Unocal Settles Rights Cases in Myanmar(Alleged Forced Labor, Murder, Rape)

[Khephra]

LOS ANGELES -- Human rights groups lauded the announcement by lawyers that an agreement in principle has been reached to settle human rights lawsuits against oil giant Unocal Corp. over a 1990s pipeline project in Southeast Asia.

Unocal Corp. will settle the lawsuits filed in state and federal courts by paying villagers and funding improvements to living conditions along the project route, lawyers on both sides said Monday.

The settlement will compensate 14 anonymous villagers who first sued Unocal in 1996, claiming it should be held liable for enforced labor, murder and rape allegedly carried out by the Myanmar military during construction of the $1.2 billion Yadana pipeline in the country, also known as Burma.

"We are completely delighted and there is great satisfaction that the matter has been resolved in this way," said Terry Collingsworth, general counsel for the Washington D.C.-based International Labor Rights Fund, one of the groups representing plaintiffs.

http://www.newsday.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-unocal-myanmar,0,5879239.story?coll=sns-ap-business-headlines

[UL_Approved]

1. Now THIS is an interesting piece of information.

Subcontracting out to a military dictatorship. A real good business move, until you get caught. And to think that this company has ties to Iraq and reconstruction...

[enough]

2. Bushco has been fighting to have this case thrown out, as well as the law

it is based on (the Alien Tort Claims Act). This is a great victory by some very dedicated lawyers who have been working on this case against all odds for years.


snip>

The federal case relied on the obscure 1789 Alien Tort Claims Act that was originally enacted to prosecute pirates.

The pending Unocal settlement proves the statute can be used to take corporations to U.S. courts in cases involving allegations of "serious human rights abuses or complicity in serious human rights abuses," said David Weissbrodt, a University of Minnesota Law School professor and expert on international human rights law.

The plaintiffs' case was bolstered by a separate U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that allowed lawsuits under the act if there are alleged violations of international law, said Connie de la Vega, a law professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law.

"The fact that there was a ruling that these causes of action are legitimate is what encouraged the settlement," de la Vega said.

snip>

[Khephra]

3. kick

[Supersedeas]

4. A small sigh of relief from Condi--power is good.