Unocal settles in Burma human rights case.Eight years after filing suit in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. against the multinational energy corporation Unocal, a group of Burmese villagers learned in December that they would be compensated for human rights abuses--including forced labor, rape, and murder--carried out by soldiers hired to guard a pipeline partially owned by the company. The villagers, who lived along the 400 kilometer-long Yadana natural gas pipeline in Myanmar, alleged that a Unocal subsidiary contracted the Burmese military to secure the corridor during construction, despite prior knowledge of the ruling junta's lackluster human rights record. While similar cases have been filed in recent years, the Unocal settlement marks the first time that a company has agreed to pay damages under the Alien Tort Claims Act tort claims act n. a federal or state act which, under certain conditions, waives governmental immunity and allows lawsuits by people who claim they have been harmed by torts (wrongful acts), including negligence, by government agencies or their employees. (ATCA See AdvancedTCA. ), a law created by the first U.S. Congress in 1789 that allows foreign nationals to bring suit in the United States for certain atrocities committed abroad. In 1997, a judge ruled that under ATCA corporations and their executives could be held liable for their actions outside the United States. The Supreme Court upheld the law in a 2004 decision, while limiting the scope of violations that could be cited under the statute. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] If the three dozen or so similar lawsuits pending against companies--including ChevronTexaco, Royal Dutch/Shell, and U.S. military contractor DynCorp--are allowed to proceed, ATCA could become a powerful tool to increase corporate accountability. "This is going to provide reparation Compensation for an injury; redress for a wrong inflicted. The losing countries in a war often must pay damages to the victors for the economic harm that the losing countries inflicted during wartime. These damages are commonly called military reparations. ," said Terry Collingsworth of the International Labor Rights Fund The International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) is a nonprofit advocacy organization headquartered in Washington, DC that describes itself as "an advocate for and with the working poor around the world". ILRF was founded in 1986. , the lead lawyer for the Burmese villagers. "This is going to alter the practices of the Unocal Corporation as well as other corporations." Human rights organizations representing the unnamed Burmese plaintiffs were delighted with news of the Unocal settlement, which will provide funds to improve living conditions, health care, and education for those living near the pipeline. While specific terms of the settlement have yet to be released, Loyola Law School Loyola Law School is the law school of Loyola Marymount University, a private Jesuit school in Los Angeles, California. Loyola was established in 1920. Like Loyola University Chicago School of Law and Loyola University New Orleans College of Law (separate and unaffiliated professor Jeffrey Atik surmised that "this in all likelihood will be the greatest monetary recovery yet in human rights litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. ." |
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