Total SA has reached an agreement with the French Sherpa Association for an end to legal proceedings begun in 2002 on behalf of eight nationals of Myanmar.
The French Sherpa group is an organization that defends human rights worldwide and represents eight Myanmar nationals who had started legal proceedings for arbitrary sequestration in 2002 at the Nanterre District Court in France.
The plaintiffs claimed that they “had been forced by the Myanmar Army to work on the Yadana gas pipeline construction project and that their work could be classified as forced labor.”
Under the terms of this agreement, Total has decided to create a €5.2 million solidarity fund, most of which will be used to finance collective humanitarian measures locally, benefiting housing, health, and education.
Compensation
Total said the fund also is further designed to compensate the plaintiffs and any other person who can demonstrate that they suffered a similar experience in the area near the Yadana pipeline during construction.
All measures financed will be implemented under the supervision of international humanitarian organizations selected with the agreement of all the parties, Total said.
Further to the agreement and for humanitarian reasons, Total said it also has agreed to compensate the plaintiffs. “Total is to extend the compensation paid in the past to certain inhabitants of the region when reports of forced labor that were alleged to have taken place were brought to its attention,” it said.
In reaching the agreement, however, Total issued a “categorical denial of any involvement in forced labor and all accusations of this nature.” It said, “Forced labor in any form is unacceptable. The group has always fought against forced labor, unfortunately not yet eradicated from Myanmar.”
Forced labor noted
The European Parliament has denounced the “dire political situation” in Myanmar, and the International Labor Organization regularly criticizes the country’s “widespread and systematic” resort to forced labor.
So why does Total remain in the country?
“Through the Yadana project, we have made a meaningful contribution to the country’s social and economic development, while promoting respect for human rights,” says Jean-François Lassalle, Total’s E&P vice-president, public affairs.
That’s a tough thing to do since, as Total says, “the world’s oil and gas reserves are not necessarily located in democracies, as a glance at a map shows.”
As a result, oil companies often face criticism and questions from civil society concerning their operations in countries with repressive regimes, their relations with governments, the security measures deployed to protect their facilities, and the ways host countries spend oil revenues.
This situation just goes to show, as we said once before, that few oil companies can relish the idea of operating in Mynamar, given the track record of human rights activists on the one hand and the ruling junta on the other (OGJ, May 9, 2005, p. 30).✦