Trade unionists to fight for social justice at S.Africa meet
DURBAN, South Africa, March 31 (AFP) -The biggest international federation of trade unions was set to call for globalisation of social justice at its 17th conference to be staged here from April 3-7.
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) groups 215 union organisations from 145 countries, representing 125 million workers.
According to the ICFTU, more than three billion people in the world subsist on less than two dollars a day, whereas the main beneficiaries of globalisation are the multinationals.
The confederation denounces "inadequate" regulation of financial markets, "selective" structural re-adjustment programmes and the "burden" of foreign debt.
The ICFTU took part in demonstrations by the US union AFL-CIO against the World Trade Organisation ministerial conference at the beginning of December last year in Seattle, whose failure, according to the ICFTU, was the "start of a new approach to globalisation."
The confederation took the floor at the Davos Economic Forum at the end of January to push the same line, and also took part in the debate on the sidelines of an UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) meeting last February.
"The world faces economic globalisation, political regionalisation and social stagnation," said the ICFTU secretary-general, Britain's Bill Jordan, who believes that the trade unions can provide solutions.
The ICFTU now includes a majority of trade unions from developing countries and is campaigning for an enlargement of the role of the International Labour Office (ILO) and the inclusion of social norms in world trade.
ILO director-general Juan Somavia, of Chile, will address the conference here on Tuesday.
The ICFTU is campaigning for the creation of a working group of the ILO and the WTO, which would denounce offenders against social norms to the ILO and who would possibly be penalised by the WTO.
In face of accusations of protectionism, the confederation says it wants western markets to be opened up to exports from developing countries.
Jordan said that the trade unions would debate their own role and "draw conclusions from the many successes" scored by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), some of which, according to him, have yet to demonstrate their representiveness.
The unions will also denounce discrimination against women, the handicapped and -- for the first time -- homosexuals.
By choosing Durban as the venue, the ICFTU also wants to highlight the role played by the black trade union movement in the struggle against apartheid.
South African President Thabo Mbeki is due to address the conference on Thursday.
Founded at the height of the cold war, the ICFTU continues to support the development of democracy, which it believes is threatened by "poverty, unemployment and social divisions," and publishes an annual report on violations of trade union rights in the world.
The three main countries to be criticised in 1999 were Colombia, Myanmar and China.
Friday, March 31 1:55 AM SGT
Singapore and Myanmar ratify an pact to facilitate trade and investment
Singapore and Myanmar have ratified an agreement to facilitate trade and investment between the two countries.
The agreement for the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion of income tax aims to provide a framework for greater cross-flows of trade, investment and technical expertise between the 2 countries.
Under the agreement, profits of operating aircraft from one country to the other are exempt from tax.
Tax on profits derived from operating ships are also reduced by 50 percent.
The agreement also covers tax on bank interests and royalties.
BBC-Friday, 31 March, 2000, 14:31 GMT 15:31 UK
A leading Burmese dissident is in custody after being arrested in Thailand as he tried to board a plane bound for the United States.
Moethee Zun, deputy chairman of the All-Burma Students' Democratic Front, is among the most prominent Burmese dissidents based in Thailand.
Thai authorities say he was arrested last weekend and charged with using a fake Burmese passport, and a fake Thai visa stamp and entering Thailand illegally.
Moethee Zun had been issued a visa to travel to the US by the American embassy in Bangkok.
He is to be formally charged in court within a few weeks.
Pressure
The Thai Government has stepped up pressure on dissidents opposed to the military government in Rangoon following the seizure of a hospital by armed gunmen in Thailand in January.
Ten armed Burmese rebels took 500 people hostage in a 24-hour drama which ended after Thai forces stormed the hospital and killed the gunmen.
In another hostage crisis last October, a group of student dissidents who call themselves the Vigorous Student Burmese Warriers, seized the Burmese embassy in Bangkok.
In a deal to end the crisis, the dissidents were allowed to escape to the Thai-Burmese border in a helicopter.
Burmese dissident sources say the Thai authorities, embarrassed by the hostage crises on Thai soil have carried out raids on the premises of several pro-democracy groups and have allegedly arrested scores of activists.
The hostage crisis two months ago sparked outrage among the Thai public, which, until then, had been sympathetic to the plight of the Burmese dissidents.
More than 120,000 Burmese refugees live in Thailand, many of them in camps along the Thai-Burmese border.
Bangkok Post - 31 Mar, 2000.
Central sells property in Burma for $4.5 million
Intership leases for 3 years
before buying
Nondhanada Intarakomalyasut
Thailand's Central Hotels and Resorts Plc (Centel) has finally found a buyer for its money-losing hotel property in Burma, after nearly two years of searching.
The company recently closed a deal with UK-based Intership Co for the 133-room Central Floating Hotel in Rangoon, for US$4.5 million (about 166 million baht).
Under the deal, Intership will lease the hotel for $3,200 a day, and after three years, the outstanding balance of about $1 million will be paid up in full, said Centel executive vice-president Gerd Steeb.
"The buyers didn't want to pay the full amount at once, but we have a purchasing guarantee from them."Intership plans to move the hotel ship to Singapore for renovations before relocating it to East Timor.
Last year, Centel wrote off 112 million baht because the floating hotel had been running in the red since it was opened in 1994. "We will profit from the sale of the hotel and profits will be written back on the balance sheet," said Mr Steeb.
Centel bought the hotel in 1994 for $5.6 million, or 140 million baht at the prevailing exchange rate.
The company now operates 11 hotels and resorts in Thailand and two properties in Nepal and Bangladesh. Despite the sale, Centel still has a presence in Burma through the joint operation of Hotel Equatorial Rangoon, with the Hotel Equatorial network.
Last year, Centel earned 3.4 billion baht in revenue, up 6.4% from 1998, but net profit fell by 77.2% to 41.2 million baht, mainly because of a large exchange-rate exposure.
Of its total revenue, about 1.5 billion baht was from hotels and resorts, and 1.9 billion from its fast-food businesses.
Centel planned to raise the contribution of fast foods to overall profits in the next five years through expansion.
This year, Centel will spend between 200 million and 250 million baht to open 70 more outlets for its chains: KFC, Mister Donut and Baskin Robbins ice-cream. The new branches will be mostly located upcountry.
Tricon Global Restaurants, the group's partner in KFC, expected the company to expand the chain to another 17 provinces, said Centel president and CEO Suthikiati Chirathivat.
Centel expects at least 17% growth from fast food this year. About 20% growth is projected from KFC, which last year made a 26 million baht profit. KFC has also joined with Tricon to tap into the Internet to improve logistics and distribution.
Mister Donut is expected to show a better performance after its turnaround, earning a four million baht profit for the first time last year. Baskin Robbins, which lost about 15 million baht both on its factory and Baskin Robbins outlets last year, is projected to break even this year. By the third quarter this year, Baskin Robbins will export ice-cream to the Philippines which will help increase capacity utilisation at its factory by 20%.
The group will then expand its export markets to Indonesia and Vietnam.
Centel operates 92 KFC, 137 Mister Donut and 72 Baskin Robbins outlets. Some 55 Baskin Robbins branches are owned by Centel and the rest are run by franchisees.
Mr Suthikiati said Centel was looking for new international fast food franchises not in the same area as the existing food lines. A local fast-food chain was also being studied, he said.
This year, the company will require two billion baht in medium- to long term-funding. Centel will also issue debentures worth 1.2 billion baht to support a new hotel project in Krabi which will start construction in mid-August.
Helicopter strips to facilitate patrols
E-mail:postbag@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Second Thoughts About the Junta
The Thai military is wondering if Myanmar's membership in ASEAN was a mistake
By JULIAN GEARING
March 30, 2000
Web posted at 3:30 p.m. Hong Kong time, 2:30 a.m. EST
Is the Myanmar government responsible for the drug-crazed kids in Thai schoolyards? This is just one of the questions confronting Thailand's military generals and National Security Council officials as they ponder the prospect of their country being swamped by an estimated 600 million illegal speed pills this year. Only last week, Police Chief Gen. Pracha Promnok was seen on television looking in dismay at a 2-million-pill pile, yet another seizure in the war on drugs. While Thailand's youth are being poisoned, Yangon seems to be doing nothing to stem the flood of drugs from the territory controlled by the United Wa State Army, with which the military junta has cordial relations.
Thailand's top brass are now questioning the wisdom of Bangkok's "constructive engagement" with Myanmar and its decision to help Yangon gain membership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Their misgivings are not just about drugs, Thailand's leading crime and security threat. The generals have a laundry list of contentious issues with respect to their quirky neighbor. Although it is some years since Bangkok actively supported minority groups fighting the junta, Yangon's soldiers continue to lob shells over the border, initiate incursions, and unilaterally close the frontier. Compounding the situation: Yangon's handling of the refugee issue, and its refusal to accept back those without Myanmar ID cards. Little wonder that the generals are starting to think that Yangon is trying to undermine Thailand.
Although Thai generals are keeping mum over a closed-door heads of staff seminar last week in Bangkok, news has leaked out that it centered on complaints about Yangon. Particularly irksome was the recent visit of Maj-Gen. Khin Nyunt, first-secretary of the State Peace and Development Council, to Mong Yawn in Shan State on the Myanmar-Thailand border under the control of Wa troops. The activities of the Wa are viewed as a serious threat to Thailand, yet here was a Yangon leader smiling in the company of people the Thais consider drug traffickers. That visit happened at exactly the same time that Thai Army chief Surayudh Chulanont was helicoptered in to the border area in Chiang Rai to oversee his force's battle against drugs.
Even politicians are getting involved. At the opposition Thai Rak Thai Party annual general meeting last Sunday (Mar. 26), party leader Thaksin Shinawatra spoke out against the flood of "yaba" tablets pouring across the border. The tycoon-turned-politician hinted that tough military action should be taken against troublesome elements in Myanmar if the influx does not stop. This suggestion drew applause from Thaksin's audience: The recent actions of an unruly neighbor - in centuries past an enemy of the Siam kingdom - are stirring Thai national sentiment even as they are heightening cross-border tension.
The military option remains just that, an option. The decision to send Thai special forces across the frontier in hot-pursuit would not be taken lightly. And the pitfalls could be grave. But for some Thai generals whose men are on the frontline in the war against drugs, Bangkok's position on Yangon must change. In this election year in Thailand, pressure on the government of Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai to get tough with Yangon is increasing, as are the demands that "constructive" engagement with Myanmar be reassessed. The image of schoolchildren, spaced out by illegal drugs, is a powerful one.
|
Trouble for
Unocal in Burma | |
| U.S.
Company Sued for Alleged Human Rights Abuses A Burmese worker installs a section of the Yadana gas pipeline. (ABCNEWS.com) | |
March 28 — In the small Southeast Asian country of Burma, California energy giant Unocal is fighting allegations of human rights violations, including forced labor, forced relocation of villagers, brutal beatings and even rape.
The military first seized power in 1988 in Burma, also known as Myanmar, and refused to recognize election results in 1990. Since then, the government has been accused of widespread human rights violations.
Why would an American company do business with one of the world’s most notorious dictatorships? The answer: Burma has an abundance of natural-gas resources, cheap labor and the Yadana pipeline, which crosses the southern portion of the nation and stretches into Thailand.
Since the military regime took over, nearly all U.S. companies chose to withdraw from Burma. Despite political pressures, Unocal remained and is now one of the first American companies to be sued for alleged complicity in crimes against humanity.
The human rights and environmental organization EarthRights International is representing 12 Burmese peasants who have filed a human rights suit against Unocal. EarthRights maintains the alleged violations have been going on since the company became involved in a pipeline project in 1994.
Unocal says it has acted only as investors in the region and that any alleged crimes against humanity, if committed, are the sole responsibility of the military government.
In fact, Unocal claims to have improved living standards in the region by providing medical and educational facilities as well as additional services to the nearly 40,000 people living in the pipeline region.
A federal judge in California has ruled that the suit case falls within American jurisdiction. That means making investments in places like Burma has become much more uncertain — not because of the political risks in the country — but rather the possible political and legal repercussions at home.