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BURMA RELATED NEWS
- September 19, 2002.
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HEADLINES
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Reuters - Oil firm must face trial in
Myanmar human rights suit
Dow Jones - Appeals Court Myanmar
Human-Rights Suit Against Unocal Is Reinstated
AP - Federal appeals court reinstates
suit against Unocal in Myanmar rights violations
DOD - DOD OFFICIAL CITES PROGRESS ON
WWII MIAS IN BURMA
AFP - ADB takes Myanmar to task for
delaying reforms, haphazard policies
AFP - Police in southern China seize
large amounts of drug-making material
AFP - US expresses disappointment
over Myanmar talks on coup anniversary
AFP - Myanmar accepts invite to
Hawaii ID lab ahead of recovery mission
Xinhuanet - Thai delegation to
Myanmar to discuss reopening of border
Xinhuanet - Myanmar to train
more nurses
Bkk Post - Delegation heads for
talks
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thursday September 19, 8:58 AM
Oil firm must face trial in Myanmar human rights suit By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oil giant Unocal Corp. must stand trial in a lawsuit by villagers in Myanmar who were allegedly subjected to forced labor, rape and murder by that country's military during construction of a gas pipeline, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday. A three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal, in overturning the decision of a federal judge in Los Angeles, said that a jury should be allowed to decide if Unocal was liable for the human rights violations carried out in the country formerly known as Burma. "We're extremely pleased that our clients will now have their day in court," Jenny Green, an attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, said, adding that the ruling could set new precedents even before a trial is heard on the claims. "This decision says you can't set human rights violations in motion and then when someone else acts, walk away," Green said. "It's an important legal principal that corporations have to abide by human rights laws. It can't be business as usual. There have to be fair standards toward people." But Daniel Petrocelli, an attorney for Unocal, cautioned that the 9th Circuit came to no conclusions about the facts of the case but only ordered a trial on the matter. "And we're in very novel legal terrain here," Petrocelli said. "Whether or not a private American company can be held legally responsible for the alleged human rights violations committed by a foreign government." Petrocelli said Unocal was considering lodging an appeal in a higher court but was confident it would prevail at a trial if necessary. UNOCAL SAYS HAD NO PART IN VIOLATIONS "Let's be clear about this," Petrocelli said. "Unocal never aided and abetted anyone in the commission of any human rights violations and had nothing to do with anybody committing human rights violations. Unocal never endorsed, authorised or countenanced them in any way." The 9th Circuit's decision stems from two 1996 lawsuits filed in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles which claimed that villagers in the rural Tenasserim region of Myanmar were subjected to forced labour, rape, torture and murder by the military there during construction of a Unocal gas pipeline. In the first lawsuit, four villagers sued Unocal and others, claiming violations of state law and the law of nations under the Alien Tort Claims Act. In the second lawsuit, 14 villagers made similar claims and also alleged federal racketeering violations. But a judge dismissed parts of the lawsuits the next year and in August of 2000 U.S. District Judge Ronald S.W. Lew granted a Unocal request to throw out the rest of the claims because the plaintiffs could not show that the oil giant controlled the Myanmar military. Lew also ruled that there was no evidence that Unocal actively participated in the human rights violations, which he said was necessary to prove the company liable under U.S. and international law. In a 2-1 decision, the 9th Circuit judges agreed with Lew on the torture claims but reversed him on allegations of forced labour, rape and murder and sent the case back to trial. The plaintiffs claimed in their lawsuits that they were subjected to rape, torture and murder as part of a forced labour programme instituted by the Myanmar military. Others said that their land was confiscated to make way for the pipeline. Unocal argued that it wasn't even aware that the Myanmar military had been hired as security for the project and was unaware of any forced labor or human rights violations in connection with the pipeline construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thursday September 19, 1:33 PM
Appeals Court Myanmar Human-Rights Suit Against Unocal Is Reinstated (Dow Jones) - A federal appeals court, broadening the potential liability of U.S. corporations for human-rights abuses committed abroad, reinstated a civil lawsuit against Unocal Corp. (UCL) for alleged mistreatment of villagers in Myanmar, Thursday's Wall Street Journal reported. In reversing a lower court's dismissal of the case, the Pasadena, Calif., branch of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Unocal, based in El Segundo, Calif., may have "aided and abetted" human-rights abuses committed by the military of Myanmar, formerly called Burma, and the judges remanded the case for trial to U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The case was brought by several citizens of Myanmar who claimed their own military, with the connivance of Unocal, subjected them to rape, torture, murder and forced labor. Unocal faces a separate California state trial on alleged human-rights abuses in Myanmar; but this federal case had been dismissed in August 2000. The three-judge panel ruled that the trial court erred in requiring the plaintiffs to prove Unocal's "active participation" in the alleged abuses. Instead, the judges ruled the plaintiffs, to hold Unocal liable, needed only show the oil company provided "knowing practical assistance or encouragement" to the Myanmar authorities. "The evidence," the appeals court wrote, "supports the conclusion that Unocal gave practical assistance to the Myanmar military in subjecting plaintiffs to forced labor." The ruling is an important, new interpretation of a 200-year-old law called the Alien Tort Claims Act, under which the case was filed. In recent years, human-rights groups have filed several cases under ATCA, aiming to hold U.S. corporations accountable for human-rights cases abroad, yet have thus far failed to bring any to trial. Wall Street Journal Staff Reporter Pui-Wing Tam contributed to this report. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Federal appeals court
reinstates suit against Unocal in Myanmar rights violations
By DAVID KRAVETS The Associated Press 9/19/02 1:08 AM SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A federal appeals court reinstated a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of indigenous farmers of Myanmar, alleging Unocal Corp. was involved in human rights violations carried out by the country's military. The allegations against the El Segundo-based oil concern include being complicit in slavery, murder and rape, which the farmers say was carried out by the Southeast Asian nation's military. The military provided the company with security and other amenities for the pipeline venture with the Myanmar government, formerly called Burma. "Our theory of the case is that they aided and abetted the military," attorney Paul Hoffman said of Unocal. "They knew that slavery and murder was happening and they turned a blind eye to it." The case involves 18 farmers who allege they were raped or enslaved by the military. Some of the plaintiffs are relatives of those they say were slain while construction of the pipeline was underway. The farmers may use American courts to sue Unocal, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, because of a federal law granting alleged victims of international human rights abuses that right. The decision reverses a federal judge who ruled that the Tenasserim region farmers did not have the right to sue in American courts. The appeals court, however, said the farmers could neither sue the Myanmar military nor French oil concern Total, which was also involved in the pipeline project. Barry Lane, a Unocal spokesman, said if human rights abuses occurred, they were not done at the company's request, knowledge or behalf. "The project has an exemplary record, and that will ultimately be born out in court," Lane said. No trial date is set. But the same farmers, who are seeking undisclosed damages, have lodged similar allegations in a California state court. Trial in that case is scheduled to start Feb. 4. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ US Department of
Defense
No. 469-02 September 14, 2002 DOD OFFICIAL CITES PROGRESS ON WWII MIAS IN BURMA A Department of Defense delegation has concluded a visit to Rangoon, Burma, where it laid the framework for operations to recover the remains of WWII American servicemen whose aircraft crashed in Burma while flying missions against the Japanese. Jerry D. Jennings, deputy assistant secretary of defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs, met with senior Burmese officials in Rangoon this week to discuss U.S. recovery operations at four sites in Burma. The government of Burma pledged full support for these recovery missions. Jennings invited Burmese officials to visit the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii (CILHI) next month to meet with U.S. scientists who lead the field excavations and conduct forensic identification work in their laboratory. The visit is to familiarize Burmese specialists with U.S. remains recovery and identification procedures in order to facilitate operations in Burma. CILHI has identified four crash sites of C-47 cargo aircraft that crashed in 1944 and 1945 in the northern part of Burma. Technical talks are to be held in Burma in November to arrange details on the excavation of the four sites in early 2003. During the talks, the U.S. team will seek to visit each site and survey them for subsequent excavation. More than 78,000 Americans are missing in action from WWII. The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office establishes and oversees U.S. policies on accounting for missing Americans from all conflicts. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ADB takes Myanmar to task for
delaying reforms, haphazard policies
MANILA, Sept 18 (AFP) - Myanmar's military rulers came under scathing criticism Wednesday from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for delaying reforms and making haphazard policies. "There are no clear prospects for the introduction of necessary widespread economic reforms by the government of Myanmar to correct macroeconomic imbalances and reduce poverty," the ADB said in its Asian Development Outlook 2002 report. It said the military junta "lacked the necessary policies, and its strategies are ad hoc and respond to a variety of problems in, at times, contradictory ways. "Moreover, the capacity to implement policies is lacking," the Manila-based ADB said in the report. Citing an example, it said the junta had declared the "laudable intention" of eliminating fiscal deficits over a five-year period "but lacks the capacity and tools to actually do this." The bank said the junta should, perhaps, consider only reducing these fiscal deficits. Myanmar, formerly Burma, has suffered under decades of failed socialist policies, government control of the economy, and crippling sanctions that followed the bloody repression of 1988 pro-democracy protests and 1990 elections the junta refused to recognise. The economy has been propped up to a large degree by cash from the illegal trade in opium and methamphetamines which some observers say constitutes 20 percent of all business in the country. The ADB said Myanmar's problems were as much structural as macroeconomic. It said the country's exchange rate continued to be "grossly overvalued," with the official exchange rate of the national currency, the kyat, at around 6.8 to the dollar. "However, by the end of April, the free market rate was over 1,000" kyat to the dollar, the ADB said. The dual exchange rate system is a problem since it distorts prices and resource allocation and stunts growth. The ADB also charged that the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the official name of Myanmar's military junta, was reluctant to accept the market based rate for fear that debt repayments would become more difficult. The SPDC has stated that it will require international financial assistance of up to three billion dollars to return to a market based exchange rate. The ADB also said Myanmar would find it difficult to increase exports because the private sector's activities remained restricted. It warned that if the anti-money laundering law introduced in June 2002 led to further withdrawals of savings, the SPDC might decide to increase interest rates slightly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Police in southern China seize
large amounts of drug-making material
BEIJING, Sept 18 (AFP) - Police in southern China's Hainan province have cracked a large-scale drug manufacturing and smuggling case and seized more than 100 tonnes of drug-making chemicals, state media said Wednesday. Police seized more than 100 tonnes of hydrochloric acid and six tonnes of sodium hydroxide and also detained nine suspects, while confiscating two fishing boats, the state news agency Xinhua said. The suspects had successfully transported 50 tonnes of hydrochloric acid to Vietnam by boat in May and were preparing to ship another 50 tonnes of the chemicals to Vietnam in June when their boat experienced mechanical problems. Police in Hainan's Yangpu port discovered the substances while making a routine inspection of boats on July 1. They launched a two-month investigation in Guangdong, Guangxi as well as Hainan province which culminated in the arrests of the suspects. China has become one of the globe's top amphetamine producers, a UN International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) official had said in Beijing during a regional anti-drug meeting in May. The vast majority of heroin and opium produced in Myanmar, the biggest producer of such drugs in the region, is exported to other countries through China. In recent years, China has become not only a transit country but also a market. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ US expresses disappointment
over Myanmar talks on coup anniversary
WASHINGTON, Sept 18 (AFP) - The United States on Wednesday accused Myanmar of failing to press forward with a promised national reconciliation drive, in a statement marking the Yangon junta's 14th anniversary. "Today is the 14th anniversary of the suppression of the people's hopes for democracy, and the establishment of the military regime, in Burma," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, using the country's former name. "We encourage the Burmese regime on the anniversary of its takeover to move rapidly toward its own stated goal of instituting democracy in Burma. "We are disappointed that the regime has failed to follow through on steps toward national reconciliation after releasing Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest in May of this year." "We encourage the regime to pursue substantive dialogue with the democratic opposition and to release all of the many remaining political prisoners unconditionally." Military leaders took full control of Burma and imposed martial law on September 18 1988, little more than a month after democracy protests were crushed in a bloody army crackdown in which thousands are thought to have died. They established the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and later renamed the country Myanmar. Despite allowing a general election in 1990, the SLORC refused to accept its results, which amounted to an overwhelming victory for Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. Boucher's statement came amid renewed speculation in the political and dissident communities here that a landmark dialogue between Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta, brokered by UN envoy Razali Ismail may be in trouble. Myanmar, which is treated as a pariah state by Washington and its Western allies has recently made attempts to improve its standing in the US capital, hiring a lobbying firm and making major policy announcements here rather than in Yangon. In July, the junta claimed it was victim of a vicious "smear" campaign designed to frustrate its goal of improving poisoned relations with the United States. The tirade followed allegations that Myanmar troops had systematically raped women and girls in Shan state. The United States has warned junta that a bevy of sanctions and investment restrictions will be lifted only when substantial progress is made towards democratic reform. Washington is a staunch supporter of Aung San Suu Kyi, who's NLD won an overwhelming election victory in 1990 that was never recognized by the government. It also accuses Yangon of doing too little to crack down on the trade in illegal narcotics. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Myanmar accepts invite to
Hawaii ID lab ahead of recovery mission
YANGON, Sept 19 (AFP) - Myanmar officials will make a rare visit to the United States in October to prepare for a joint mission to recover remains of US servicemen whose aircraft crashed in what was Burma during World War II, it was announced here Thursday. "It was agreed that next month Myanmar officials will visit the United States Army Central Identification Lab in Hawaii to meet with U.S. forensic scientists who lead field excavations to discuss procedures for the joint recovery operation in northern Myanmar," a government statement said. "I myself will personally give full support to this recovery mission," Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, secretary one of the ruling State Peace and Development Council, said in the statement. It did not provide specific dates of the trip or names of participants. Last week a US delegation led by Jerry Jennings, deputy assistant secretary for defense for prisoner of war and missing personnel affairs, met here with Myanmar scientists and agreed on a framework for cooperation. Yangon said it "pledged its full support to the US in the recovery of American servicemen". Jennings had invited the Myanmar officials to visit the US lab. The Hawaii visit is aimed in part at familiarising the Myanmar officials with US remains recovery and identification procedures, the statement said. Technical talks will be held in Myanmar in November to arrange details on the excavation of the four sites in Kachin state in early 2003. The US team hopes to visit each site during the November talks, the US Defense Department said last week. More than 78,000 Americans remain missing in action from World War II. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thai delegation to Myanmar to
discuss reopening of border
Xinhuanet 2002-09-19
12:47
BANGKOK, Sept. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- A Thai delegation started a three- day visit to Myanmar on Thursday to discuss the issue on the reopening of border, the Bangkok Post reported. Sanan Kachornklam, head of the nine-number delegation of the Thai-Myanmar Cultural and Economic Cooperation Association, said the delegation would meet Kyaw Than, the Myanmar head of the association, to discuss the reopening of the border, economic issues and cultural cooperation. Sanan, also association secretary, said he would offer to arrange a meeting between Myanmar government leaders and the Thai media and to ask for the lifting of the ban on 14 Thai reporters. The delegation would also offer to lend 300 million baht (about 7.14 million US dollars) to Myanmar to build a 200-kilometer road linking Thailand's Mae Sot district, 450 km west from Bangkok, with Myawaddy in Myanmar, Sanan said, adding that Thailand would help build the first 18 km free of charge. Airline cooperation on the Mae Sot-Rangoon route between Air Andaman and Myanmar's Air Mandalay would also be discussed, along with fisheries cooperation and joint development of border areas in Tak, Ranong and Kanchanaburi, he said. Sanan noted that the visit, which was postponed from July, reflected an improvement in bilateral relations. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Myanmar to train more
nurses
Xinhuanet 2002-09-19 00:13 YANGON, Sept. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Myanmar has been attaching importance to train more nurses by opening nursing institutes, schools and midwifery training schools in the country. According to the Myanmar Ministry of Health Thursday, the government has opened two nursing institutes, 23 nursing schools, 16 midwifery training schools and four other related ones, with a total of 2,830 students annually in the last few years. Meanwhile, the government is formulating plans to enhance the qualification of the nurses in the development of health care services. According to official statistics, there are 12,821 nurses and 11,180 midwives in Myanmar in 2002, up from 8,349 and 8,121 respectively in 1988. The number of hospitals and doctors has grown to 750 and 14,626 from 631 and 12,268 in 1988 respectively. But compared with other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Myanmar is still lagging behind in the development of the sector with every 4,055 people for only a nurse and every 3,555 for only a doctor. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bangkok Post -
Thursday 19 September 2002
Delegation heads for talks Border, business and culture on agenda Wassana Nanuam The Thai-Burmese Cultural and Economic Cooperation Association will discuss reopening of the border, economic issues and lifting of an entry ban on 14 Thai journalists during a three-day visit to Burma starting today. Association secretary Sanan Kachornklam, who heads the nine-member delegation, said the visit reflects an improvement in bilateral relations. They would meet Lt-Gen Kyaw Than, the Burmese head of the association. The meeting was postponed from July. Gen Sanan said he would offer to arrange a meeting between junta leaders and the Thai media and to ask for the lifting of the ban on 14 Thai reporters. The delegation would offer to lend 300 million baht to Burma to build a 200-kilometre road linking Tak's Mae Sot district with Myawaddy in Burma, he said. Thailand would help build the first 18km free of charge. Airline cooperation on the Mae Sot-Rangoon route between Air Andaman and Burma's Air Mandalay would also be discussed, along with fisheries cooperation and joint development of border areas in Tak, Ranong and Kanchanaburi, Gen Sanan said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |