar border would create an “inland sea” that would cut off the Karen insurgency’s supply route and block refugees from escaping into Thailand, the Karen Human Rights Group said Tuesday.

“If constructed, the reservoirs of these three dams will combine to turn most of the territory along a 200-kilometre stretch of the Salween River, including approximately 150 kilometres along which it forms the Burma-Thai border, into an inland sea,” said the group, one of several non-governmental organizations dedicated to highlighting the plight of the Karen.

The Karen are one of Myanmar’s largest ethnic minority groups whose traditional territory is the Karen State bordering Thailand.

The Karen National Union and its armed force, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), have been waging an insurgency against the Myanmar government since 1949 and remain one of the last guerrilla groups that have refused to sign a ceasefire with the Myanmar army.

Years of Myanmar military offensives in the Karen State, accompanied by atrocities committed against civilians and forced labour, have driven more than 100,000 Karen refugees into Thailand.

The Salween hydroelectric projects, which have the financial backing of Thailand, would effectively cut international aid from Thailand from reaching displaced villagers and the KNLA in Karen State, the rights group said.

“Damming the river would, therefore, block the escape of refugees and cut off supplies of relief aid from Thailand to the internally displaced while simultaneously cutting off from behind the KNLA forces who protect the displaced villagers and facilitate aid delivery,” the Karen support group said.

The Salween dam projects were also expected to displace tens of thousands of villagers. Activists and environmentalists have urged the Thai government to review their involvement in the Salween projects until studies are carried out on the impact on the people and environment near the dams.

In May 2005, the Thai Energy Ministry and Myanmar Ministry of Electric Power signed a memorandum of understanding to build the hydroelectric dams on the 2,800-kilometre Salween River, which runs from Tibet through eastern Myanmar.

In December 2005, another agreement was signed between the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and Myanmar’s Hydropower Department to build the 1-billion-dollar Hutgyi dam, on which construction is to start in December.

The Karen Human Rights Group pinpointed dam construction as one of the development activities undertaken in the Karen State by the ruling junta that would further exacerbate the humanitarian crisis there.

It called on the international aid community, especially the United Nations organizations active in Myanmar, to refrain from engaging in projects that do not include the involvement of local communities.

“International development assistance, whether for humanitarian or other programmes, must meet the requirements of transparency and accountability to the civilian population while furthermore ensuring that it does not undermine the rights of local people,” the group said.