News > February 17, 2004

Unocal Off the Hook?

Myanmar villagers still seek restitution for human rights violations.

By Daniel J. Hughes

For now, California energy giant Unocal Corp. is not liable for the rape, murder, torture and forced labor that occurred during construction of the $1.2 billion, 40-mile Yadana natural gas pipeline in Burma, now Myanmar. On January 23, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Victoria Chaney concluded that Unocal could not be held accountable for the actions of its subsidiaries—but ruled that the case could move forward if plaintiff attorneys used other means to prove libability.

The court found that victims’ testimony was well documented and that “the evidence does suggest that Unocal knew that forced labor was being utilized and that they benefited from the practice.” The notoriously brutal Burmese military was contracted to act as security on the project for its builders: Unocal, French company Total and subsidiaries of both.

The federal case Doe v. Unocal was filed in 1996 under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) of 1789 on behalf of 15 villagers. They charged that Unocal understood the tactics being used by Burma’s violent military regime when collaborating on the project.

A Los Angeles federal district court agreed to hear the case a year later, determining that corporations could be held liable under ATCA for human rights abuses on foreign soil. After three years of discovery the case was dismissed in 2000, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it could be heard in civil court. Twenty-five cases have been filed using ATCA since 1980, but Unocal was the first company to stand trial in a civil suit on U.S. soil.

Villagers testified in “Entrenched,” an investigative report by EarthRights International, that they were forced to relocate to the pipeline area, quarter soldiers, assist in sweeping for landmines, carry supplies and ammunition, and stand sentry duty to watch for insurgent attacks—labor referred to as “peoples’ contributions” by the Burmese army. Threats and intimidation were used to gain compliance. A village headman reportedly met weekly with the military officers, offering gifts and receiving new orders for his village.

Non-compliance with military orders led to shocking abuses. One uncooperative headman was buried up to his neck while fellow villagers were forced at gunpoint to kick and stomp on his head.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) described the situation at the pipeline as “a saga of untold misery and suffering, oppression and exploitation of large sections of the population inhabiting Myanmar by the Government, military, and other public officers.” The ILO’s most recent assessment confirmed that the situation continues to worsen.

Since the State Peace and Development Council government of Burma forcibly took power in 1988, profits from the use of forced labor and environmental destruction have been used to keep the regime in power. Statistics from the Burmese military reveal that “peoples’ contributions” to rural development projects increased 25-fold between 1990 and 1996.

Judge Chaney concluded that the subsidiaries were “common and legitimate” and that parent company Unocal is not liable because the subsidiaries have the financial resources to be held accountable under California law. But Anne Richardson, an attorney for the plaintiffs, argued that Unocal’s subsidiaries did not have sufficient financial resources at the time the cases were filed.

If the court had ruled in favor of the villagers in the first phase of the trial, Unocal faced $1 billion in restitution monies. Dan Stromer, attorney for the plaintiffs, vowed to continue the fight for compensation even though Unocal lawyer Daniel Petrocelli lauded the ruling as a “complete victory and vindicaton.”

Judith Chomsky, a lawyer for the plaintiffs said, “If the case can go to a jury, the layers and layers of companies Unocal created to hide its responsibilities will be meaningless.”

Litigants revived ATCA amid rising human rights abuses perpetrated by U.S. companies on foreign soil. The act was passed in 1789 as part of the original Judiciary Act and asserted that “district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort (crime) only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.” The Torture Victim Prevention Act, passed by Congress, bolstered the ATCA, which has been used to sue many U.S. corporations abroad, including Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Coca-Cola, Texaco and Gap.

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• Reader Comments

  This was in my mailbox this am. The battle is on, not just in some third world playground for the corrupt. But here, in our cities and farms as the coporate moguls, assisted by the Bush regime, push to force American labor down to poverty wages. Dennis Kucinich will not be supported by those liberals who are invested in the very corporatins that commit the abuses, but he is the one candidate that would take the battle TO THE CORPORATIONS as he did with the energy companies in Cleveland, Oh. when he was mayor.

  Unite against the mighty menace of George Bush and his corporate bullies!!!

  <http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/corp-focus/2004/000174.html>

  Posted by Bill Schultz on Feb 17, 2004 at 5:02 PM

  Good job! The more that Americans are exposed to news like this, the better off we will all be. Many abuses are being committed in our name. We at least deserve to know about it. . .

  As an aside: I think it’s a complete fallacy that Americans know but simply don’t care. Give a pretty young villager who was raped the same amount of coverage as the Jessica Lynch story, and the sh*t would hit the fan.

  Most Americans are under such financial hardship that they are virtually economic slaves anyways. If you are one of the 30% of homeless Americans in Silicon Valley who have full-time jobs and yet are homelesss, consider yourself an indentured slave [Since homelessness is virtually a crime in many communities due loitering statutes welcome back to debtor’s prison].

  Not that living in the States is like living in Burma by any stretch! However, if you’ve got both spouses working 2 jobs and barely making enough for your kids to eat and keep a roof over your head, how much time and energy do you have to do something about a kid in Burma?

  I bring this up simply to reinforce the notion of how terribly important it is to keep stories like this alive, because Lord knows the American media in 2004 could give prostitutes a bad name.

  Thanks and keep up the good work. 

  Posted by Ed Mellon on Feb 17, 2004 at 7:09 PM

  Would that this were an isolated tale; its one facet of a multi-tiered action by fundamentalists to take the world back from the “liberal democracy” which spoiled it in _GOD’s_ eyes and then began sympathizing with the little brown people of the planet whom GOD placed here to do our dirty work, cheaply.  If there is anything resembling a god, it is ashamed of the creation its adherents have waiting for all of us. The pure fascism in Miami was a first obvious taste of what is to come.

  Posted by daigu on Feb 17, 2004 at 10:13 PM

  mmmmmmmmm i agree with the 1st comment of bill schultz but these tactics used by ‘corporate bullies’ are also allowed with democrats in office. DON’T BLAME IT ALL ON BUSH, HE’S JUST ANOTHER PLAYER IN THE MURDER ‘GAME’ PLAYED BY MULTINATIONALS.
  the USA has always allowed and/or used multi-corps. te enhance it’s power and wealth. CHANGE THAT, not just your government.
  

  Posted by zen on Feb 18, 2004 at 12:29 AM

  Would be interested to hear the full story of the project, Unicol’s investment and return, the companies it created and the reason and results of the project

  Posted by jan janson on Feb 18, 2004 at 10:47 AM

• extended discussion >>>Continued...

  Discussions with more than 5 comments are continued on our special discussion page to encourage continuity and ease of use. There are currently 10 posts.

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