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Friday, May 12 8:25 PM SGT
Myanmar accepts ILO mission over
forced labour issue
MANILA, May 12 (AFP) - Military-ruled Myanmar has agreed to accept an international mission to
make it comply with global laws against the use of forced labour, Southeast
Asian labour ministers said after a meeting here Friday.
Myanmar's Labour Minister Tin Ngwe told the meeting the request for an
International Labour Organisation (ILO) "technical cooperation" mission was made
"without preconditions," a statement issued after the talks said.
The 14th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) labour ministers
meeting was briefed on the "outstanding issues" faced by Myanmar in complying
with an ILO convention on forced labour, the statement said.
An ILO commission of enquiry in a report issued last August found
compulsory labour in Myanmar was practiced in a "systematic manner with a total
disregard for the human dignity, safety and health" of the people.
The ILO had blasted the Myanmar authorities for failing to amend any laws
in line with commission recommendations, propose any new laws or take steps to
punish those exacting forced labour.
The ILO governing body had ordered Myanmar's case to be raised at the
organisation's assembly in June, and in March invoked for the first time an ILO
article allowing it to recommend measures to oblige the offending party to
comply.
The ASEAN labour ministers welcomed Myanmar's decision to admit the ILO
mission, which they said should assist the country to comply with the ILO
convention on forced labour.
"The mission should be sent preferably before the forthcoming ILC
(International Labour Conference) so that the outstanding issues between Myanmar
and ILO could be expeditiously resolved," the statement said.
Apart from Myanmar, ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Myanmar's defiance of international laws against forced labour has also
indirectly affected the other Southeast Asian nations.
The ILO had informed ASEAN the grouping was excluded from participating in
and benefiting from ILO technical cooperation and assistance programmes, the
ministers said in their statement.
They also "expressed regret" that the ILO had discontinued its commitment
to support the implementation of two priority ASEAN projects on labour -- on
human resources development planning and industrial relations.
The two-day ASEAN labour ministers meeting also discussed regional
projects, including training and efforts to stem socio-economic problems caused
by the Asian financial crisis.
The Straits Times- May 12,
2000.
Myanmar's military accused of using teens Human rights umbrella group says kids are also trained as spies, porters
and minesweepers. It is pushing for countries to ban use of child soldiers
by JAMES EAST
IN BANGKOK MYANMAR'S junta uses children as spies, porters and minesweepers, say
activists who are pressing Asia's armed forces to outlaw the use of child
soldiers.
Human rights workers say teenagers are routinely rounded up by the military
and sent off to the frontline to help fight the country's armed ethnic insurgent
groups.
On Monday, more than 150 human rights organisations will meet 15 Asian
governments in Kathmandu, Nepal, in an attempt to persuade them to outlaw the
practice.
They also hope to boost international efforts to abolish child soldiering.
The conference is being organised by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child
Soldiers.
It is an umbrella group whose members include World Vision International,
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
There are about 300,000 under-18s soldiering in conflicts worldwide.
The coalition says scores of children are killed, maimed and left
emotionally traumatised by battlefield experiences in not only Myanmar, but
Indonesia, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.
It wants countries to individually bar under-18s from fighting or being
conscripted. It also wants the bans incorporated into international law.
Launching the Coalition's findings in Bangkok, spokesman Rory Mungoven
said: "We want to put the use of children as soldiers and weapons of war on the
same legal and moral footing that condemns the use of chemical and biological
weapons as beyond the pale."
Reserving particular criticism for Myanmar, he said: "Myanmar rivals parts
of Africa as one of the world's largest recruiters of child soldiers.''
Teenagers were not only found in the country's armed ethnic groups, the
Karen National Union or the headline-grabbing God's Army militia which is led by
teenage twins Johnny and Luther Htoo, but also in the armed forces.
"Not all children find their way to the frontline. They are used as spies,
couriers, sentries, messengers and even sexual slaves," he explained.
Large numbers of under-15s were recruited, with street children and orphans
at particular risk.
The government of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has in the past denied
before the United Nations that it uses children in the army, saying it only
takes in over-18s.
But the Thai-based Karen Human Rights Group said it has documented many
cases of child deserters.
Speaking from the Thai-Myanmar border, group co-ordinator Kevin Heppner,
said: "In your average Burmese frontline unit, probably half the soldiers are
under 18. Most are 14 to 16 years old."
The regime had a policy of maintaining recruitment by barring soldiers from
leaving unless they signed up new recruits.
"No one wants to join so the soldiers hang around in the markets and
outside schools where they grab the children. The children are easily influenced
by tales of having money and a gun," he said.
Youth organisations also funneled youngsters into the military.
"It is true that the ethnic opposition groups use under-18s but the main
offender is the Burmese army," he said.
Once recruited the children endured brutal treatment.
They were beaten and abused, forced to steal food from villages and had
their pay docked by corrupt officers.
An International Labour Organisation inquiry into Myanmar's use of child
soldiers found "men, women and children, some as young as 10 or so, have been
forced to do portering for the military.
"Others were used as human shields and minesweepers."
A refusal to do so is absolutely inconceivable as it is systematically met
with physical punishment or fines.
Countries attending the conference include Thailand, North and South Korea,
Japan and China. Singapore is not.
"We have been coaxing Burma to come but so far we have not had a response,"
said Mr Mungoven.
The Straits Times- May 12,
2000.
Yangon denies army using the underaged BANGKOK -- A Myanmar government spokesman said yesterday his country's
armed forces are "a voluntary army and underaged recruits are not welcome."
He said that the well-publicized case of 12-year-old twin boys who
commanded a small band of Karen ethnic rebels made it "very obvious that the
armed terrorist groups are systematically conscripting children to be soldiers."
The spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was responding to
charges that Myanmar "has one of the highest numbers of child soldiers in the
world, both within governmental armed forces and non-governmental armed groups."
The non-government organisation, Coalition to Stop the Use of Child
Soldiers, has said that many of the children serving in Myanmar's army are not
combat soldiers, but rather support personnel, such as porters. -- AP
The Straits Times- May 12,
2000.
Police chiefs to strengthen drug fight YANGON -- South-east Asian police chiefs have agreed to forge stronger
cooperation to fight cross-border crime, especially in locating illegal drug
laboratories between Thailand and Myanmar.
A communique issued at the end of the 20th annual conference of police
chiefs from the 10 member states of Asean on Wednesday said that collaboration
needed to be intensified as drug-related crimes were becoming more complex.
"The conference recommended that member countries, particularly Thailand
and Myanmar, continue to exchange intelligence and enhance co-operation on
matters relating to the location of illegal drug refineries," it said.
Thai authorities have expressed frustration at millions of methamphetamines
which it says are trafficked from eastern Myanmar, particularly from areas under
control of armed groups such as the United Wa State Army, or UWSA.
Myanmar, also the world's second largest producer of opium, from which
heroin is derived, argues that drug production is only made possible by
importation of chemicals from other neighbouring countries. The UWSA has been
described by the US State Department as the world's largest drug-trafficking
organisation.
At the three-day meeting held at a downtown Yangon hotel, police chiefs
discussed drug trafficking, use of fraudulent travel documents, commercial crime
and credit card fraud, officials said. -- AP
Bangkok Post - May 12,
2000.
METHAMPHETAMINES
Drug-producing Wa Army seen as top
external security threat
Need for harder line against neighbours Kanjana Spindler
The flood of methamphetamine-based drugs from United Wa State Army-run
areas of Burma is Thailand's top external security threat, the army commander
said yesterday.
Gen Surayud Chulanont, who was at a post on Doi Kiew Hoong, overlooking
Mong Yawn, the Wa town built on drug profits, expressed frustration at the
inability to stem the flow. His remarks came on the eve of an inter-agency
meeting called by the Foreign Ministry which may signal a strengthening in
government efforts to shut off the supply, estimated at 600 million pills this
year.
The talks will be chaired by M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, deputy foreign
minister, and include representatives from the Office of Narcotics Control
Board, National Security Council, Interior Ministry and Gen Wattanachai
Chaimuenwong, the Third Army commander.
M.R. Sukhumbhand said the Foreign Ministry stood ready to support any such
efforts even if they "affect our good relations with some of our
neighbours".
This comment reflected a growing realisation that a harder line was needed
with countries harbouring drug factories. One army source said cross-border
strikes may be a viable option.
The May 1999 drug summit in Chiang Mai between Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai
and Gen Than Shwe, the Burmese premier, produced a joint statement on greater
co-operation but little more. Rangoon conceded subsequently its inability to
rein in drug-producers such as the Wa.
While the ministry has kept suppression as the main item on the agenda with
Burma, Cambodia and Laos, drug enforcement sources believe Thailand should also
seek co-operation from China and Taiwan. China has considerable influence in
Burma, and Taiwan is often cited as a major source of chemicals and equipment
used to make methamphetamines.
Inter-agency co-operation was welcomed by William Simpson, head of the Thai
branch of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration. The involvement of
the military showed Thailand was serious.
"But they have to work as a team," he said. "In the US, the military is in
a support role, not the lead role."Gen Surayud agreed the police should lead
with the army in support. Army units were receiving good intelligence from
Border Patrol Police and were expanding support for a civilian programme to
relocate some border villages and launch income-generating projects.
Dismissing charges the army had razed some villages, he said: "We soldiers
read the constitution as well, you know."According to Lt-Gen Wattanachai,
Richard Hecklinger, the US ambassador, had promised to ask for US army personnel
involved in operations against Colombian drug cartelsto share their experience
with the Thai side.
Bangkok Post-May 12,
2000.
METHAMPHETAMINES Army wants crossings shut
Drugs being moved through checkpoints Subin Khuenkaew in Chiang Mai
The Third Army wants to close a temporary border checkpoint in Chiang Dao
district of Chiang Mai and four others in Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai in a
bid to stem drug smuggling.
Deputy commander Lt-Gen Chamlong Phothong said some northern provinces had
more temporary border checkpoints than were needed, and the unnecessary ones
should be closed so they could not be used by traffickers and contraband
smugglers.
"At some checkpoints there are too few officials. These crossings have been
used as transit routes for illegal goods such as drug precursors. So,
authorities should consider closing them." he said.
An army source said the army wants to close four temporary border
checkpoints between Chiang Rai and Tachilek: Ban Sai Lom Joi, Bang Koh Sai, Ban
Muang Daeng and Ban Pang Ha, which are all on the Mae Sai river bank and no more
than 10km apart.
However, a checkpoint at Ban Sop Ruak in Chiang Saen which is a popular
route for people travelling to casinos in Burma will probably not be
closed.
"Chiang Rai has a permanent border checkpoint which is acceptable to both
countries. I wonder why the province still needs four temporary checkpoints
which are near the permanent one," the source said.
The army also wanted a border checkpoint at Ban Kiew Pha Wok in Chiang Dao
district, Chiang Mai, to be closed. The crossing was being used to smuggle drug
precursors since last year's closure of San Ton Du checkpoint.
In Tak, provincial authorities recently ordered the closure of 10 of 13
temporary border checkpoints.
Last month, the Northern Narcotics Suppression Centre resolved to place
eight border checkpoints in Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son and Tak under
close watch. |