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NEWS- Afghanistan-Rights: Company S



NOTE: Why will the EU not do business with the repressive Taliban regime
but still support activities by the even more repressive Burmese regime
???!!!

Afghanistan-Rights: Company Sacrifices Women for Oil,Say Groups

          Inter Press Service
          04-JUN-98

          WASHINGTON, (June 1) IPS -
          Women's rights organizations
          accused a U.S. oil company today of
          entering into a business partnership
          with the Taliban government of
          Afghanistan, despite its record of
          human rights abuses against women
          and girls. 

          "Stop sacrificing women and girls for
          oil," said Kathy Spillar, national
          coordinator for the organization
          Feminist Majority. "We demand that
          UNOCAL cease all business
          dealings with the oppressive Taliban
          regime until women's and girls' full
          human rights have been restored." 

          Spillar and representatives of other
          Washington-based groups, including
          the National Organization for Women
          the Women's Alliance for Peace and
          Freedom in Afghanistan, protested
          outside UNOCAL's annual
          shareholders meeting in California. 

          "If it proceeds, UNOCAL will be doing
          nothing less than providing hundreds
          of millions of dollars in royalties to
          keep a brutal regime going -- funding
          the continued oppression of half the
          population of Afghanistan," Smeal
          declared. 

          UNOCAL, however, denied all
          charges that it was dealing with the
          Taliban. 

          "UNOCAL will not conduct business
          with any party in Afghanistan until
          peace is achieved and a government
          recognized by international lending
          agencies in place," said an official at
          the company's headquarters in Los
          Angeles. 

          Since the fundamentalist Islamic
          Taliban seized control of the
          Afghanistan capital Kabul in
          September 1996, women and girls
          have been forbidden to work outside
          the home, all schools and
          universities have been closed to
          female students who have been
          forced to be completely veiled. 

          Women who have defied these
          orders reportedly have been shot or
          stoned. 

          The United States, the European
          Union and the United Nations said
          they would not recognize the Taliban
          until women's rights were fully
          restored. The World Bank also
          decided not to work with the country
          to fund development projects. 

          While the oil giant denied working
          with the Taliban, women's groups
          said that, according to media reports
          in France and Britain, a delegation of
          high ranking Taliban officials met
          with UNOCAL in Texas in December
          to discuss the building of a pipeline.
          "UNOCAL is part of a consortium
          (CENTGAS) that is negotiating with
          the Taliban to build a multi-billion
          dollar oil and gas pipeline across
          Afghanistan," said a statement
          distributed by women's organizations
          at the protest in California. Besides
          UNOCAL, the CENTGAS consortium
          includes Hyundai of South Korea,
          Crescent of Pakistan, and others. 

          In February, company
          representatives allegedly visited
          Kabul for four days where they held
          talks with Taliban authorities on oil
          and gas exploration in the country.
          After a delegation from CENTGAS
          visited Afghanistan, Mawlawi Ahmad
          Jan the Taliban mines and industries
          minister -- said that preparations to
          build the pipeline should begin by the
          end of 1998. 

          UNOCAL had entered a $1 million
          contract with the University of
          Nebraska to train workers in
          Afghanistan specifically for pipeline
          construction, Christine Onyango, a
          research associate at the Feminist
          Majority declared. "Why would
          UNOCAL make such an investment
          in training workers if they are not
          planning on working with the
          Taliban?" she said. 

          The University had no immediate
          comment on the allegations. 

          "How can UNOCAL which says it is
          'committed to improving the lives of
          the people wherever (it) operates'
          conduct business with the brutal
          Taliban regime?" asked Mavis Leno,
          a writer and community activist in Los
          Angeles who testified at a
          Washington forum on violations of
          women's rights in Afghanistan. 

          "Many women and girls have been
          stoned and shot for violations of the
          horrendous edicts by the Taliban,"
          she added. "Yet, UNOCAL has
          continued to negotiate and deal with
          the Taliban." 

          "We cannot stand silently by as
          Afghan women become victims of
          inhumane gender apartheid," said
          Eleanor Smeal, president of Feminist
          Majority, 

          UNOCAL has also been criticized by
          human rights groups and
          pro-democracy activists in Burma for
          allegedly providing the Burmese
          government with $150 million
          annually for helping to construct a
          pipeline. This money, says Nobel
          Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who
          is currently under house-arrest, will
          "only serve to entrench the regime"
          widely known for human rights
          abuses.