先日書いたフランスのトタル社についてであるが、新たな動きがEUで起こってきた。
ベルギーの検察当局が、ミャンマー／ビルマの軍事政権による人道に対する犯罪に加担したとして、同社を（再）告発した。
French oil firm accused of complicity with military regime [THE INDEPENDENT]
The federal prosecutor's office in Belgium has re-opened a five-year-old case brought by four Burmese refugees, who allege that France's largest company financed human rights violations and used forced labour supplied by the junta to build a gas pipeline in the 1990s. A preliminary court hearing is expected later this month, according to Alexis Deswaef, the Belgian lawyer acting for the refugees.
The Belgian government's decision, following a ruling by the country's constitutional court, is a further blow to Total as it struggles to defend its presence in Burma. Even the French government, which has defended Total's Burmese activities for years, has accepted recently that the oil giant could be vulnerable to new EU sanctions against the Burma regime and European companies operating there.
五年前にミャンマー／ビルマの難民が告発したもので、それによるとトタル社が、
- 人権侵害を行っている軍事政権に資金提供をしている
- ガスパイプライン建造に（軍事政権により）強制的に徴用された労働者を使用している
というものだ。
前回は（ここはあまりよくわからないのだが）原告の訴え自体がベルギーの司法制度の要件を満たしていないと却下されたのだが、今回は認められたという。
Belgium reopens Myanmar humanity crimes probe against oil giant Total [AFP]
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warned on Tuesday that Total, France's biggest company, would not be exempt from new sanctions targeting Myanmar's ruling junta.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy last week urged French businesses including Total to freeze their investments in Myanmar, but stopped short of calling for a pullout.
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Myanmar made systematic use of forced labour in the 1990s to build roads and military camps and little had been done to halt the practice.
