HUMAN RIGHTS

1
HUMAN RIGHTS THE MNE
2
THE BURMA PIPELINE GROUP 1 CASE
Yadana Pipeline Slave Building the Pipe Line
3
UNOCALS STRATEGY

• John Imles strategy for Unocal (a focus
  strategy)
• Does this strategy make sense?

4
HOW IMPORTANT IS YADANA? POSITIVE SIDE?

• Burma is relatively uncontested territory for oil
  companies
• Yadana is a proven, low-cost field
• The risks of the project appear further allayed
  by the deals partnership structure
• The project appears relatively inexpensive
• The project also appears to be relatively
  lucrative.
• Yadana seems a nearly perfect fit with Unocals
  focus strategy

5
NEGATIVE ASPECTS

• Burma is a high-profile country with a regime
  that is widely regarded as repressive
  illegitimate
• The pipeline corridor cuts through an area
  pockmarked with indigenous villages known for
  ethnic violence
• Insofar as the project entails partnering with
  MOGE, it puts Unocal into commercial alliance
  with the Burmese government
• While the Yadana project promises to add
  considerably to Unocals total reserves of
  natural gas, its financial impact is not
  particularly large.

6
IF YOU WERE JOHN IMLE, WOULD YOU HAVE AGREED TO
THIS DEAL IN 1993?
Aung San Suu Kyi
Three Burmese Generals
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WHAT ACCUSATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE ABOUT UNOCALS
INVOLVEMENT IN THE YADANA PIPELINE?

• Responsibility for and complicity with human
  rights abuses
• Use of slave labor
• Responsibility for the Burmese militarys ethnic
  cleansing forced relocation of local
  populations
• Enabling the Burmese government to engage in
  rape, murder, the laundering of drug money
• Environmental degradation

8
Childrens Drawing of the Genocide
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WHAT SHOULD IMLE DO?

• He has already made the decision to participate
  in the pipeline project but Unocal has already
  been accused of being complacent
• Withdraw?
• Remain aloof from accusations?
• Manage the situation?

10
CONCLUSION

• This case underscores the critical and often
  delicate relationship between foreign investment
  and a countrys political environment.
• By investing in Burma, Unocal has thrust itself
  deeply into Burmese politics into the political
  questions that cloud Burmas position in the
  international arena
• At a broader level, the case illustrates the
  growing importance of international pressure and
  activist groups
• Unocals involvement in the country has
  undoubtedly helped to secure the position of
  Burmas military regime.

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RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

• Military abuse of human rights around the
  pipeline
• Several human rights groups documented hundreds
  of cases of rape sexual assault
• Villagers forced to act as human mine sweepers
• Two legal cases in 2004
• California district court ruled that Unocal must
  face a jury over its subsidiaries role in Burma
• Federal court (rests on the Alien Torts Claim Act
  Supreme Court opened the way for the suit to
  continue) Bush tried to prevent the law from
  being applied in this case
• March 2005 Unocal settled the case amount
  kept secret
• April 2005 Chevron Texaco announced it was
  acquiring Unocal and will hold on to the Yadana
  investments

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CANADIAN INVOLVEMENT

• TCPL largest pipeline firm in Canada is
  assisting in the construction of the Thai portion
  of the Yadhana gas pipeline (from Burma to
  Thailand)
• Mitsubishi Canada supplies material for the
  project
• Canadian Helicopters International provides
  helicopter services to Total.
• BC Gas signed a long-term contract to source gas
  from Unocal
• Ridel Resources is in a separate joint venture
  with the Burmese state oil enterprise
• Nortel Networks selling a cellular phone system
  to Burma aids military in tapping phone lines
• Ivanhoe Mines copper mine also First Dynasty
  Mines East Asia Gold Palmer Resources
• Sears Canada sourcing clothes from garment
  industry (most underpaid in Asia 8 cents an
  hour have to pay half of their wages to the
  military political party)
• Canada cut off aid but refuses to ban
  investment and trade.
• US has cut off aid prohibits any new investment
  (1997)

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ASSIGNMENT FOR 1/2/2007

• TOPIC Meanings dimensions of culture
• ASSIGNMENT chapter 14
• Prepare Euro-Disneyland, pp. 216-225