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ICFTU/ETUC SUBMISSION TO EU-GSP (3/



Subject: ICFTU/ETUC SUBMISSION TO EU-GSP (3/4)

/* posted 18 Aug 6:00am 1996 by DRUNOO@xxxxxxxxxxxx in igc:reg.burma */
/* -------------" ICFTU &ETUC Report on Forced Labour (3/4) "----------- */
[ Reproduced from the submission by Australian Council of Trade Unions to
Australian Human Rights Sub-Committee, Vol 6, pp.1010-1032 -- U Ne Oo.]
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Burma: SLORC's Private Slave Camp

Submission to the European Union Generalised System of Preferences

ICFTU. International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
       155, Boulevard Emile Jacqmain, B-1210 Brussels
       Tel.:224.02.11  Fax:201.58.18

ETUC.  European Trade Union Confederation
       155, Boulevard Emile Jacqmain, B - 1210 Brussels
       Tel.:224.04.11  Fax:224.04.54

4. OTHER TYPES OF FORCED LABOUR OCCURRING IN BURMA

As seen previously, the practice of forced labour in today's Burma is best
documented in the context of military operations in or near conflict-areas,
which continue unabated at the time of writing. In addition, however,
detailed accounts of other forms and purposes of forced labour are being
reported with increased frequently. Reports cover various parts of Burma's
territory,  including  many  areas  where  no guerrilla or counter-insurgency
operations take place. They include evidence of  civilian-type  labour  for
the  military,  infrastructure  development  work,  work  in military-owned
commercial enterprises and work on tourist projects. These various types of
forced labour are believed  to  affect  at  least  hundreds  of  thousands,
possibly  millions  of  civilians of various ethnic or religious belonging.
Some of their most common forms are described below.

4.1 Military Labour

Under the authority of the  SLORC,  the  army  exacts  forced  labour  from
civilians in the form of building, maintaining and guarding military roads and
bridges,  sweeping  roads  for  mines,  and building and servicing military
camps. these  installations,  which  include  military  farms  and  trading
grounds,  are  reportedly  often  located on land confiscated - without any
compensation - from the local people, who are  thus  compelled  to  perform
forced labour on their former property.In one example, the building of Aung
Ze  Ya village, near Sedi village in Tamu township, was forcibly imposed on
an  entire  rural  community:  cleaning  fields,  construction  roads  and
uprooting  trees,  each  house  hold  in the township had to contribute one
family member: the price for escaping from it was 200 Kyats. Further:

        "Workers got not pay and had to find their own food. The  villagers
        were  also  forces  into the construction of military barracks. The
        elderly, women and children who could not afford to  hire  somebody
        else  nor  pay  the  ransom were beaten up by the guards and kicked
        with combat boots"[21]

Forced labour on military installations is in no way limited to Karen, Mon,
Shan and other victims on the Thai border. The  Chins,  for  instance,  are
also  forced to build military barracks, roads and bridges. A report by the
President of the Chin National Front (CNF) at a UN  meeting  on  Indigenous
People  in  July,  1994,  offers  an account of forced labour in this area,
along the Indian border, predominantly inhabited  by  an  alleged  severely
repressed Christian minority, the Chins. Forced labour is at present mainly
used  on  a  railroad  link  to  the  Indian  border,  workers  are unpaid,
malnourished, often near-starved; mistreatment by soldiers  has  reportedly
caused several deaths [22].

4.2 Major development and infrastructure projects

Hundreds  of  thousands  of  civilians  are  allegedly  forced  to  work on
large-scale construction  projects,  such  as  roads,  railways,  airports,
tourist  installations  and  hydroelectric  schemes,  including  dams.  The
projects range from the rarely-mentioned Three Pagodas Pass Motor Road to
the by-now notorious  Martaban  Pipeline  and  connected  Ye-Tavoy  Railway
projects.  This section reports on several such projects, mainly related to
railroad construction and exploitation  of  gas  deposits.  It  is  focused
primarily  on  forced  labour  occurring  in  projects  developed  by major
international - including European Union - investors in the field of energy
supply. It mentions some companies which figured in a 1994 ICFTU review  of
foreign  firms  investing  or about to do so in Burma: the ICFTU report had
disclosed that there were 215 branch offices of foreign companies  and  874
partnership firms operating in Burma at the time [23].

4.2.1 The Three Pagodas Pass Motor Road

This joint Thai-Burmese project, developed since 1992, is typical of scores
of  major  construction  projects  on which thousands of civilians have for
years been forced to work without compensation. In practice,  regional  and
local  SLORC  commands  exact huge sums of money from local families, under
the guise of so-called "free-from-portering-charges"; when indeed  paid  by
the  villagers,  these sums are in theory used for hiring volunteer labour;
on the contrary, whenever a household or  village  is  unable  to  pay  the
required  amount,  it is forced to supply unpaid labourers to carry out the
tasks ordered by the military. The Thanbyusayat - Three Pagoda Pass road is
64 miles long and runs through Mon territory. Human rights  sources  report
that  thousands  of  Mon civilians as well as prisoners detained at various
jails throughout Mon state have been forced to work on the project [24].

4.2.2 The "Death Railway" project

Since 1994, the SLORC has been severely criticised for using forced  labour
on the Ye-Tavoy railway construction project [25]. Upon completion, it will
link  the  town of Ye, in the southern part of Mon State, to Tavoy, a large
center in Tenasserim Division. It is widely believed that the rail link  is
directly connected to the SLORC's need to transport large numbers of troops
and their equipment to and from an essential pipeline, linking huge natural
gas  deposits  in the Gulf of Martaban with customers in Burma and Thailand
(see below). It has been alleged that an estimated 160,000  Mon  and  Karen
peoples  have  been  forced  to  work  on  the  railway, and that seventeen
batallions - 30,000 soldiers in all - are being brought into the region  on
or in connection with the project [26].

The  Ye-Tavoy  railway project has been dubbed the Death Railway, according
to Sue Lloyd Roberts, a BBC correspondent who reported in January 1995 that
working conditions were "comparable to those under the Japanese  occupation
during World War II", such, indeed, that hundreds of workers had contracted
cholera.  One  women  said  thousands  were  forced to work, "even pregnant
women. (...) I saw women being raped and  beaten.  I  saw  one  woman  give
birth, but she and the baby died. I couldn't stand it so I fled"[27].

The   use   of   forced   labour  on  the  Ye-Tavoy  railroad  is  in  fact
well-documented. As its ultimate proof,  copies  of  hundreds  of  written,
official,  SLORC-issued  requisition  orders  for  free  labour  have  been
obtained  by  human  rights  sources;  their  examination  leaves  no-doubt
whatsoever  about  their authenticity. They are mostly addressed to village
headmen; they are brutal in the demands they  contain  and  threatening  in
tone;  they  typically  end  with a sentence such as: "If you do not comply
with the order, you will suffer the most severe consequences",  or:"if  you
do not report for work, a bullet will come to you!"[28].

While  limited  examples  have  been  reported  of  labour connected to the
railway  being  actually  paid  for,  the  opposite,  i.e.  individual  and
collective  fines  for  non-compliance with forced labour orders is clearly
the  rule.  Moreover,  villages  are  forced  under  penalty  of  fine   or
imprisonment,   to   provide  building  material,  such  as  broken  stone.
Furthermore, under a two-pronged, relatively  sophisticated  "contribution"
(i.e. taxation) system, which families are forced, on the one hand, to each
provide  one  porter  or  other  forced labourers for a specific period each
month (sometime the whole month or more)  -  the  rate  for  being  excused
ranging from 2000 to 6000 Kyats - and on the other hand, they are compelled
to   contribute  financially  (50-100  Kyats)  to  a  "construction  fund",
presumably designed for the railroad or  other  construction  projects[29].
MOreover,  photographs  have recently been published of forced labour; they
could illustrate the following eye-witness account:

        "Two labour camps have been set up along the line of  the  Ye-Tavoy
        railway.  The  inmates  are  watched  over  against escape by armed
        guards and are only allowed out to forage for food on rotation,  at
        intervals.  As  an  extrahumiliation,  escapees  report  having  to
        collect firewood at the end of  each  working  day  for  the  SLORC
        guards,   who   then   sell   it   back  to  them  and  surrounding
        villagers"[30].

Neither would it be sensible to assume that the only problem  arising  from
the  project  is  forced labour. Whether for the railroad, or the pipeline,
displacements  of  people  and  destruction  of  villages  appear   to   be
widespread,  and  have  affected  thousands  of  people; accounts of severe
violence occurring in this process are countless; some are milder in  tone,
as follows:

        "Some  soldiers  from  Batallions 408, 409 and 410 told us that the
        pipeline will pass through our villages and so we have to dismantle
        our temple. It is (moreover) possible that all of our fruit gardens
        will be destroyed without compensation. Only now  did  we  come  to
        know that the pipeline is the main reason (for this)[31]".

4.2.3 The Yadana gas field and the pipeline to Thailand

Although  already well beyond the planning stage, the Yadana gas field came
to international prominence within a few days of  the  fall  of  the  Karen
insurgents'  base at Manerplaw in April 1995, when Thailand formally signed
a huge gas supply contract with Burma. Details of the deal had  emerged  in
Rangoon  on  2  February  1995,  when  the contract had been agreed upon by
Burma, Thailand, and tow huge oil  corporations:  France's  TOTAL  and  the
US-based  UNOCAL.  According  to  the  Electricity  Generating Authority of
Thailand (EGAT), Thailand to purchase  10,000  million  bhat  (over  $US400
million  worth  of  natural  gas  from  Burma  each year for 30 years [32].
Thailand should initially receive 350 million cubic feet of gas per day, to
increase eventually to 550 million cubic feet per day. The total  value  of
the project is estimated at over $US 12 billion.

The  Martaban gas fields were reportedly discovered by Total. The gas is to
be transported by pipeline from the Yadana natural gas deposit, in the Gulf
of Mataban, through Burma's Tenessarim Division into Thailand. The pipeline
( which is to be buried eight feet inside the ground for fear of  sabotage)
is  to  be  constructed  by  Total and UNOCAL. Concerns have been voiced by
ethnic and political opposition  organisations  as  well  as  human  rights
groups  since  the  very beginning of the project; they focus on three main
areas; the  environmental  damage,  the  forced  relocation  of  scores  of
thousands  of  villagers  have  already  been coerced into forced labour in
order to clear the way for the pipeline[33]. They were reportedly confirmed
as  early  as  mid-1994  by  the  UN  High  Commissioner's  for   Refugees'
representative in Thailand. Mr Ruprecht von Arnim, according to whom it was
"likely that forced labour will be used on the pipeline'[34].

Grave  violations  have  been  levelled  by  human rights sources at TOTAL,
including that the company may have provided the SLORC with logistical  and
intelligence  support  during  the  regime's  offensive  earlier  this year
against  Karen  strogholds  near  the  site  of  the  pipeline.   (Frequent
helicopter  flights  were  observed  at the time over the zone in question,
although there is as of yet no firm evidence available to link these to the
army's offensive). Some sources believe that the killing  of  five  Burmese
Total  employees  on 7 and 8 March 1995 in the Kanbauk are may have been in
retribution for this alleged assistance to SLORC. According to  unconfirmed
reports,  security arrangements for the protection of expatriate have been
stepped up after this incident, and two French military-type personnel have
been active in coordinating these  arrangements,  presumably  with  SLORC's
Strategic  Command  in  Tavoy,  headed  by  a Col. Zaw Tun. Small groups of
foreign specialists, including geophysicists, anthropoligists  and  medical
staff  are  being  signalled  in  the area as carrying out surveys or other
preliminary activities under TOTAL's auspices. IN general  however,  it  is
believed  that  most  foreign  personnel  will not reach the area until the
forced labour (  the  term  "slave-labour"  is  occurring  with  increasing
frequency)  phase  of  the  pipeline's construction is completed and actual
engineering work can begin. "That way, say Kevin Heppner, A Canadian  human
rights  activist  with  in-depth  knowledge of the area, the white guys say
with a straight face that they didn't see anything[35]".

Groups opposed to the project insist that neither TOTAL nor UNOCAL have
made  any  serious  attempts at discussing the project with the traditional
residents of the area, the Karen and Mon. They fear  that  Karen  villagers
living  near the proposed route might be forcefully relocated and submitted
to other human rights abuses [36].

In a January  4,  1995  interview  [37],  UNOCAL's  president,  John  Imle,
stressed  that  UNOCAL would not allow forced labour to be used on its part
of the project, nor did he accept the notion that any villagers were  being
harmed  in  any  way  by the proposed gas pipeline. He refused also to even
consider the possibility of suspending the project's  implementation  until
an  independent  human  rights  survey  could  be  carried  out  along  the
pipeline's projected route [38]. Such  statements  should  be  seen  in  the
context of developments on the ground: according to reports received at the
time  of  finalising  this  document,  over  3000  people  from at least 19
villages have been relocated in whole or in part  in  the  Ye-Byu  township
alone.

Meanwhile,  it  is being reported by some sources that UNOCAL managers have
in fact admitted the reality of forced labour being used on the project. On
22 May 1995, Reuters reported  that  UNOCAL's  management  had  come  under
strong criticism for its Burma projects at a shareholder's meeting in Sugar
Land  (Texas).  It  said  the  company's  Chairman,  Richard Stegemere, had
acknowledged allegations (that) slave labour may have  been  used  for  the
(Ye-Tavoy)  railroad,  but  that the company had "not observed for (itself)
any human rights violations in the areas in which we work  [39]".  A  proxy
proposal   to   conceal   UNOCAL's   projects  in  Burma  was  rejected  by
shareholders, but is likely to come up for discussion again in 1996, as  it
obtained over 4% of votes at the meeting (in fact, 5.8%).

4.2.4. The Yetagon gas fields in the Gulf of Martaban

Another  international  consortium,  grouping  three  foreign companies, is
presently searching for natural gas deposits in the Gulf of  martaban.  The
lead  operator  is the US' TEXACO (50% through its wholly-owned subsidiary,
TExaco Exploration Myanmar), while Britain's PREMIER CONSOLIDATED OILFIELDS
and Japan's NIPPON OIL hold30 and 20% respectively.  Burma's  "Myanmar  Oil
and  Gas  Enterprise  co."(MOGE)  retains  the  right  to acquire an equity
interest of up to 15%.

The Yetagon field, a high-quality gas deposit (reportedly containing better
gas than that of the Yadana field) is located  over  the  Tenasserim  Shelf
directly  of  the  Burmese  Coast,  approx. 260 miles south of Rangoon, the
capital. While Texaco claims to be still assessing the "commercialty"  (the
profitability  of  the find, it is also on the record as saying that "first
commercial production ... could occur by 1998, with anticipated  production
of 200 million cubic feet a day", and it is reported that the Yetagon field
estimated reserves range from 1 trillion to 1.5 trillion cubic feet [40].

Concern  has  been  expressed  that, if commercial production is started in
Yetagun, a pipeline will be necessary to transport the gas  to  prospective
buyers  in  Burma  and  Thailand.  Human  rights sources fear that TEXACO'S
Yetagun supplies could tie  into  the  TOTAL/UNOCAL  pipeline  being  build
between  the  Burmese towns of Ye and Tavoy: in view of the above-mentioned
evidence of forced labour and other human rights violations on the pipeline
and  on  the  (most  probably)  connected  Ye-Tavoy  railroad  construction
project,   the  danger  of  their  repetition  on  infrastructure  projects
servicing the Yetagun deposits is all to real.

Meanwhile, a concerned group of Texaco's shareholders have recently  called
on  the  company  to  review  its  investment  in the Martaban pipeline, on
account of the grave human rights  situation  prevailing  in  Burma  and/or
likely  to  occur  on  the  project, as well as in view of the public image
projected by Texaco's association with the SLORC regime.  "That  the  ruling
military  junta in Burma is unacceptably repressive is beyond dispute", say
the proponents of Proxy Statement Proposal  no6,  registered  on  10  March
1994, ahead of a September 1995 meeting of Texaco shareholders in New York.
The  proposal  in  the  proxy statement is to "revise the corporate code of
conduct to include human  rights  provisions",  and  is  motivated  by  the
proponent's  concern  "in  particular about a Texaco exploration project in
Burma".  While  commending  the  company   for   its   "Corporate   Conduct
Guidelines",  the  proponents  "see  the  lack  of  explicit  human  rights
provisions as a critical shortcoming that at times allows the company to be
in direct conflict with (its) own guidelines".

4.3 Tourism development projects.
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Footnotes:

[21] see: Dawn Newsletter, August-September 1992, in "Supporting Documents"
2/10a.

[22] see:"Supporting Documents", 2/55.

[23]  see:  Burma  Human  Rights:  Foreign  Trade,  Aid  and   Investments,
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, Brussels, January 1994.

[24]  see:  Newsletter,  Committee  for  Publicity  of People's Struggle in
Monland, Vol 1, No 2, May 1993.

[25] Maps of the Ye-Tavoy railway  link  and  connected  Gulf  of  Martaban
pipeline  projects  are  included  as  Appendix E: their examination may be
helpful in assessing the information that follows.

[26] see "Supporting Documents". 3/45.

[27] see:"Burma using slave labour to  build  tourist  infrastructure:  BBC
report", AFP, LOndon, 21 January 1995.("Supporting Documents", 4/11)

[28] For obvious security reasons, and even though indications allowing the
identification  of  the victims have been erased, the above-mentioned human
rights sources are unwilling to risk the accidental communication  of  this
material  to  SLORC  or  its  representations  abroad;  for access to these
documents, please refer to  "Supporting  Documents",  INtroduction,  p.  14
(Appendix G).

[29]  see:"Information  for  Tavoy  District  regarding  forced  labour and
collection of monies by SLORC officials", Mergui-Tavoy Information Dept., 9
February 1995, in "Supporting Documents", 3/40.

[30] see: "The development and the  cry  of  the  people",  Karen  National
Union, Mergui-Tavoy District, December 1994.

[31]  see:  Human lives for natural resources, oil & natural gas, Southeast
Asian INformation Network, 1994.

[32] see: Bangkok Post, 17 April 1995.

[33] idem, 7 May, 1997.

[34] "Supporting Documents", 3/45

[35] see:"Slave labour in Burma", Bangkokpost, 7 May 1995.

[36] The pipeline is due  to  pass  through  Karen  villages  in  laydoozoo
District,  Mergui  Tawau  province  and in various Mon villages in Ye-Tawai
province. At least 11 villages had already been cleared by mid-April  1995,
according  to a paid advertisement published by EGAT in the Bangkok Post on
17 April 1995.

[37] quoted by Burma Issues, Bangkok, Vol.5 No 5, May 1995, p.3.

[38] Burma Issues adds that, while it is  probable  that  SLORC  would  not
authorise such a survey to take place on its territory, UNOCAL could, if it
were  genuinely  interested, send a survey team to the Thai-Burma border in
order to interview refugees  from  the  areas  concerned.  Moreover,  it  is
reported that, in "UNOCAL in myanmar: report to Stock holders", by Unocal's
CEO  Roger  C.  Beach,  the  company  claims  to have "visited the area and
discovered no human rights abuses". According to Burma Issues, the  "visit"
was conducted by helocopter...(source idem, p.7).

[39]  see:  "UNOCAL  Shareholders  BAck  Controversial  Projects", by James
Pierpoint, Reuters, 22 May, 1995, in :"Supporting Documents", 3/46.

[40] All quotes and figures in this sub-section  from:  Appendix  F:"Texaco
Inc..  US  Business  and Human Rights Guidelines", Proxy Statement Proposal
no.6, by INvestor Responsibility Research Centre  (IRRC),  Washington,  DC,
April 1995, also included in: "Supporting Documents", no 3/44.

/* Endpart 3/4 */