INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CONFERENCE	C. App./D.5(Add.2)
92nd Session, Geneva, June 2004
Committee on the Application of Standards

Special sitting to examine developments concerning the question of the observance by the Government of Myanmar of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29)

Addendum

Letter dated 3 June 2004 from the Permanent Representative of Myanmar to the Director-General

Dear Mr. Director-General,

I refer to my letter of 24 May 2004 and your letter of 2 June 2004, addressed to His Excellency U Tin Winn, Minister for Labour. In this connection, I should like to inform you as follows:

(1) Min Kyi (a) Naing Min Kyi, Aye Myint (a) Myint Aye Maung and Shwe Mann (a) Zeyar Oo still have the right to second appeal to the full bench of the Supreme Court for a further review of their cases.

(2) On 28 November 2003, the Judge of the Yangon Northern District Court, in passing judgement on Min Kyi (a) Naing Min Kyi and Aye Myint (a) Myint Aye Maung made a reference inadvertently and incorrectly to the ILO. This is one of the reasons why review of the cases of nine individuals including Min Kyi (a) Naing Min Kyi, Aye Myint (a) Myint Aye Maung and Shwe Mann (a) Zeyar Oo have to be undertaken.

(3) We can assure you, once again, that under no circumstances does contact and cooperation by a Myanmar citizen with the ILO constitute an offence under the existing Myanmar law.

(4) We hope that these points, including points (2) and (3) will be duly reflected in the judgement on the second appeal by the Supreme Court, accordingly.

I also wish to take this opportunity to inform you that, as provided in the Formal Understanding on the Facilitator, Mr. Leon de Riedmatten has already been accorded “free access to the said persons and witnesses at every stage of the procedure”, and that he has enjoyed the full cooperation of the Myanmar authorities in the performance of his duties. This has been demonstrated by the role he has played in the case of the three individuals. He will continue to enjoy the same kind of free access and the same kind of cooperation in future, as well.

As regards Convention No. 87, I should also like to apprise you that the National Convention, on 20 May 2004, discussed the basic principles relating to the rights of workers, including basic principles concerning labour organizations.

I believe that this letter will be helpful in clarifying the remaining issues and that it will lead to a conducive situation that will enable the Bureau of the ILO Governing Body to recommend for implementation without further delay of the Joint Plan of Action, agreed upon by the Myanmar Government and the ILO.

I thank you very much for your kind cooperation.

With warm regards,

Yours sincerely,

(Signed) Mya Than,

Ambassador,

Permanent Representative.