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BURMA RELATED NEWS - March 21,
2001.
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Headlines
-------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - U.S. and EU keep heat on Myanmar over
forced labour
Reuters - Bangkok, Yangon plan April talks
on border tension
Reuters - US hopes for Thai-Myanmar cooperation
on drug issue
BBC - Support for tougher Burma
sanctions
American RadioWorks - Blood and Oil in
Burma
Wednesday March 21, 4:13 AM
U.S. and EU keep heat on Myanmar over
forced labour
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United
States and European Union back tough measures, including possible trade
sanctions, against Myanmar to bring an end to forced labour, a report by the
International Labour Organisation said on Tuesday.
The report will be discussed by the ILO's governing body next week and is a
follow up to the organisation's call last November for countries to take
measures against Yangon to ensure the military government ended forced labour.
The United States said in a letter to the ILO dated January 19, the last
day of the Clinton administration, it had imposed diplomatic and economic
sanctions on Burma but there was no evidence suggesting forced labour had ended.
Stressing the need for reconciliation between Myanmar's authorities and the
opposition, the U.S. government said that "in the absence of significant and
measurable progress, ILO members, including the United States, should be
prepared to consider additional measures, including trade sanctions..."
An ILO inquiry in 1998 found forced labour "widespread and systematic". The
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions says more than a million people
in Myanmar are subjected to forced labour, toiling on construction sites for
roads, railways, military installations and tourism.
Myanmar's labour minister, Major-General Tin Ngwe, said in a letter to the
ILO that the country was continuing efforts to eliminate forced labour, which
was "illegal...both in law and in practice".
The European Union said it had suspended trade privileges in 1997 due to
Myanmar's use of forced labour. It acknowledged Yangon had taken some steps to
ending the practice but called for a complete end and for practitioners to be
punished.
"The European Union was monitoring the situation closely and, should the
authorities in Myanmar fail to take the necessary action in this respect, the
European Union stood ready to take further measures," it added.
Japan was notably absent among countries replying to a letter from ILO
director-general Juan Somavia to member states drawing attention to the call for
measures.
Thailand assured the ILO that "no Thai investment in Myanmar contributed,
directly or indirectly" to forced labour.
Singapore and the Philippines said they had no relations with Myanmar that
abetted the practice. But Singapore said that technical assistance would be
"more appropriate and effective" than sanctions in addressing the issue, the ILO
report said.
WIRE: 03/21/2001 5:22 am ET
Bangkok, Yangon plan April talks on
border tension
BANGKOK, March 21 (Reuters) -
Thai and Myanmar officials plan to hold their first border talks in two years in
April in Myanmar's northeastern town of Kengtung, in a bid to soothe tension
simmering after their soldiers clashed last month.
The two countries' bilateral regional border committee will meet from April
2 to 4 for the first time since Myanmar put the talks on hold two years ago.
"This meeting is aimed to restore the bilateral relationship,"
Lieutenant-General Wattanachai Chaimuanwong, commander of Thailand's third army,
which defends the northern border, told reporters.
"I will be joining the meeting as an ambassador, not a soldier and I don't
feel any pressure," said Wattanachai, who will lead Thailand's delegation.
Relations between the two neighbours dived last month during battles
between Myanmar troops, their allies in the United Wa State Army (UWSA), and
anti-government Shan rebels.
Thailand says the battles spilled over onto Thai soil, forcing a response.
Myanmar denies this.
The drug trade has been another irritant souring relations.
Bangkok says the UWSA is the source of hundreds of millions of
methamphetamine tablets flooding Thailand each year, and has accused Yangon of
turning a blind eye to the problem. Myanmar says the Shan rebels are the
region's main drug traffickers.
Wattanachai has been extremely critical of Myanmar, fuelling speculation in
the Thai media he could be transferred to a higher but inactive post later this
year.
New Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh has often boasted of his good
relations with Myanmar's ruling generals and is keen to restore friendly ties
with Myanmar.
The two countries, which share a 2,400 km (1,490 miles) border, have waged
a war of words since the February clashes.
CALL FOR CALM
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Wednesday has urged that both
neighbours stop trading accusations in order to improve their relationship.
"Please don't act like children having fights," Thaksin said. "We should be
mature. I hope the...talks will solve most problems from the local to the
national levels."
Deputy Defence Minister Yutthasak Sasiprapha told reporters
the two sides had yet decide an agenda for the meeting, but said Thailand
would raise the issue of bilateral cooperation to stamp out drugs.
Washington said on Tuesday it was hopeful Bangkok would be able to use
personal connections to work with Yangon on the drugs problem.
U.S. Ambassador to Thailand Richard Hecklinger told a meeting of
businessmen and diplomats in Washington that he hoped Yangon would respond
positively to Thailand's efforts.
Major General Thein Sein of the Triangle Region Command will lead the
Myanmar delegation to the meeting.
The last regional border meeting was held in Thailand's southern resort of
Phuket in March 1999.
WIRE: 03/20/2001 8:43 pm ET
US hopes for Thai-Myanmar cooperation on
drug issue
WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters)
- The United States hopes the new Thai government will be able to use its
connections to work with Myanmar on the neighboring country's drug problem, the
U.S. ambassador to Thailand said on Tuesday.
Ambassador Richard Hecklinger told a breakfast of businessmen and diplomats
in Washington that the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra would
devote a great deal of attention to relations with its northwestern neighbor,
known widely by its former name, Burma.
"A number of people in the government have connections," Hecklinger said.
With that in mind, he added: "We certainly hope that the new government will be
able to establish some type of cooperation with Burma (on the drug issue).
"And we hope the Burmese government will respond, which it has not yet
done."
Myanmar is the source of several problems for Thailand, including illegal
workers seeking greater economic opportunity over the border dividing the two
countries and political refugees fleeing the repressive military rulers in
Yangon.
"The Golden Triangle" where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet has long been a
source of opium and its derivative, heroin, but in recent years has diversified
into the production of methamphetamines.
The Thai army has said 700 million methamphetamine pills -- a stimulant
that costs just $1.14 a pill on the street -- will come into Thailand this year,
an increase of 40 percent over the year before.
Thai army chief of staff Boonrawd Somtas told reporters outside a
closed-door conference on Thailand's drug problem earlier this month that at
least 85 percent of production was getting through to about 2 million addicts
around the country.
The growing problem has had a "devastating impact on Thai society,"
Hecklinger said in Washington.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh says he
can boost ties through his good relationships with some of Yangon's ruling
generals, and Thaksin himself has said he is looking for "sincere" discussions
with Myanmar following his January election.
But relations have taken a turn for the worse in recent weeks since
fighting between Myanmar troops, backed by their allies in the Wa ethnic
minority, and ethnic Shan rebels spilled over into Thai territory.
Thai army sources suggest the fighting is linked to the drugs trade. They
believe the United Wa State Army is the biggest producer of methamphetamines.
The United States will continue to work with Bangkok on drug issues,
focusing on interdiction, police training and the role of the courts, as well as
how to treat addicts and reduce demand, Hecklinger said.
More staff in the U.S. embassy in Thailand are dealing with narcotics than
any other single issue, Hecklinger said. BBC - Tuesday, 20 March, 2001, 23:52
GMT
Support for tougher Burma sanctions The International Labour Organisation says the United States and the
European Union support tougher measures against Burma, including possible trade
sanctions, in an effort to end forced labour.
In letters to the ILO, the US and EU acknowledged that existing diplomatic
and economic sanctions had failed to curtail the practice.
They said they were therefore willing to consider additional measures.
An ILO inquiry in 1998 found that forced labour in Burma was widespread and
systematic.
The Burmese labour minister, Major-General Tin Ngwe, says his country is
continuing efforts to stamp it out.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
Blood and Oil in
Burma
By Daniel
Zwerdling
American RadioWorks - NPR All the recent controversy about globalization and the World Trade
Organization spotlighted growing concern that U.S. corporations need to take
more responsibility for how workers are treated in factories overseas. All heard
about the flap over issues like wages and workplace safety in Nike shoe
factories in Asia and Kathy Lee Gifford's clothing factories in Central America.
But now here's a landmark legal case that goes way beyond that; human rights
groups have sued the Unocal corporation. You used to know it as Union Oil of
California. They charge that since the early 1990s, Unocal has joined hands with
dictators in Myanmar to turn thousands of citizens there into virtual slaves.
It's a landmark case, not just because human rights groups charge that UNOCAL
has engaged in slavery. This is the first time that anybody has sued an American
corporation in an American court on the grounds that the company's violating
human rights in another country. National Public Radio's Daniel Zwerdling
traveled to the region and has this report.
YOU'LL FIND SOME OF THE KEY EVIDENCE in this case in a refugee camp which
straddles the border between Mynamar and Thailand. Hundreds of thousands of
people have escaped from Mynanmar in recent years and now some are living in a
sea of shacks, all jammed together in a ravine. Relief workers drive into the
camp one morning in a pickup to hand out rice and blankets. They pass the time
listening to Thai rap.
Relief Worker: There are totally, nearly ten thousand population living in
this camp.
These refugees have abandoned their homes in Myanmar for all kinds of reasons. Some were backing the movement for democracy. They saw Myanmar's army torture dissidents and kill protesters in the streets. Others were caught in the crossfire between the government army and rebel groups. And the relief worker figures that more than a thousand of the refugees, in just this one camp alone, have come here to escape the slave gangs. Call this man Neerohd. The refugees say it's too dangerous to use their
real names. The way he tells his story, he used to raise cashew trees and betel
nuts on a small farm, up in Myanmar's hills. But then one day, a battalion of
government soldiers rolled into his village. And the soldiers rounded up dozens
of men and basically said, "you're coming to work for us, now folks, you'll have
to leave your families and farms behind." And the soldiers hauled the men off to
the jungle and forced them to chop it down – at gun point. Neerohd speaks
through an interpreter.
Translator: It's like that. He is pointing to that bamboo and bushes there.
Translator: Thicker than that.
Daniel Zwerdling: Did the army tell you why they wanted you to clear the
jungle?
Translator: They told us that we need to clear the jungle for the gas
pipeline. That the only thing I know.
If you'd visited Myanmar back then, back in the early 1990s, you might've heard government officials boasting about their big pipeline project. The military rulers announced they were joining hands with two famous foreign companies - - the French firm called Total, and Unocal from the United States. They were building a pipeline that would pump natural gas from way out at sea all the way up on land. This project would take thousands of workers. And Neerohd says he and the other men from his village were forced to work on the project – for free. In fact, he says the soldiers were so worried that the villagers might try to escape, that the soldiers locked them up at night, inside stockades, and tied each man's wrist to the man next to him. Neerohd: talking in Burmese.
Translator: One after another we were roped together. Every night we were
tied up like that. There were about more than a hundred people in that cage, so
we couldn't lie down, we just had to sit like that and doze off.
Neerohd says he finally did manage to escape, he walked through the jungle and over the mountains to this refugee camp. And now he's at the center of that extraordinary lawsuit against Unocal. Lawyers in the case estimate that Myanmar's army turned as many as ten thousand villagers into slaves to work on the pipeline project. But sagas like Neerohd's suggest that poor people from a little-known country can take on a multinational giant and make legal history. This story really begins, in a way, on the other side of the ocean in a
bland office building near Los Angeles. This is Unocal headquarters. There are
palm trees in the atrium and fountains. Unocal has its own private elevator. It
won't move until the invisible receptionist beams you up.
When you read Unocal's literature, they describe themselves as the largest
independent energy company in the world. And the way John Imle describes Unocal,
it's one of the more public-spirited companies in the world. Imle's winding up
his term as vice chairman of the company. He'll tell you right off what he
thinks of those stories about the pipeline.
Imle: I don't believe those charges. I wouldn't call them lies. Maybe
confusion about what has been going on where. I mean, I have heard stories
that…I just don't believe those stories.
Imle says when he and fellow executives decided to get into the pipeline project with Myanmar's government, their first goal was to make a profit after all, he says, they're a business. Imle: But right behind that and as a condition, always a condition of that
investment, we'll only invest in places where we can improve the lives of
people.
And Imle says the gas pipeline will improve lives across the region. The project is pumping gas across Myanmar to a power plant inside Thailand. It'll help bring electricity to people who still cook with firewood and light up their homes with kerosene lanterns. Still, Imle says, he and his colleagues realized that they'd cause some controversy when they formed a partnership with the military rulers in Myanmar. They knew that everybody from US Presidents to human rights groups to United Nations officials; all these people have repeatedly denounced Myanmar's dictators as some of the most brutal on the planet. And Imle says he realized that Myanmar's government is infamous for using what some people call "forced labor" or conscripted labor. According to widespread evidence, the military routinely rounds up citizens and forces them to build projects from bridges to railroads. Imle: I accept that conscripted labor is used broadly in civil projects in
that country, in Myanmar.
But Imle says he was determined to make their pipeline project a model of the ethical way to do business – maybe they'd even nudge the dictators toward democracy. And now we get to one of the key issues in this entire case. The way Imle describes it, Myanmar's army would patrol the pipeline route and provide security – that's it. He says company executives wouldn't tolerate it, if the military forced villagers to work on the project against their will. Imle: We worked very hard, and Total as well, to determine that we would be
able to conduct our business in an absolutely ethical, honest and moral
manner.
Daniel Zwerdling: And you are feel deep down inside, convinced that the
military did not abuse workers in any way connected with the pipeline.
Imle: I am not in a position to know that much about the conduct of the
military on the ground. But I guess what I am trying to say is there was no
contractual relationship with the military and we were not in any way in
control, and I don't believe that Total was in any way in control of their
activities, but the use of conscripted labor in connection with this project was
a non-starter from the beginning and everyone knew that. What the military may
or may not have done that nobody knows about, I can't address. But whatever
happened in the pipeline, I don't think that those things happen in my heart of
hearts, I really don't.
That's Unocal's public version of events. Other Unocal sources paint a different picture. They suggest that from the very beginning of this project, Unocal and Myanmar's military had a close relationship. For instance, National Public Radio has obtained an internal State Department cable, and it describes a private meeting a few years ago between American diplomats and Unocal's representative in Myanmar. According to this cable, Unocal's point man told the diplomats that Unocal and Total had actually hired Myanmar's military to work for the companies. Daniel Zwerdling: And according to the detailed notes of the meeting. He
stated forthrightly that the companies had hired the Burmese military to provide
security for the project.
Lawyer: John, I am going to have to ask you because of commenting on the
testimony of someone who is in the case, that you not to comment on that.
That's the voice of a Unocal lawyer. He was monitoring the interview from
another room.
And consider this: according to company sources, Unocal hired a former
Pentagon analyst to investigate whether the army was abusing human rights along
their pipeline. And he warned Unocal executives that Myanmar's military was
committing "egregious human rights" violations. According to company sources,
the consultant flatly told executives that when they keep insisting that slave
labor is not being used to support the project, they appear "at best naïve and
at worst a willing partner in the situation."
I wanted to visit the pipeline to see the situation firsthand. But the
government of Myanmar blocked the way. When I told them I was reporting on the
pipeline project, they refused to give me a visa to enter the country.
And so I traveled to the border between Myanmar and Thailand to meet with
refugees near this lake. It's a spectacular lake. It's flanked by jagged
mountains, like worn shark's teeth, and the boatman points out Buddhist temples
along the banks.
One of the first refugees I meet says he used to be a soldier in Myanmar's
army and he contradicts just about everything that John Imle says. Call this man
Cho. As we talk, we're sitting in a small hotel room, which looks out over the
water.
Cho says he enlisted in Myanmar's army when he was 18 years old. And he
made good money. But Cho says he deserted the army a couple years ago, because
he couldn't stand the way that they were virtually kidnapping villagers, and
forcing them to work on Unocal and Total's pipeline project:
Translator: We went by army truck and then when we got to a village, we see
men that we would find on the road and then we brought them back to the truck
and make them work for us.
He couldn't refuse and he would be beaten by us if only he refused.
Over the next few days, more refugees tell their stories, along the shores of this beautiful lake. They're too skinny, some have rotten teeth. And the more they talk about the pipeline project, the more it sounds like Bible tales about the slaves in ancient Egypt. The way they describe it, there were two kinds of workers along the pipeline. One group was lucky – they got real jobs, they dug the ditches and put in the pipes and Total and Unocal paid them high wages. But then there was a vast second group of workers, like these refugees, they generally got the area ready so the paid construction crews could move in. They say the soldiers made them haul rocks and build dirt roads, they had to carry the army's supplies. And they say the soldiers punished them for the slightest problem. This man says he reached his breaking point just last summer. He says the
soldiers who work on Unocal and Total's pipeline project were forcing him to
haul their food and ammunition. When he told them he needed time off because he
was sick, they tortured him. The local relief worker translates.
Translator: They beat him and they put some water in his nose and they
immersed him in water. And they put water in a jar and they put it in his nose
for several minutes.
Most of the refugees who say they escaped from the labor gangs used to be poor farmers. And the rest of the world might have never heard their stories and Unocal wouldn't be in court if they'd been left to their own devices. But a couple of prominent activists from Myanmar seized on their case, as a way to pressure the country's dictators. One of them is named Maung Maung. Maung Maung: We have noticed that in American there is justice.
Maung Maung's sipping tea at an outdoor restaurant near the refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border. He used to work for Myanmar's government, in their mining department. Then he got in trouble when he tried to organize a union of government employees and that's why he had to flee. But Maung Maung says he really got angry when he heard other refugees talking about the pipeline and he says the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to force Unocal and Total to take responsibility for spreading misery. He'd read in the newspapers how ordinary people in America can have their day in court. Maung Maung: A lady who was going between two tall skyscrapers was caught
in a very strong wind. She fell and she sued the buildings…the building owners
and she got compensation. There was this people, person, who shot another man's
dog on the other side of the fence and he had to give compensating. Like I
explained before, you can speak out and if you have grounds, then you are
listened to.
Maung Maung and other activists from Myanmar started telling the refugees' stories to human rights groups. And soon, American activists were organizing protests like this one outside Unocal headquarters in California. And they convinced more than 20 city councils across the country, along with the state of Massachusetts, to pass laws banning contracts with Unocal that do business in Myanmar. The Massachusetts law was overturned a few months ago, and the case is heading for the Supreme Court. And meanwhile, the activists from Myanmar started thinking, maybe they
could put Unocal and Total on trial. That was a long shot, because people have
always had to sue a company in the country where the company is allegedly
breaking the law and in the pipeline case, that would be Myanmar. But lawyers at
human rights groups based in this country found a strategy in a law passed in
1789, that's back when George Washington was President and pirates plundered
ships at sea. The law's called the Alien Tort Claims Act. It said in effect that
if anybody, violated your human rights anywhere in the world, you could sue them
here in America, if you could find them on American soil. Paul Hoffman is one of
the attorneys on this case. He teaches civil rights law at various
universities.
Paul Hoffman: If you were say, a British person. Someone who had a ship in
the shipping lanes from Britain to the united states in the eighteenth century
or early nineteenth century and you were subjected to piracy ion the high seas
whether by an American or by anyone else and you could find that person within
the United States, you would be able to bring a civil action against
them.
The law was pretty much forgotten until the 1980s. But then, Hoffman and other lawyers dusted it off to use against modern political pirates. They sued despots like Ferdinand Marcos, the deposed president of the Philippines. The moment he stepped foot on American soil, the lawyers charged him with committing murder and torture in his own country. So when these lawyers heard about the pipeline, they sued Unocal. And it's a landmark case. It's the first time that a judge has allowed people to sue an American corporation in an American courtroom on the grounds that the company is trampling human rights in another country. Lucian Dhooge's been watching industry executives react to the Unocal case – he teaches business law at the University of the Pacific. Lucian: I think this case is potentially very important to multi-national
corporations. It certainly sends the message that when you do business with a
thuggish regime you need to be careful or cognizant that there are consequences
that flow from that.
And Dhooge argues that the case against Unocal sets a dangerous precedent. Specifically, the refugees are charging, through their lawyers, that Unocal has broken international treaties that prohibit slavery. The plaintiffs can't sue Total, because the company doesn't operate much on American soil. Dhooge echoes what other people are saying in the business world, he says no matter how much you might want to punish Unocal if it really did what the refugees claim, an American courtroom is the wrong place to do it. Dhooge: I have some very serious concerns here because this opinion is the
first case that says that American companies have an obligation to conform their
conduct to human rights treaties. Before, treaty obligations were between
states. Now we have a court telling us that in certain instances that these
treaty obligations will apply to private transactions. Ultimately, I do think
that Unocal or any other company that engages or participates in forced labor
abroad should be held accountable for that. However, I think there is a concern
here that the court crosses into the political realm, the foreign relations
realm, and that area clearly belongs to the President and the Congress.
The case against Unocal has already made history, that happened when the judge ruled that people can sue a company for violating human rights overseas. Now the judge has to decide if there's actually enough evidence against Unocal to force the company to stand trial. If the case does go to trial, refugees from Myanmar could theoretically win millions of dollars in damages. And the trial would be one of the more unusual spectacles in legal history.
The plaintiffs are planning to take the stand. You'd see poor farmers and
fishermen from the nation of Myanmar sitting in a Los Angeles courtroom. They'd
tell stories like this man told me, back at the lake near the refugee camp.
He says they were working on the pipeline project as it climbs into the
mountains and a villager named Usantee got in trouble.
Translator: Usantee was already old and very tired. As he couldn't carry
his load as well as us, he couldn't follow us. The soldiers beat him because he
was, they thought that he was putting up a sham, and that he was pretending to
be tired.
He was beaten by a bamboo about six feet long and they beat him for many
times. And that old man was shouting for help. He was calling out his mother's
name. "Mother, please help me. Please help me, God. Please help me." That was
the way he shouted.
And then finally, the voice asking for help died down and then he died,
too.
And then John Imle would probably take the stand, for Unocal. And if Imle tells the court what other company officials told me in background, he'll suggest that radical activists are goading the refugees to make up lies to discredit Myanmar's rulers. In fact, Imle says, it's too bad that the government of Myanmar refused to let me see the pipeline, because the companies haven't just laid a bunch of pipe. He says they've launched social development projects in the villages around it. He went to visit. John Imle: What I saw taking place there was the construction of clinics.
The injection of nineteen doctors into an area that used to have none. I see now
infant mortality rates that are one-half the national average because the
medical facilities we provided. I see the children in school at double the
national rate because of educational facilities and larger classrooms that we
provided.
Daniel Zwerdling: So when you walk along the pipeline road, you feel proud
to be from Unocal and to be a part of it.
John Imle: Looking back on 36 years in the business, investments like this
are the things that I look back upon with the most pride.
The federal judge will probably rule in the next two months whether Unocal has to stand trial. |