Myanmar's forced-labor plague
By Dave Simmons
ASIATimes (16-11-01)
YANGON - A United Nations agency has accused the military government of Myanmar of failing to stamp out forced labor, despite passing a law against the practice last year. The issue is a sensitive one for the ruling junta - international condemnation over the practice is believed to have helped push the generals into reopening talks with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"Despite new legislation introduced ... one year ago, forced labor still exists in Myanmar," the UN's International Labor Organization (ILO) said in a report released this week. Forced labor is still employed in military and government infrastructure projects and in fragile border areas, says the ILO report, which is based on an investigative mission to the country six weeks ago.
Labor organizations and international human-rights groups have waged high profile campaigns on the forced-labor issue since Myanmar's military seized power in 1988. The country's ruling generals have denied the accusations, insisting that the people working on projects are doing so voluntarily. Following the release of the latest report ILO officials have requested a meeting with members of the government, but there has been no official response.
Myanmar suffered international condemnation after the ILO, based on a 1998 investigation of the forced-labor problem, urged its 175 member governments to adopt what was tantamount to a trade boycott. The government agreed in October of last year, for the first time, to adopt a framework of legislative, executive and administrative measures making all practices of forced labor illegal and a criminal offense for all authorities, including the military.
Beginning that same month, the government moved from a consistent policy of confrontation with the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) to one of negotiation and dialogue with the NLD's general-secretary, Aung San Suu Kyi. While both sides have held the substance of this dialogue in strictest confidence, there have been a number of goodwill gestures, including the release of some political prisoners and a halt to the vicious attacks on Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD by the government-owned press. Aung San Suu Kyi remains in detention in her home, but has told visitors from the UN, the European Union and the United States that she supports the current dialogue.
The government cooperated with the ILO delegation - which consisted of internationally eminent jurists led by former Australian governor-general Sir Ninian Stephen - that investigated progress in mid-September this year.
"There is no way that the Myamese army can do without forced labor," a Thai intelligence source said. "They need the local villagers to act as porters and guides. They cannot function without them - and they cannot afford to pay them."
But diplomats in Myanmar's capital, Yangon, believe there have been improvements. "The army no longer appears to use forced labor in Yangon or other urban centers for construction work," said NLD spokesman U Lwin. "However, the situation along the border may be different."
Forced labor is believed to be extensive around Myanmar's northeast and in Mon and Shan states, bordering Thailand. Human rights groups say that forced labor is still widely used, but note that the practice has been scaled down. "Far fewer women and children are used as porters compared to five years ago," an AsiaWatch researcher said. "This is likely to be the result of international pressure."
But curbing forced labor could divide the army, experts hold. Military commanders - who have used villagers as porters and guides - may find it difficult, if not impossible, to accept such curbs. "Those elements in the military who want to lessen the country's international isolation will find greater resistance to eliminating the use of forced labor than talking to the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and even the idea of power-sharing," said a Thai specialist on Myanmar.
Wiping out Myanmar's forced labor is seen by the ILO's high-level team as an essential part of the broader modernization of the country. The team recommends setting up a system for looking into complaints and opening the way for an ILO representative to work with authorities to strengthen the confidence of victims seeking redress.
Major shake-up
The damning ILO report on forced labor comes in the wake of the biggest shake-up in the ruling junta in four years. Seven top officials were sacked last week, and sources in Myanmar said that 10 powerful regional army commanders are to be reassigned to the capital.
All 10 will be promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general and take positions in the Ministry of Defense. While the commanders are likely to gain privileges, some observers said they would lose power and autonomy, which would reassert the authority of the regime's top three generals. A former military officer, who requested anonymity, said the move was a clear indication that the ministry was "expanding and consolidating its strength".
The reassignments, which have not been officially announced, follow the unexpected dismissals last week of seven top officials, including the junta's fourth-ranking general, Lieutenant-General Win Myint, and deputy prime minister Lieutenant-General Tin Hla, who was also minister for military affairs. Also fired were two aging deputy prime ministers; three other ministers were "permitted to retire".
The government has given no reasons for the changes. It is the biggest shake-up of the regime since November 1997, when the original junta, the State Law and Order Restoration Council, was dissolved and renamed the State Peace and Development Council, with younger officials drafted to replace entrenched and corrupt military leaders.
Myanmar's 12 regional commanders are all members of the elite 16-member council, but the body is dominated by its three top generals - junta leader Senior General Than Shwe, Army Chief General Maung Aye and military intelligence chief Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt. However, in their areas of control in the provinces, the regional commanders are very powerful. The cabinet of ministers is appointed separately and is much less influential.
The government has faced international condemnation for alleged human rights abuses and for refusing to honor the 1990 landslide election victory of Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently under house detention in Yangon.
It was not yet clear whether the 10 regional commander positions had been filled, or whether the incumbents would retain their positions in the council. Only two of the current regional military commanders will remain in their posts.
Limited improvement on forced labor
While recognizing that Myanmar's legislation against forced labor has been the object of a wide, although uneven, dissemination across the country, the ILO report finds that its impact on the realities has been limited. In particular forced labor is practiced in its various forms (portering, building of military camps, agricultural work, etc) in areas affected by military presence and especial in border areas where fighting may still be ongoing.
The report identifies three obstacles that might explain the limited result:
the "self-reliance policy" of the army (in particular the wide discretion left to local commanders as to the means appropriate to carry out their overriding objective of safeguarding the territorial integrity of the country);
the de facto impunity of the military from criminal prosecution notwithstanding the new legislation (itself due in part to the lack of confidence of victims in the legal and judicial system and the fear of reprisals);
and the lack of alternative financial and practical arrangements by the authorities to carry out public works calling on forced labor.
The ILO's investigating team noted that "the diversity and magnitude of these obstacles may seem discouraging". However, taking into account the progress accomplished through dialogue over the past year, and the commitment that the acceptance of the assessment seems to reflect on the part of the authorities, the team suggested ways to overcome the obstacles. It pointed to three interlocking parameters: economic modernization; a consistent implementation of the authorities' proclaimed political will to eliminate forced labor; and the engagement of the international community.
The eradication of forced labor is an essential element of a broader modernization of the country, the ILO report said. However, it said, this modernization requires international involvement that cannot be accomplished unless the authorities themselves give more cogent evidence of their determination to fulfill their obligations than is apparent. To that end, the ILO suggested establishment of an ombudsman with the required national and international credibility to investigate cases, as well as the acceptance of an ILO representation or presence in Myanmar that could assist the authorities in the effective application of the new legislation and strengthen the confidence of victims in seeking redress.
The ILO team refuted the notion that forced labor could be explained by reference to a particular religious or cultural context. It said forced labor has plagued, and is still plaguing under various forms, many societies, and is now rejected as an offense to human dignity wherever it takes place. The team said it was convinced that the eradication of forced labor represents not only the discharge of a fundamental moral and legal obligation for Myanmar but also offers a historic opportunity for the country to accomplish its modernization.
The team was composed of Sir Ninian Stephen, former governor-general of Australia and former judge of the UN International Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda; Nieves Roldan-Confesor, former minister of labor of the Philippines and former chairwoman of the Governing Body of the ILO; Kulatilaka Ranasinghe, retired chief justice of Sri Lanka; and Jerzy Makarczyk, former vice minister of foreign affairs of Poland and currently judge at the European Court of Human Rights.
The ILO team spent three weeks in Myanmar and one in Thailand. The report acknowledges that the Myanmese authorities fully honored their commitment under the agreement to leave to the team complete discretion to establish and implement its program of work as it wished.
At the same time the report recognizes that there were inherent limitations in the assessment process in Myanmar as the team was only able to visit certain parts of the country and the persons interviewed might not always have felt completely free to speak with its members. This is one reason the team decided also to carry out meetings and interviews across the Thai border.