French oil giant Total announced on Tuesday that it had reached a €5.2 million (US $6.12 million) out-of-court settlement in a case centered on its alleged human rights abuses during its controversial operations in Burma.

In a statement in Paris on Tuesday, Total’s vice president for exploration and production, Jean Francois Lassalle, said: “The personal situations of some individuals, unknown to the organization, have now been resolved.” The legal battle between Total and 12 Burmese nationals—eight plaintiffs and four witnesses—had started in France in 2002. The case revolved around the oil giant’s alleged role in human rights abuses during its Yadana natural gas pipeline project from Burma to Thailand.

Eight plaintiffs are entitled to receive €10,000 ($11,773) each. €4 million ($4.7) will be put aside for Burmese refugees in Thailand, while another €1.12 million ($1.32 million) is allocated for “the people who could claim and justify that they were subjected to forced labor” during the pipeline project, according to Lassalle.

“We can’t say that it’s a totally fair settlement,” said Htoo Chit, director of the Thailand-based Grassroots Human Rights Education, who testified against Total during the court case in France. “Our decision [to accept the settlement] is made in conjunction with the plaintiffs and the local population” he told The Irrawaddy.

Along with the California-based Unocal, the Petroleum Authority of Thailand and Burma’s state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, Total was involved in the US $1.2 billion Yadana gas pipeline project from 1995 to 1998. It was claimed the Burmese army forced local people from the area to work on pipeline construction during this period.

“We want to strongly state that we were not directly or indirectly responsible for what happened,” Lassalle told The Irrawaddy by telephone on Wednesday. He claimed the compensation is being made not because of guilt but because of the company’s social responsibility.

Burma Campaign UK, a London-based rights organization, warned that it would continue pressing the oil giant to leave the country.

“If they think that this agreement will help take the pressure off, they are making a big mistake,” Yvette Mahon, director of the Burma Campaign UK, said in a statement on Tuesday. She added that Total’s payment was “tiny compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars” the company makes in profits.

Lassalle answered critics who say Total’s pay-out is small compared to profits from its Burma operations by saying the company has helped Burma’s socio-economic development.

Htoo Chit countered by saying that the lives of thousands of people have been forever changed by the project.

Four Burmese filed a separate lawsuit against Total in Belgium in May, 2002. The case continues.