5/6)FIDH'96:REPORT ON THAI-BURMESE

[drunoo@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

FIDH REPORT ON THAI/BURMESE GAS PIPELINE (5/6)
RECEIVED date: Wed, 27 Nov 1996 18:36:28 +0100 (GMT)
====================================================
B. Forced relocation of the population

Whether it is to ensure the security of the region, or to clear away the
area assigned for the pipeline's necessary infrastructure, the SLORC
troops
have proceeded to massive relocations of the population in the entire
Tenasserim region. These relocations have occurred in two different ways
:
        - directly, by the forced expulsion from the villages, in order
to
clear the pipeline route and to reduce the threat of the armed groups
and
their support in the unsubdued areas. These forced evictions are
generally
accompanied by general violence against the civil population (tortures,
rapes, etc.), as well as by the pillaging and burning of empty houses.
        - indirectly, by the exodus of villagers fearing for their
security
or facing the threat of forced labour, besides the heavy "taxes" imposed
illegally by the SLORC troops. This was notably the case in March 1995
in
Me Daw and Wah Gyun, two Mon villages harassed by the LIB 408 .
Thousands
of refugees have arrived in Thailand from the region. In at least one
case,
a village has been repopulated by "inhabitants" with a friendlier
posture
to SLORC policies.

        1. Evictions from villages

=85 In all, some 30,000 persons (Mons, Karens and Tavoyans) from over 50
villages in the districts of Ye Byu, Thayet Chaung and Tavoy (Tenasserim
division) have been forcibly displaced since the beginning of 1991 .

=85 Several dependable sources indicate that the inhabitants of
Migyaunglaung, situated in the immediate vicinity of the pipeline, were
deported in 1992 . The expulsion, therefore, took place in one of the
thirteen villages where TOTAL has set up a communication committee, and
which, according to its statements, is supposed to have remained
unchanged
since the signature of the contract .

=85 In 1991, the LIB 407 has forcibly expelled the population of Karen
villages in the Ye Byu region, notably the Laukthaing, Ateh Ya Pu and
Pawlaw Gone villages. The inhabitants have since fled the area or are
seeking refuge in Thailand.

=85 In 1992, the village of Shin Ta Pi (Ye Byu district) was forcibly
relocated. About two months before the signature of the contract, the
LIB
408 commander ordered the village headman to remove all the inhabitants
and
go to the village of Nam Gaeh, some 5 miles (8km) away. Being allowed
one
month to do so, at least 56 families, totaling 250 to 300 persons, have
had
to abandon their homes .

=85 During the dry season of 1992/93, the LIB 403 and other local units
relocated 10 villages in the Tavoy district, totaling 732 homes and
around
4000 people. In April 1992, amidst a military operation, the army's
local
batallions expelled the inhabitants of 19 villages in the Thayet Chaung
district, comprising over 2400 homes and more than 13,000 persons .

=85 In 1993/94, after the start of Ye-Tavoy railway construction, the
Karen
village of Nwelein was forcibly relocated by the LIB 408, officially
because the village stood in the way of the railway line.

=85 The relocations are being pursued in the Mon state, and the
Tenasserim
division . The workers in refugee camps at the Thai border report that
the
relocations continued in 1995, as two to three families arrived on a
weekly
basis from the region . Since February 1996, hundreds of people have
fled
the exactions committed continuously by the army and have found refuge
in
the Mon state areas under NMSP control .

Furthermore, the public contradictions by the Yadana project partners on
the subject of forced relocation does little to dispel the doubt about
the
TOTAL statements. The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
(EGAT),
the operator of the power plant in charge of converting the Yadana gas
into
electricity, has thus publicly acknowledged that the pipeline
construction
requires forced relocation of villages. A publicity page published in
the
Bangkok Post of April 17, 1995, paid for by EGAT, confirms:

"The Myanmar government aims to complete its part of the gas pipeline
system by 1996. The pipeline will pass through Karen villages in
Laydoozoo
district, Mergui-Tavoy province and in Mon villages, Ye-Tavoy province.
Myanmar has recently cleared the way by relocating a total of 11 Karen
villages that would otherwise obstruct the passage of the gas resource
development project" .

This statement is accounted for by TOTAL as a "journalist's blunder"  -
a
somewhat mystifying explanation, as it is relatively difficult to
believe
that the chain of "blunders" or negligence was such that the journalist
himself would have proceeded without any verification of the sources,
and
especially, that EGAT officials would allow such a "blunder" to pass
through the filter of the proof-reading of the article, particularly in
view of the extreme sensitivity of the topic.

TOTAL denies persistently that relocation of the population took place,
though, and states that "the area is very sparsely populated (...). No
relocation of population should be neccessary on the route of the
pipeline"
 . TOTAL acknowledges the relocations that took place prior to the
contract,
while adding that these have nothing to do with TOTAL's construction,
for
"in 1992 nobody knew where the pipeline would finally be laid, and until
March 1993 the most probable route was through the Three Pagoda Pass,
far
in the north compared to the current route. If forced relocation had
occurred in the area before 1992, it cannot be in relation to our
project"
 . Here again, this is also a rather unsatisfactory explanation, since :

        - The route chosen follows the valleys of Tavoy and Zin Ba
rivers
and was the most likely to be chosen, considering the geography and the
topography of the region. Several observers had planned the route more
than
a year-and-a-half prior to the signing of the contract , and TOTAL later
acknowledged that "among several possible routes, the experts agreed
unanimously " .

        - It is a verified fact that the Thai authorities have, on
several
occasions, relocated the Burmese refugee camps at the Thai border,
according to the planned junction point of the pipeline with Thailand .
It
appears that the Burmese authorities have proceeded in the same manner
inside the country, relocating villages in anticipation of the pipeline
route: several sources indicate that the villages in the Western zone of
the pipeline area were relocated as early as the end of 1991 (see supra,
p.23). The relocations of the population are therefore clearly linked to
the pipeline project, contrary to the statements by TOTAL.

        - According to Burmese law, all land belongs to the state; TOTAL
does not have the authority to proceed with the expropriation of land,
and
must hence go through the SLORC, over which it has no control, in
recovering the territory in question.

        - Finally, if the concern of TOTAL of inflicting the least
possible
damage to the population was genuine, the question is raised as to why
the
chosen route is not the one passing further south, through Victoria
Point,
before turning back up north to Thailand, thus avoiding the on-shore
passage through Burma. Incidentally, the World Bank had in 1991 advised
the
PTT-EP, which was then interested in the Yadana gasfield, to reroute the
pipeline away from the areas of conflict between the SLORC and the rebel
groups . The greater cost that this alternative route would have
entailed
must have influenced, and indeed, played a decisive role in TOTAL's
choice.

        - With TOTAL claiming that the satellite images from 1991, 1992
and
1996 show that the villages have not been relocated , one cannot but
regret
that the corporation has not made those documents public, if it is true
that they clearly refute allegations which have been known for several
years.

All things considered, it should be noted that a) forced relocation
began
during the period of negotiation of the contract (though in view of it),
which allows TOTAL officials to relieve themselves from all
responsibilities by pretending that there were no relocations since July
1992 (date of contract signature), b) that this statement itself is
false,
since all reliable sources mention relocations taking place after that
date, and c) that even though TOTAL can claim that the 13 villages
situated
in the immediate vicinity of the pipeline have not been relocated, it is
actually the villages in the less immediate vicinity (within 50km) which
have been most affected, as they are perceived by the SLORC as possible
shelters for the opposition groups, and thus as a threat to the
pipeline.

        2. Expropriations

Added to the aforementioned practices are those of expropriations and
confiscation of fertile land, which lead to the exodus of the villagers.
Among the villages where inumerable expropriations have taken place are:
Hpaungdaw, Kaugma, Ohnbinkwin (site of TOTAL's local headquarters),
Heinze,
Kanbauk, Thingan, Nyinaung, Kaunghmu, Tchechaung, Tchebutchaung,
Thingandaw, Kyonkani.

These expropriations have taken place :
        - either because the land was located on the route of the
pipeline,
        - or, because the land impeded the construction of military
camps
(case of Ohnbinkwin, where the confiscations were necessitated by the
construction of the LIB 273 headquarters, in charge of the security of
TOTAL's camp).

It apeears that the promised financial compensation is often confiscated
by
the local troops of the SLORC. TOTAL explains that "as for
expropriations,
the affected peasants have all been well compensated, receiving amounts
which they have never had before. Many will then give it to a pagoda,
but
what can one do, everyone does as as they please with their money"  - an
explanation which is still not completely satisfactory in view of the
verified practices by the SLORC as far as financial extortions are
concerned. TOTAL cannot but be aware of these practices.

C. Forced Labour

"Donating labour is a tradition deeply rooted in Myanmars' culture
(...). t
is widely accepted in my country  that voluntary work for the good of
the
community is not tantamount to forced labour or violations of human
rights".

Under the reign of the SLORC, two forms of forced labour coexist in
Burma :
        - Construction of Infrastructure : the SLORC claims that the
infrastructural projects, such as roads and railways, will have a
positive
impact on the quality of life of the general population. The SLORC goes
so
far as to publish, in the official press, the number of workers who
"voluntarily contribute" to the building of infrastructure. The
cumulative
figures published since 1992 by the (officially controlled) newspaper
New
Light of Myanmar, establishes the number of "voluntary workers" at over
4
million. Let us merely cite the example of the Aungban-Loikaw railway
line
construction, which is reported to have relied on the work of 799,447
people . Forced labour is also used by the military junta to prepare the
country for the tourist season, particularly through the building of
hotels
and other infrastructure, reparation of monuments, or the infamous moats
of
Mandalay. The slogan "Visit Myanmar 1996" in reality hides forced
labour,
destroyed villages and forced relocation. According to the statements of
the Minister of Railway Transport, Win Sein, civil workers will no
longer
be used for railway construction as of May 31, 1996, the task falling
into
the hands of the military after that date; similarly, the SLORC has
produced two "secret" directives in June 1995, handed to the UN Special
Rapporteur, prohibiting further use of forced labour for development
purposes . At the time this report goes to print, it seems obvious that
the
statement or the directives have not been followed by fact.
        - Forced recruitment of army porters. Systematic use of porters
(recruited to carry arms, ammunition or supplies for soldiers) by the
Burmese army is factually verified and even acknowledged by the Burmese
authorities themselves . This is a common practice in the border areas,
along which the Tatmadaw often launched attacks against ethnic groups.
Hundreds of civilians from the neighbouring villages have been recruited
for porterage, for periods ranging from a few weeks to a few months .
 FIDH would like to reiterate that forced labour as practiced in Burma
can
be qualified as a crime against humanity.

These two practices are found in the TOTAL-UNOCAL construction site
region.
Mr. Thein Tun, a SLORC official, indicated in 1992 that "we are
perfectly
aware that the infrastructure in certain regions is not adequate and
that
they [the oil companies] are having logistical problems" . It appears
that
the SLORC was soon hard at work to cover up these inadequacies and
logistical problems.

TOTAL seems most certainly concerned with ensuring the collabouration of
paid and voluntary workers, as witnessed in its brochure: TOTAL and its
sub-contractors "will appeal to the greatest possible extent to the
local
workers, obviously voluntary and compensated, thus contributing
resources
to the population of the areas in question. They will obviously operate
within the norms of respect of human rights and of labour rights,
completely in accord with the equivalent standards this company applies
in
the rest of the world". In 1995, TOTAL designed a code of conduct in the
Yadana project, which outlines the ethical principles which the
corporation
is bound to respect . TOTAL has always denied the existence of forced
labour on the worksite .

In spite of this proclaimed will, several trustworthy and corroborating
sources indicate that the villagers from surrounding areas have been or
are
being forcibly recruited by the Tatmadaw in order to execute tasks which
directly concern the pipeline worksite, and which are linked either to
the
(past or present) clearing of the area, in the form of general
infrastructural projects, or to the constructions made necessary by the
massive military presence.

        1. Forced labour and general infrastructure

This aspect concerns mainly the clearing of the strip of land where the
pipeline will be laid, as well as works preliminary to the construction
of
the service track, the "pipeline road" which will run along the future
pipeline , and the adjoining roads.

=85 Forced labour for the pipeline started being used before the larger
wors
undertaken by TOTAL: in April 1994, part of the pipeline road was
already
cleared (at least in a rudimentary form) by forced labour, whereas TOTAL
claimed that the project was only in its research stage . The SLORC did
not
wait for the arrival of TOTAL and UNOCAL to get to work.

=85 Similarly, the refugees' testimonies indicate that the inhabitants
of
the Hpaungdaw village (a coastal village, near the meeting point of the
on-shore and off-shore parts of the pipeline) were requisitioned for
clearing the route of the pipeline and the service road as early as
February 3, 1995, i.e. the day after the signature of the final contract
between TOTAL, UNOCAL, the MOGE and the PTT-EP .

=85 According to a reliable source, 50,000 people are currently being
force=
to grind stones in order to level the service track.

=85 In addition, corroborating and trustworthy sources indicate that the
villagers of Kywe Thone Nyi Ma had been forcefully recruited in March or
April 1996 to construct the pipeline road from Hpaungdaw to Kanbauk and
from Ka Daik to Hpaungdaw. They were further burdened by a monthly tax
of
150 Kyats per family. The SLORC members had promised them a 200 Kyat per
day salary for their labour, but none of the workers was ever actually
paid. According to certain labourers, currently seeking refuge at the
border, "foreigners", accompanied by their SLORC escorts, regularly
visited
the site.

 =85 ERI and the Southeast Asian Information Network (SAIN) have
assembled
several pieces of testimony from witnesses who had been recruited by
army
batallions in order to clear and level the terrain and the site of the
service road. Cited among them is a young woman, today a refugee in a
camp
in Thailand. According to her statements, she had been recruited by the
Tatmadaw and had worked three days on the service road. The first two
days,
the workers were supervised by the soldiers and by two TOTAL employers,
and
had received a daily salary of 200 Kyats. However, on the third day,
when
the TOTAL representatives were no longer present, the workers didn=EDt
receive anything, which raises serious doubts as to the compensation
guarantees established by TOTAL .

=85 The SAIN adds that, contrary to the TOTAL statements which claim a
perfect control of the service road construction, the MOGE was entrusted
with the work of clearing and leveling the section of the service road
situated in a sector outside of the SLORC's control. The MOGE had also
used
the services of LIB 273 in recruiting 70 labourers in the Migyaunglaung
and
Taungcheyin regions. Despite the instructions given by TOTAL to the MOGE
regarding monetary compensation of employed persons, not one of them
received a salary. Notwithstanding the question of compensation, the
fact
remains nonetheless that civilians were recruited by force by the
Tatmadaw.

        2. Forced labour and security

Military and economic interests sometimes converge, as the pipeline
helps
the army to maintain and spread its control over certain regions. The
construction of roads and railways allows the Tatmadaw to penetrate even
further into the combat areas and the territories previously held by
rebels. Forced labour is also used in the construction of military posts
and barracks.

=85 Following the attack in February 1996, the army deployed up to 8
batallions around Kanbauk in order to ensure the protection of
"foreigners", and called upon forced labour to construct military
barracks,
explaining to the villagers that it was necessary to "protect the
pipeline".

=85 Similarly, the strong military presence along the Ye-Tavoy railway
line
required the building of new army installations. Two of the persons
interviewed by Human Rights Watch / Asia have reported having
contributed
to the construction of the barracks and of a helipad in the vicinity of
the
worksite.

=85 The employment of supplementary troops has also required the
constructin
of camps and posts along the pipeline, as well as military quarters at
Ka
Daik and Pyin Gyi, Ohnbinkwin, and on Heinze Island. The construction
and
the maintenance of these military installations is done by the villagers
from the surrounding areas, who are forcibly recruited by the Tatmadaw.
The
SAIN furthermore publishes in its report a testimony given by a man who
had
been forced to work on the construction of bamboo-made military barracks
on
Heinze Island. In his description of the work conditions, this man, who
later managed to escape, reports that every person recruited had to pay
a
"fuel tax" for the boat which transported him to the island, and was
required to bring his own food and work tools. After the arrival on the
island, the soldiers would confiscate some of the rice brought by the
recruits who were housed in makeshift barracks. This man also claims to
have seen "around 300 people, uniformed and shackled who worked on the
island. They were kept at a distance from us. We saw them in the
mornings
and in the evenings, when they returned. They appeared poorly fed, much
worse than we were. They were forbidden to speak with us".
UNOCAL acknowledges explicitly, by the words of its president, the link
between the Tatmadaw and forced labour, as well as the growing extent of
this practice in the pipeline region: " If you threaten the pipeline,
there's gonna be more military. If forced labour goes hand and glove
with
the military, yes, there will be more forced labour" . The TOTAL
coordinator for Burma and Thailand, Mr. Herv=C8 Chagnoux, expresses the
link between the Tatmadaw and forced labour less directly, though
without
denying it: "I cannot guarantee that the military is not using forced
labour. All we can really guarantee is what we ourselves are doing, the
contracts we make, the people we employ. What is being done nearby, we
do
not know" . The same Herv=C8 Chagnoux declared at a meeting with FIDH:
"There is no forced labour on the construction site. And generally
speaking, it must be understood that, if there is forced labour in
Burma,
it is not out of spite or malice that the leaders are obliged to call
upon
it" . Despite these apparent contradictions and the ingenuine blindness
displayed, the leaders of TOTAL acknowledge that the SLORC resorts to
forced labour, using the military as an intermediary. In reality, forced
labour is used by the SLORC to honor its part of the contract:
guaranteeing
the security of the pipeline region, a security which benefits TOTAL.

        3. The case of the Ye-Tavoy railway

The case of the Ye-Tavoy railway line, dubbed by the population "The New
Death Railway" - a site on which approximately 2000 forced labourers per
day are used -, is highly significant.

The oil companies do not contest the massive use of forced labour in the
construction of the railway line, which runs perpendicular to the route
of
the pipeline. They are eager to add that this track has no connection
with
the worksite (running North-South, inadequate size for the equipment),
and
have repeated on several occasions that they will not make any use of
it.
Nonetheless, if it is possible, as is claimed by TOTAL and UNOCAL, that
it
will not be directly useful to the pipeline, it does nonetheless appear
that the already established parts of the railtrack serve to transport
the
troops as well as fuel, supplies and equipment necessary to the military
bases set up because of the worksite. Though not serving the immediate
needs of the construction site, the railway does serve the troops in
charge
of the security and contributes to the general development in the
region.
It is thus difficult to agree with TOTAL that "the railway has nothing
to
do with the gas project" . It is on the contrary evidently linked to it.

With a length of 100 miles (160 km), the line connects two garrison
towns,
Ye, situated in the Mon state, and Tavoy, in the Tenasserim division.
All
the reports examined by FIDH, including the report presented by the UN
Special Rapporteur, the report of the US State Department, as well as
the
work of the ILO, indicate that the work on the railtrack, which began
about
three years ago, progresses almost exclusively thanks to the forced
labour
of civilians (including pregnant women, elderly people and children) and
that of prisoners . Fishermen and peasants of Mon, Karen and Tavoyan
ethnicity, including a minority of Burmese , make up the population of
the
region. According to the testimony of persons forcibly employed, there
were
between 20,000 and 30,000 "recruits" in the four townships traversed by
the
railway - 10,000 of them just for the construction of one section of
track
>at the end of 1993 . According to numerous testimonies, it seemed that the
pace of work had accelerated in the last few months, which means
presumably
an increased resort to forced labour . In May 1996, the labourers
forcibly
recruited by the army were put to work on the Kyaun Sone - Kaleinaung
section, south of the pipeline route. According to the KHRG, in order to
speed up the construction, the workers were recruited in areas as far as
50
miles (80 km) from Ye . Several labour camps (surrounded by barbed wire
and
watch towers) have been established along the line, which the army has
termed "conscription control centres": Thlaing Ya, Hein Zeh, Nan Kyeh,
Ye
Bone, Kyauk Shat, Zin Ba (at the intersection of the railway and the
pipeline, it is allegedly the largest camp), Ya Pu and Kyauk Ka Din,
named
after the nearby villages. Forced labour and forced relocation here go
hand
in hand . The number of labourers used in these camps in October 1995
was
23,300, among which 500 prisoners . The exacted work consists of cutting
down trees, grinding stones, digging ditches, building embankments,
leveling and clearing the terrain for about 15 meters on each side of
the
track. The lands situated on the route of the track were confiscated
without compensation by the SLORC . It should also be pointed out that
thanks to forced labour, the SLORC is able to construct, in the vicinity
of
the pipeline and the railway, additional roads which, despite the fact
they
do not depend directly on TOTAL, would not have been built without the
TOTAL-UNOCAL project .

 It is the army which is in charge of providing the workers for the
assigned chores, thanks to the "employment" of the men and women from
the
villages. The village heads, threatened and submitted to pressure by the
local military chiefs, cannot but comply. Each family is expected to
"provide" one person for a certain period, which is two weeks per month
in
the case of Ye-Tavoy railway line. However, according to testimonies,
there
are times when entire villages are hired . The security regulations and
the
state of work hygiene are absolutely deplorable on these worksites.
Contrary to the SLORC's position, not only are the workers not
compensated
for the labour, but they are supposed to provide their own food, kitchen
utensils and work tools . The villagers forced into labour on the
Ye-Tavoy
worksite who are now refugees in Thailand report that the workers are
placed under constant surveillance by the SLORC's civilian
representatives.
Moreover, according to the KNU, the soldiers of Tatmadaw permanently
patrol
the entire length of the railway.

There is simply no way out of the imposed work other than flight  or the
payment to the SLORC of an arbitrary tax of varying amount (between a
few
hundred and a few thousand kyats), levied through the intermediary of
the
village head. Replacement by another person costs a few hundred Kyats,
paid
directly to the substitute or to the village head. The substitutes are
often day labourers who wander from village to village in search of
employment. These day labourers are thus compensated, not by the SLORC,
but
by the villagers themselves . Despite the high price of such a
"service",
the villagers who can afford it are willing to pay the tax, often not
only
to escape forced labour, but also to enable them to work in the fields
and
provide for their families.

The following testimony is of a 28-year old man, coming from the village
of
Paukbinkwin, in Ye Byu district. The only man in his family, he was
forced
to worked on the worksite of the Ye-Tavoy line for more than two months:

"At the beginning of the railroad project, each quarter from our village
[about thirty household] had to send five workers to the work site. But
later, the local military ordered the people to assign one person from
each
family to always be at the work site until the task is finally
completed.
We do not know what the target date for completion of the railroad is.
It
was very difficult for families like mine, which have only one man.
While I
was at the work site, the rest of my family found it difficult to work
the
farm and grow food. When a man returns, women are expected to replace
him
at the work site (...).I saw some elderly people working there, and some
children aged about 12 years. I also saw pregnant women working there.
Three people were killed near me when the earth collapsed as we were
cutting through a hill for the railroad construction on March 3, 1994.
They
were all from Nat Karen village in Mon State. One girl from Moe Gyi
village
who was four and a half months pregnant died from malnutrition and
diarrhea
in the mid-March 1994. She did not get any medical help. People were
beaten
by soldiers for trying to escape or for people not working  hard enough.
Some people attempted to flee from the work site, but were caught. They
were beaten and tortured in front of everyone" .
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