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BURMA AT ECOSOC 2001 (1)



BURMA AT ECOSOC 2001 (1)

Geneva, 2 July 2001

The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) today discussed the 
question of whether to put Burma (Myanmar) on its agenda as requested by 
the International Labour Conference. The outcome was that Croatia will 
chair informal negotiations with interested parties in an attempt to reach 
consensus. If consensus is not reached, then there will probably be a 
debate and vote -- perhaps 3 weeks into the session, under Item 14 (social 
and human rights questions).


DISCUSSION OF 2 JULY

The BELGIAN Presidency of the EUROPEAN UNION made the following statement:

Mr President,

My delegation would like, on behalf of the European Union, to make the 
following statement.

The European Union would like the matter of the inclusion of the issue of 
forced labour in Burma to be settled in a consensual manner. Indeed, when 
the 88th International Labour Conference adopted its resolution which led 
to the implementation of Article 33 measures, it approved by a large 
majority the actions that had been recommended by the Governing Body of the 
ILO. One of those actions was to invite the Director-General of the ILO to 
request the ECOSOC to place an item on the agenda of its July 2001 session 
concerning the case of Burma.

The European Union is of the view that all the different actions decided by 
the International Labour Conference should be implemented until the ILC 
decides that the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry have been 
fully implemented. Since that is not yet the case, the issue must be 
discussed at this year's ECOSOC.

The European Union is not trying to raise the political temperature on this 
issue. We merely wish to implement an agreement that the vast majority of 
members of this body voted in favour of. In the opinion of the European 
Union, the ECOSOC assembly should therefore take note of the dicussion that 
took place at the International Labor conference last June, and acknowledge 
the decision to send a high level assessment team to Burma in September. We 
have the intention to circulate a text that we believe could be the basis 
of a compromise that would enjoy the support of the vast majority in this 
room. The text does not seek to introduce any new language. It is a low-key 
statement of fact. We support the suggestion that the inclusion of this 
item be postponed to allow for further consultations and we look forward to 
discussing the text with other delegations in the coming days.

CANADA and the USA supported the EU position. Canada added that an ILO 
delegate should participate in the discussion.

PAKISTAN and SYRIA opposed putting the issue on the agenda for the current 
session, though they said it could be discussed at some time in the future.

The BURMESE  ambassador,  referring to the "alleged use of forced labour in 
Myanmar",   said that this is an ILO matter and should be dealt with by the 
ILO rather than ECOSOC, that ECOSOC discussion might jeopardise the visit 
of the High-Level Team to Burma and that there is no justification for 
having the issue on the ECOSOC agenda.  He also said this is the first time 
such a matter has been put on the ECOSOC agenda by a specialised agency. He 
said that discussion should be postponed to a later date to allow for 
further consultations, and that his delegation would take part in the 
informal consultations.

CHINA said that the question should be excluded from the meeting, that the 
ILO has stated that the Government of Myanmar has repealed the laws in 
question and invited an ILO mission and has a sincere intention to resolve 
the matter, which should be dealt with by the ILO -- ECOSOC's job is just 
to examine reports of subsidiary bodies.

CUBA said there is no precedent for this kind of action at ECOSOC, that it 
is a bad precedent, and outside the substantive competence of ECOSOC.

[Apart from the EU statement, which I copied from the written text, this 
account is from my notes and not an official record -- DA]