Legal setback for Thai villagers fighting 'pollution firm'
Updated
In Thailand a group of ethnic Karen villagers fighting for compensation for lead pollution of a vital river source by a mining company, have faced a fresh setback in their legal battle. In recent days the Pollution Control Department has moved to appeal a court decision awarding compensation to the villagers.
Presenter: Ron Corben
Speakers: Klity Creek village headman, Yasa Nasuanswan; village women Panawan and Chalalai; lawyer Somchai Homal-or
CORBEN: The waters here in north western Thailand have been a source of suffering for the people of Klity Creek, a community of ethnic Karen which has lived here for several decades. A tranquil scene of paddocks backed by a small range of hills, it is a typical village of just over 270 people, with a small Buddhist monastery at its centre. But development of a lead mine 20 kilometers up stream in the 1980s changed everything. Tailings from mine ran into the creek's waters, the lead invisible. But fish and cattle soon began to die and people fell ill says, village headman, Yasa Nasuanswan.
YASA NASUANSWAN: Nine years ago the doctors confirmed the source of the illness was the creek water. And while the government did nothing, the doctors knew where the problem lay.
CORBEN: The numbers of children born in the village with birth defects rose sharply. Several women miscarried. In the 1990s, lead concentrations in the river sediment were found to be 3,000 times higher than those permitted under Thai environmental law. Over the years the lead poisoning has resulted in the deaths of at least 20 people. In the late 1990s the Department of Mineral Resources fined the company, Lead Concentrate Thailand, just fifty dollars and ordered it to suspend operations. But little was done to clean up the lead tailings and the pollution continued. The company paid the villages some compensation but they say it was not enough.
Two women of the village, Panawan and Chalalai, are working outside a kitchen at the Buddhist monastery. They say they no longer use the water from the creek. They say nowadays they are very careful with the water. The main source of fresh water they add is from the nearby hills. If children play in the creek after heavy rains they soon fall ill and often need to go to a clinic or hospital.
In 2000, eight villagers came to Bangkok for treatment. Later the Lawyers Council of Thailand also took up their case filing a three million U.S. dollar lawsuit against the company applying 1992 environmental laws. In early May the Administrative Court backed the villagers but awarded them just 30 thousand dollars.
A legal aide assisting the Karen Studies and Development Center in Kanchanaburi, said the case was landmark in environmental law in Thailand.
LEGAL AIDE: Today's decision is something like to peg for standards for environmental decisions in the Thai situation that when the contamination or damage, the environmental damage has happened the polluter and regulating body or agency must have taken some responsibility for the problem. This is a very something like a landmark.
CORBEN: But the Pollution Control Department appealed the decision. The villagers also say the compensation was too low and the authorities are still to press the company to clean up the creek. Somchai Homal-or, a lawyer who worked on the case, says the Pollution Control Department also has a responsibility to clean up the creek.
SOMCHAI: The Pollution Control Department did not accept that they had the duty and responsibility to restore the quality of the environment in Klity Creek villages because according to the complaint the villages demanded the Department to restore the environment. And they still suffer from that pollution.
CORBEN: But Somchai says he's optimistic the Supreme Administrative Court, will support the earlier verdict to award compensation to the villagers. And he is also confident an appeal by the community for increased compensation has a good chance of succeeding.
CORBEN: The waters here in north western Thailand have been a source of suffering for the people of Klity Creek, a community of ethnic Karen which has lived here for several decades. A tranquil scene of paddocks backed by a small range of hills, it is a typical village of just over 270 people, with a small Buddhist monastery at its centre. But development of a lead mine 20 kilometers up stream in the 1980s changed everything. Tailings from mine ran into the creek's waters, the lead invisible. But fish and cattle soon began to die and people fell ill says, village headman, Yasa Nasuanswan.
YASA NASUANSWAN: Nine years ago the doctors confirmed the source of the illness was the creek water. And while the government did nothing, the doctors knew where the problem lay.
CORBEN: The numbers of children born in the village with birth defects rose sharply. Several women miscarried. In the 1990s, lead concentrations in the river sediment were found to be 3,000 times higher than those permitted under Thai environmental law. Over the years the lead poisoning has resulted in the deaths of at least 20 people. In the late 1990s the Department of Mineral Resources fined the company, Lead Concentrate Thailand, just fifty dollars and ordered it to suspend operations. But little was done to clean up the lead tailings and the pollution continued. The company paid the villages some compensation but they say it was not enough.
Two women of the village, Panawan and Chalalai, are working outside a kitchen at the Buddhist monastery. They say they no longer use the water from the creek. They say nowadays they are very careful with the water. The main source of fresh water they add is from the nearby hills. If children play in the creek after heavy rains they soon fall ill and often need to go to a clinic or hospital.
In 2000, eight villagers came to Bangkok for treatment. Later the Lawyers Council of Thailand also took up their case filing a three million U.S. dollar lawsuit against the company applying 1992 environmental laws. In early May the Administrative Court backed the villagers but awarded them just 30 thousand dollars.
A legal aide assisting the Karen Studies and Development Center in Kanchanaburi, said the case was landmark in environmental law in Thailand.
LEGAL AIDE: Today's decision is something like to peg for standards for environmental decisions in the Thai situation that when the contamination or damage, the environmental damage has happened the polluter and regulating body or agency must have taken some responsibility for the problem. This is a very something like a landmark.
CORBEN: But the Pollution Control Department appealed the decision. The villagers also say the compensation was too low and the authorities are still to press the company to clean up the creek. Somchai Homal-or, a lawyer who worked on the case, says the Pollution Control Department also has a responsibility to clean up the creek.
SOMCHAI: The Pollution Control Department did not accept that they had the duty and responsibility to restore the quality of the environment in Klity Creek villages because according to the complaint the villages demanded the Department to restore the environment. And they still suffer from that pollution.
CORBEN: But Somchai says he's optimistic the Supreme Administrative Court, will support the earlier verdict to award compensation to the villagers. And he is also confident an appeal by the community for increased compensation has a good chance of succeeding.
