BURMA: Forced Labour Under ILO Spotlight

By Marwaan Macan-Markar Reprint | | Print |

Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Jun 13 2006 (IPS) - Burma’s military regime comes under the spotlight of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) this week when its practice of forced labour will be scrutinized and acted upon.

By Friday, the nearly 3,000 delegates meeting in Geneva at the ILO’s 95th International Labour Conference are expected to deliver an unequivocal message when they vote on this continuing scourge in the South-east Asian country. The delegates include representatives of governments, workers and employers.

On the eve of the Burma debate, which got underway Tuesday, the head of the ILO circulated a letter to the conference participants about what is at stake to end such human rights violations in Myanmar, the name by which Rangoon’s junta calls the country.

”At the forthcoming session, the Conference will have before it an analysis of all relevant options which the International Labour Conference could consider taking to ensure compliance with the (1930 Force Labour) Convention, or to draw, in any other appropriate way, the consequences of the situation,” wrote Juan Somavia, director-general of the ILO.

This ”additional item on the agenda” of the meeting, which runs from May 31 to Jun. 16, is to reconsider ”further action by the ILO” to end forced labour in Burma and ”to ensure that no action is taken (by the Burmese regime) against complainants or their representatives,” Somavia’s letter adds.

Richard Horsey, the ILO’s representative in Burma, was thorough in the report he prepared for the current review of Rangoon’s stance towards forced labour. ”The (ILO’s) Liason Officer continues to receive allegations of forced labour. Although not in a position to verify the details himself, he is particularly concerned about persistent and detailed accounts – from sources both within Myanmar and across the border in Thailand – of forced labour being exacted by the army … in the context of military operations in northern Kayin (Karen) State,” he stated in the report.

”In addition to villagers being forced to accompany armed columns as porters (along with convicts from prisons), owners of bullock carts were reportedly forced to transport food and other supplies to front-line troops,” its adds.

On top of flouting its commitment to end forced labour, the Burmese junta has also resorted to threats and intimidation to silence those who expose it. Between August and September last year, Horsey himself was a victim when he received 21 threats to his life made in letters delivered to him via the postal service.

”If you interfere in our internal affairs, your head will be cut off and our people will crush you and poison you. Be careful, danger is everywhere for you,” warned one letter.

Burmese civilians who have dared to speak out against forced labour in their country have been subject to different treatment by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the junta is officially known. Contact with the ILO to lodge complaints – or even being caught with the business card of an ILO staffer on your possession – has led to arrests and prison terms.

So entrenched is forced labour in Burma that few expect it to end. ”The military has established its powers in many areas, particularly on the borders, through the use of forced labour. There is little sign of change over the past six years,” Sein Htay, a former lecturer at the Institute of Economics in Rangoon, said in an interview with IPS.

The SPDC has also used forced labour for its economic development projects, he added. ”They leave the people with little choice. You are forced to obey the military.”

Burma, in fact, tops the list of Asian countries where forced labour is prevalent, according to the ILO. In all, there are an estimated 9.5 million victims of forced labour in the Asia-Pacific region, which is nearly three-fourths of the global total of 12.3 million people trapped into this form of servitude.

The ILO’s move to end such abuse in Burma – a country that has ratified the two international conventions to stamp out forced labour – began in 1998, following disturbing revelations about the harsh tactics used by Rangoon to compel villagers into labour that bordered on slave-like conditions, at times.

This week’s debate and vote at the ILO meeting are preceded by the tough measures members of this labour rights agency considered in June last year to end such practices as villagers forced to porter for the army, build roads and bridges, cultivate on military acquired lands and construct buildings.

On that occasion, ILO members agreed that they would replace the wait-and-see policy they had pursued since 2001 to let the SPDC ban forced labour for a punitive option – endorse economic sanctions on Burma. It was the first time that such a measure was approved by this U.N. specialised agency.

Such sanctions, spelled out under Article 33 of the ILO’s constitution, mean a freeze of foreign investments flowing into Burma, international trade unions getting the green light to boycott the country’s economy and even compelling U.N. agencies and multilateral organisations to reconsider their activities.

Yet, with the exception of the U.S. government, which has imposed economic sanctions on Burma and limited bans placed on the country by the European Union, the tough words of June 2005 did not translate into action.

”The past year has been a learning experience for the SPDC about international diplomacy. They appear to feel confident that no harm will come to them from the ILO and they can get away with forced labour,” an official of a humanitarian agency working on Burma issues told IPS on condition of anonymity.