International Labour
Conference: Special sitting on forced labour in Burma/Myanmar
7 June 2003
Today the Committee on the Application of Standards of the International Labour
Conference held its third special sitting on forced labour in Burma/Myanmar. A
number of government, worker and employer delegates spoke, as did one
non-governmental organization (Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture -
OMCT).
All speakers welcomed in various degrees the Plan of Action agreed by the
Government of Burma/Myanmar and the ILO, though some expressed scepticism over how it could be implemented given the
present atmosphere of uncertainty and intimidation, which threw into doubt the
Government's will to carry out the necessary changes. The Plan of Action
envisages a facilitator who will receive in-country complaints of forced labour
and an 18-month ILO pilot project in Tenasserim Division -- for details see http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs/ILC2003special_sitting.htm
Those who sided with Burma (mainly some South Asian countries and Vietnam
speaking for ASEAN) based their statements on the procedural matter of
"Myanmar's" cooperation with the ILO, but did not touch on substance.
The actual substance of forced labour in
(and some to recent reports by the Federation of Trade Unions - Burma, EarthRights International and Forum Asia) they pointed out
that forced labour was still recruited, especially by the military, that the
legislation permitting forced labour had still not been amended and that no-one
had been prosecuted for exacting forced labour -- in other words, that the
recommendations of the ILO Commission of Inquiry http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/gb/docs/gb273/myanmar.htm
had not been carried out.
Some speakers wanted the ILO Article 33 "measures"
to be lifted or suspended, while others asked that the measures be reactivated
or reinforced. Lacking consensus on this issue, no action was taken either way.
For details of the "measures", see the ILC 2000 resolution at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc88/com-seld.htm#Resolution
The OMCT statement dealt, inter alia, with the torture, including rape,
and ill-treatment that frequently accompany forced labour in
The issue that overshadowed the meeting, however, was the recent attacks on
Aung San Suu Kyi and her party colleagues; the deaths, injuries, arrests,
disappearances and the general crackdown on the NLD and others. The Burmese
Ambassador said that these "political" events were extraneous to the
main subject of the meeting, which was forced labour. Most speakers, however,
did not agree, called for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi and her
colleagues, and many argued that it would be difficult to carry out the Plan of
Action under present conditions. Several speakers made the point that
human rights are interdependent and inseparable, and that civil rights,
including the rights of association and popular
participation, must be respected if forced labour is to be brought to an end in
the country.
As a result of the discussion, the Plan of Action will be put on hold until the Director-General decides that circumstances are right for it to go ahead.