British oil firm linked to child slavery in Burma

source: Manchester Guardian Weekly
August 9, 2000
BYLINE: Maggie O'Kane.

A British company, Premier Oil, went ahead with an $ 800m project to pipe gas through Burma despite warnings that its partner, the Burmese military, was using slave labour -- including children -- on the pipeline, according to an internal report..

Premier's American partner, Texaco, pulled out of Burma in 1997 after pressure from the United States government. But although the British government asked Premier to leave in April, the company has refused..

The Burmese have been accused of using "security" issues in the pipeline area of Tanasserim to drive ethnic Karen people from the land. There are now 120,000 Karen living in refugee camps, and human rights groups say at least 30,000 have been killed. .

The report said the army was extorting money from local people and using children and forced unpaid labour -- described by the special United Nations rapporteur to Burma as a modern form of slavery -- to build military barracks. .

"The harsh conditions of those carrying out the labour, including young children, and the testimony of local people, [belie] the [Burmese] government claim that such work is voluntary," said the report..

Charles Jamieson, Premier Oil's chief executive, said he was unaware of any military barracks constructed in the area, and he would have to check the location. Premier said it was aware of the contents of the report, but said it had not been in charge of the pipeline -- just a member of the consortium -- when the abuses occurred*. It said it reported any abuses it encountered to the "relevant authorities"..

Wilfred Wong of the Jubilee Campaign, the London-based human rights organisation, said: "It is nonsense for Premier to say it reports abuses to the 'relevant authorities'. The relevant authorities are the Burmese military. Premier should admit they are working with mass murderers." .

Mr Jamieson insisted that since its takeover of the pipeline from Texaco in 1997 Premier had ensured that work was carried out according to the highest "international employment standards"..

People who worked on the pipeline told Earth Rights International that the "Englishmen" (a name the Karen use for white foreigners) knew of what was going on. A 15-year-old girl interviewed by Earth Rights said: "I had to clear bushes and other things. While we were working, there were two English guys watching us. On the first two days the English came and gave us 200 kyt ($ 1.60) for a day. .

"On the third day the soldiers came back again and said, 'Your work yesterday was not good enough.' We didn't see any English and we didn't get paid." .

Burma's democratic leader, the Nobel peace prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been held under house arrest for the past 10 years, has said Premier "should be ashamed of itself" for continuing to give moral and financial support to the military government. .

* [Note by David Arnott: Premier has been involved in Burma since before the days of SLORC. The company announced in July 1986 that it had agreed to purchase Burmah Oil Exploration Ltd. In 1990, Premier signed two production-sharing contracts with Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise, and subsequently brought in Texaco and Nippon Oil as partners. The International Labour Organisation has expressed concern over forced labour in Burma since the 1960s, and since at least 1990, the US State Dept's Country Reports on Burma have referred to forced or compulsory labour]