Daily News- March 11 - 2003- Tuesday
  • Myanmar, ILO drafting action plan on labor issue
  • Myanmar's number two undergoing medical treatment in Singapore
  • Myanmar junta head to visit Vietnam
  • Myanmar plan to eliminate force labour not adequate: ILO


    • Myanmar, ILO drafting action plan on labor issue

    XINHUA - The Myanmar government and the International Labor Organization (ILO) have been drafting a plan of action on eradication of forced labor in Myanmar and talks have been underway to adopt the plan if agreed, the local weekly journal Myanmar Times reported Monday.

    The talks on the move began on Feb. 21 between senior officials of two ministries of labor and foreign affairs as well as senior judicial officials from the Myanmar side and Hong-Trang Perret- Nguyen, Liaison Officer of the ILO stationed in Yangon.

    The journal quoted a recent report of Perret-Nguyen presented to the ILO for a meeting of its governing body, which started in Geneva on March 6, as saying that the plan would cover methods for more effective dissemination of the government's order banning forced labor and endeavors to heighten public awareness of labor issues.

    The action plan also include a proposal to name Leon de Riedmatten as a mediator to liaise between the government and the ILO.Riedmatten, who is a Yangon representative of the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, served as the ILO's interim liaison officer last year and is still acting as a facilitator.

    The 18-month action plan is expected to begin in April if agreed upon.

    Perrot-Nguyen also said the ILO would extend technical assistance and seek financial support from donors to implement the action plan.Meanwhile, the ILO is due to send a high-level team to Myanmar to finalize the action plan, she added.

    Since November 2000, the Myanmar military government has been under pressure from the ILO, which then called on its 175 member governments to impose sanctions on the military and review their relations with Myanmar to ensure they were not abetting forced labor.

    In March 2002, the Myanmar government reached an agreement with the ILO, allowing a representative of the organization to station in Myanmar to ensure eradication of forced labor, and an ILO technical cooperation mission came to Myanmar in October that year to help the country further develop labor practices in line with international norms.

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    Myanmar's number two undergoing medical treatment in Singapore

    YANGON, March 11 (AFP) - General Maung Aye, Myanmar's army chief and the number two in the ruling military regime, is undergoing medical treatment in Singapore, a family source said Tuesday.

    The 65-year-old general was released from a Yangon hospital on Saturday after being treated for an enlarged prostate and was flown Sunday to Singapore for further treatment, the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

    Maung Aye is vice-chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and is viewed as a hardliner in the military leadership.The military has ruled over the impoverished nation since 1962, when dictator Ne Win seized power in a coup.Ne Win ran the country with an iron fist until stepping down in 1988. He died in December last year.

    On Monday, the Singapore General Hospital, where other Myanmar leaders have been treated in the past, declined to comment on whether the general had been admitted there.Myanmar's junta has also yet to comment on Maung Aye's admission to hospital.

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    Myanmar junta head to visit Vietnam

    HANOI, March 11 (AFP) - Myanmar's military leader Senior General Than Shwe will pay a three-day official visit to Vietnam from Saturday, the foreign ministry here said.

    His visit, at the invitation of Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong, is aimed at "promoting bilateral relations between the two countries," a ministry official said Tuesday."The two sides will also exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual concern."

    It will be Shwe's third trip to the communist nation, following his last visit in 1998 for the leadership summit of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) states.The junta head, who will be accompanied by his wife, is scheduled to leave the country on Monday.

    Vietnam and Myanmar, both authoritarian regimes and targets of western criticism over their human rights records, retain close political links.

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    Myanmar plan to eliminate force labour not adequate: ILO

    BANGKOK, March 11 (AFP) - Plans by Myanmar's military government to end forced labour in the country are not yet adequate or credible, a Yangon-based International Labour Organisation (ILO) officer said Tuesday during a visit to Thailand.

    Myanmar is the only country in the world where forced labour is imposed by authorities and is in talks with the ILO to draw up a plan to eliminate the practice, ILO liaison officer Hong-Trang Perret-Nguyen told AFP.

    "In spite of very serious and very constant discussion with the government I have not been able to convince the authorities to take steps I consider necessary for the plan to be a credible plan," Perret-Nguyen said.

    A main sticking point was an ILO demand that Yangon agree to establish a credible system to verify allegations of forced labour and prosecute offenders.The ILO also wanted Myanmar to establish a pilot region where forced labour would be stopped immediately and its prohibition strictly enforced.

    Yangon had proposed only an area where a public information campaign against forced labour would be increased, Perret-Nguyen said."I have to note there has not been enough progress in discussions with government to enable me to present a joint text" of the plan to the ILO, she said.

    The ILO has offered to help implement an agreed plan including by sourcing financial support for it. The organisation could also seek further pressure on Myanmar if it does not take steps against forced labour.

    The country has made some progress, admitted Perret-Nguyen, who has been in Myanmar since October."They have come from a position of complete denial of the existence of forced labour to recognition of forced labour and now have the presence of the ILO in the country," she said, adding though this "is not sufficient."

    Forced labour in Myanmar typically involves work as porters for soldiers or in road and other construction projects.

    The liaison officer has visited various parts of the country to assess conditions. "The impression that I have is that the situation is really very serious and people continue to suffer from practices of forced labour," she said.

    "Formerly they were not paid for their work... now the practice seems to be more and more that people receive something, some form of payment, but this does not mean it is not forced labour."The work is still extracted under threat and labourers are not free to refuse, she said.

    A report by Perret-Nguyen on the situation is due be discussed by the ILO's governing body in Geneva this month.Myanmar is widely condemned by the international community for its use of forced labour. A 1998 ILO inquiry found the practice was "widespread and systematic" and targeted ethnic minorities living in border regions.

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