A US judge has cleared one of the world’s largest oil and gas exploration companies of complicity in human rights abuses connected to the building of a gas pipeline in Burma.
District court judge Ronald Lew ruled that the US-based energy company Unocal could not be held responsible for torture and alleged forced labour related to the £1billion pipeline which links Burma to Thailand. The pipeline was completed in 1998.
A group of 15 Burmese people brought the case against Unocal back in 1996, claiming that the company had conspired with the military regime in the country to commit the abuses.
After four years of court hearings, the judge said that although Unocal admitted it was aware of some abuses, there was no evidence of collusion.
Unocal spokesman Barry Lane said: ‘We are extremely pleased with the court’s ruling after four years of intense investigation.’
Lane said Unocal, which has always maintained that it can operate as an ‘island of integrity’ wherever it does business, could not be held responsible for the actions of the Burmese government while it worked on the pipeline ‘any more than if we invested in Los Angeles and there were abuses by the Los Angeles police’.
The judgment is, however, likely to be taken as far as the Supreme Court.
Unocal, which employs 7600 people worldwide, has consistently refused to pull out of countries where oppressive regimes hold power.
Company president John Imle has argued that engagement with Burma’s military rulers may be more effective than isolation, which would be ‘a cruel trick’ on the country’s 50million people.