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Human Rights Violations due to Burm



Subject: Human Rights Violations due to Burma Pipeline

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HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS SEEN DUE TO BURMA
PIPELINE
By Deborah Charles

Rangoon, May 31, (Reuter) - A report by non - governmental
organisations said on Friday human rights violations such as
torture, rape and executions had risen in Burma as a result of
natural gas project by multinational corporations.

The report, the first on Burma issued in Rangoon by non -
governmental organisations, was written by the Thai -based
Southeast Asian Information Network (SAIN) and
EarthRights International (ERI).

Based on hundreds of interviews and eyewitness accounts, it
focused mainly on alleged abuses in southeastern Burma,
where a natural gas pipeline is being built by Total and Unocal
to move gas from the Yadana oil field in the Andaman Sea to
Thailand.

"These accounts indicate that gross human rights violations
such as summary executions, torture, forced labour and forced
relocation result from natural gas development projects by
multinational corporations," the report said.

Total and Unocal last year signed a 30 - year contract and
pipeline deal with Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise and the
Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT)

The contract calls for delivery of 525 million cubic feet per
day of gas to Thailand by late 1999 from the Yadana field,
whose proven gas reserves are put at 5.7 trillion cubic feet.

This new report echoes others issued by the United Nations
Special rapporteur on human rights and groups such as
Amnesty International alleging widespread rights violations
under Burma's ruling State Law and Order Restoration
Council (SLORC).

In October Amnesty called the rights situation "critical" and
said in border areas "the army continues to seize members of
ethnic minorities for forced portering and labour duties ..."

U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights Yozo Yokota said in
a February 1995 report: "Forced labour, forced relocation,
arbitrary killings, beatings, rapes and confiscation of property
by the SLORC are most commonly occurring in the border
areas where the army is engaged in military operations or
regional development projects."

The SAIN - ERI report said oil firms that worked with
SLORC were responsible for violations resulting from their
projects.

Unocal denied rights abuses in the project area.  The report
quoted Unocal president John Imle as telling a meeting of
rights activists: "We will not allow those (human rights)
violations to take place to our benefit, meaning on our
project."

A spokesman for the Los Angeles - based Unocal said about
Friday's report: "We are running a clean, ethical and
responsible project.  The Yadana project is a model project
that will bring long - term socio - economic benefits to the
people of Myanmar."

David Garcia told Reuters the report's allegations were
unfounded and ludicrous.  He said Unocal invested in health
care, education and other areas to help residents and conducted
active oversight to assure high standards in the oil project.

Total's vice - president of public affairs Joseph Daniel said in
Paris he had not seen the report, although the company had
answered SAIN's questions in the past.

" . . .  we have made and are making the best possible efforts so
that the local population gains the maximum benefit from our
presence, with a very strong contribution to the economic
development of the 13 villages" near the pipeline, he said.

"We have placed doctors in all the villages, we have created
and modernised schools and dispensaries ... We pay the
salaries of 600 people during the peak period (October through
May).

"Nobody can deny that there is probably some forced labour in
Burma but we can categorically say there is no forced labour
for the building of our pipeline," Daniel added.  "These
accusations are not credible just because they come from
NGOs ... Opposition groups have an interest in ... alarmist
information."

Witnesses cited in the report detailed accounts of forced labour
on various pipeline infrastructure projects.  They also spoke of
torture, rapes and executions as a result of increased military
presence at the site of pipeline construction.

The region through which the pipeline will pass is made up of
ethnic groups who are at war with the government.

The SLORC is responsible for securing the pipeline project,
which has suffered three attacks which killed at least five
people and injured 17.

"Since SLORC began to mobilise an enormous presence int he
pipeline area, human rights abuses have increased," the report
said.

"ERI and SAIN allege that because these security personnel
are in that region precisely to protect the pipeline, the
companies must bear their share of responsibility for the
human rights violations," it said.  "The elevated level of
persecution is directly linked to their investments, although the
companies ... may not necessarily benefit directly from these
abuses."

The report's authors said they issued it in Rangoon to pressure
the companies at a time when world attention was focused on a
crackdown by the SLORC on democracy activists.

Reuter
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