NEWS - BURMA: ILO boycott urged ove

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Subject: NEWS - BURMA: ILO boycott urged over 'slavery'

World News / Asia-Pacific
16th june 1999
source:financial times

                  BURMA: ILO boycott urged over 'slavery'
                  By Frances Williams in Geneva

                  The International Labour Organisation is being urged
by
                  trade unions and employers' groups to boycott almost
all
                  dealings with Burma for failing to end its practice of
                  forced labour, which they describe as "nothing but a
                  contemporary form of slavery".

                  In a rare example of joint action, the two sides have
                  submitted a draft resolution to the ILO's annual
                  conference in Geneva which ends tomorrow. The
                  resolution calls on the ILO to refuse Burma, which
joined
                  the convention in 1955, all technical assistance
except
                  help in eliminating forced labour, and to bar it from
all
                  meetings other than the conference itself and meetings
                  of the governing body. These are the most severe
                  penalties the ILO can inflict as it has no power to
expel
                  members.

                  The ILO conference is scheduled to vote on the
                  resolution tomorrow and it stands a good chance of
                  success. In addition to the trade union and employers'
                  representatives, who together have 50 per cent of the
                  votes, a number of western governments including the
                  US and UK are expected to support the resolution.

                  Juan Somavia, ILO director-general, told ILO members
                  last month that, despite its statements to the
contrary,
                  the government of Burma had not implemented any of
                  the recommendations of an ILO committee of inquiry
                  report issued in August 1998.

                  That report, based on eyewitness as well as
                  documentary evidence, concluded that Burma's ILO
                  obligation to eliminate forced labour was being
violated
                  by the military junta "in a widespread and systematic
                  manner, with total disregard for the human dignity,
safety

                  and health and basic needs of the people".

                  The Brussels-based International Confederation of Free
                  Trade Unions said yesterday that more than 800,000
                  people were subject to forced labour in Burma. It
                  described the practice as a "crime against humanity".

                  According to the ILO, thousands of villagers are
                  conscripted, often by the military, to work for little
or no
                  pay as porters, messengers or labourers on roads,
                  railways, bridges and farms. Many are ill-treated.
Many
                  are children, sent by their families to prevent the
loss of
                  adult income earners.

                  Pointing to Burma's "flagrant and persistent failure
to
                  comply" with the ILO's forced labour convention, the
                  committee of inquiry called on the government to amend
                  its laws to outlaw forced labour, fulfilling a
30-year-old
                  pledge; to eliminate forced labour in practice; and to
                  punish those exacting it.