Daily News-March-03- 2001- Saturday

  • Union wants to pressure Burma
  • Union of Myanmar and Uruguay Establish Diplomatic Relations
  • Talks on Myanma Tourism Industry Held in US
  • Thai Troops Still on Alert Along Thai-Burma Border

    • Union wants to pressure Burma

    The Japan Times: Mar. 3, 2001

    The secretary general of a major global trade union body wants the international community to review its relations with Myanmar to pressure the military leadership to stop using its people as forced laborers.

    "To do business with Burma, you have to do business with the military dictatorship that is currently practicing on a widespread scale forced labor against its own people," Bill Jordan, of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, told a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan on Thursday.

    The Briton, who was in Japan for a meeting hosted by the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) on forced labor in Myanmar, said the junta remains unrepentant despite opposition to its practices by the International Labor Organization.

    The ILO in November adopted a resolution noting the persistence of Myanmar's systematic forced labor and severe violations of human rights. The resolution was the result of a 1998 ILO commission of inquiry that found widespread and systematic use of forced labor. The ILO also invoked Article 33 of its constitution -- for the first time ever -- and issued messages to every government in the world to review relations with Myanmar because maintaining them leads to "sustaining the military regime and abuses . . . perpetrated by the regime."

    Although Jordan did not present evidence -- which he described as damning and comprehensive -- he stated that the ruling junta's "requisitions" of Myanmarese men, women and children continue unabated.

    The evidence includes 300 pages of documents issued by the military to hundreds of thousands of people ordering them into unpaid hard labor, largely on infrastructure projects such as road building.

    He also pointed out that men, women and children are regularly taken into combat zones to carry ammunition and military supplies.

    Any refusal to follow these orders is not tolerated, Jordan said, citing photographic evidence depicting the corpses of workers floating in water. He also related a story about a young girl who was working at a factory and was found dead in a gutter the day after failing to report to work because of illness.

    Jordan said Myanmar is a test of the ILO's strengthened ability to effect real change inside an unrepentant regime and called on Japan, Europe and the United States to support the ILO's decision.

    He added that the ICFTU intends to work through its various trade union members and the companies they are linked with to increase pressure for full restoration of democracy in Myanmar, adding that democracy alone can end the forced labor system.

    Jordan, however, did not list the companies engaged in business with Myanmar, only saying they include many "household names" in Japan, Europe and the U.S.

    He said the ICFTU also aims to promote the Myanmar issue among university students and nongovernment organizations.He repeatedly emphasized that trade relations with Myanmar will only strengthen the military, citing how foreign investors have to sign contracts first with the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings, which is wholly owned by the country's Defense Ministry. Burma changed its name to Myanmar in 1989.

    Founded in 1949, the ICFTU has 156 million members in 148 countries around the world. It also has close links with the ILO, International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organization.
    Union of Myanmar and Uruguay Establish Diplomatic Relations

    MYANMAR INFORMATION COMMITTEE YANGON Information Sheet N0. B-1729 (I) 2nd March, 2001

    The Union of Myanmar and Uruguay, guided by the principles enunciated in the Charter of the United Nations and being desirous to establish relations of friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation on the basis of the principles of equality, non-interference in the internal affairs of others, respect for independence and territorial integrity have established diplomatic relations between the two countries at Ambassadorial level, on 22 February 2001.
    Talks on Myanma Tourism Industry Held in US

    MYANMAR INFORMATION COMMITTEE YANGON Information Sheet N0. B-1729 (I) 2nd March, 2001

    Talks on Myanma tourism industry, jointly organized by American tourism companies, as promotion of tourism industry, was held at the Myanmar Embassy in the US on 27 February.

    Present were the officials of 23 American tourism companies and travel writers and journalists totalling 72.

    Myanmar Ambassador to the US gave an account of the stable, pleasant and secure situation of Myanmar, the beauty of landscape and ancient cultural sites and prospects of tourism industry.

    Ms. Suzy Nevins of Executive Travel Associations and Mrs. Anna Skubiak of Orient Express presented Myanma tourism industry and the trip of the cruise-liner Road to Mandalay and natural beauties of the nation.

    Dr. John Kress of Simithsonian Institution gave a talk on national races residing in Myanmar, their traditions and cultures, ancient cultural sites, the landscape and wildlife, trees and wild flowers, and replied to queries raised by those present.

    In Year 2000, a total of 8,209 tourists from the US visited Myanmar.
    Thai Troops Still on Alert Along Thai-Burma Border

    Mar 02, 2001:People's Daily

    Thai troops deployed along the Thai-Myanmar border are still on alert and tight surveillance, as Myanmese forces are prepared to launch renewed crackdown on armed ethnic groups, the Thai News Agency (TNA) reported Thursday.

    Thai troops, particularly those who were deployed along the border in the northern province of Mae Hong Son, are now on high alert and perform tight surveillance following a fresh clash between Myanmese forces and their ethnic allies with the armed Kaya Karen group on Wednesday.

    The clash caused an influx of a number of refugees from the Myanmar side into the Thai soil. Local Thai authorities have provided temporary shelters for the refugees.

    Thai forces along the border are now prepared to cope with any incident, which may result from possible renewed clashes in the Myanmar side, and to protect refugees in the shelters, said the report.

    Thai soldiers along the border in the western province of Tak are also well prepared, as it is now the time when Yangon normally cracks down the armed Karen National Unit (KNU), and more Yangon forces with heavy arms have been moved in near the border, it added.

    Local authorities had told leaders of 17 villages in six sub- districts along the border to warn villagers to be aware of their safety and to arrange local security system. Thai forces are also well prepared along border areas in Mae Sai and Mae Fa Luang districts of Chiang Rai. Border tension has resulted in reduced smuggling of metamphetamines into the Thai territory over the past weeks, the report noted.