Burma paper views government efforts to "eradicate forced labour"
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Dec 29, 2001
Text of "special feature" in English on Myanmar Times 24 December article: "Myanmar's commitment to abolish forced labour", by Dr Win Soe carried in "Information Sheet No. C-2063 (I); published by Myanmar Information Committee web site on 26 December
Forced labour is illegal in Myanmar [Burma]. The abolition of the practice, legalized under the British colonial administration, is one of the accomplishments of our government in recent years. This act is evidence of the intention of all citizens of Myanmar to work to achieve the status of a fully developed, modern nation. Forced labour, as practised historically in most countries of the world, is no longer acceptable and all modern governments are committed to its eradication. Order 1/99 of the State Peace and Development Council is an historic achievement, which all patriotic Myanmar must hail.
1. The Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of the Union of Myanmar, under the direction of the State Peace and Development Council, hereby directs that the following amendment shall be made to Order No 1/99 dated 14 May, 1999 as requisition of forced labour is illegal and is an offence under the existing laws of the Union of Myanmar. Clause 5 of the said Order 1/99 shall be substituted with the following:
(a) Responsible persons including members of the local authorities, members of the Armed Forces, members of the Police Force and other public service personnel shall not requisition work or service notwithstanding anything contained in Sections 7 (1) and (9) (b) of the Towns Act, 1907 and Sections 8 (1) and 11 (d) of the Village Act, 1907.
(b) The above Clause (a) shall not apply to requisition work or service when an emergency arises due to fire, flood, storm, earthquake, epidemic disease, war, famine and epizootic disease that poses an imminent danger to the general public and the community.
2. When the responsible persons have to requisition work or service for purposes mentioned in Clause 1 (b) of this Supplementary Order the following shall be complied:
(a) The work or service shall not lay too heavy a burden upon the present population of the region.
(b) The work or service shall not entail the removal of workers from their place of habitual residence.
(c) The work or service shall be important and of direct interest for the community. It shall not be for the benefit of private individuals, companies or associations. (d) It shall be in circumstances where it is impossible to obtain labour by the offer of usual rates of wages. In such circumstances, the people of the area who are participating shall be paid rates of wages not less favourable than those prevailing in the area.
(e) School teachers and pupils shall be exempted from requisition of work or service.
(f) In the case of adult able bodied men who are the main supporters of the necessities of food, clothing and shelter for the family and indispensable for social life, requisition shall not be made except only in unavoidable circumstances.
(g) The work or service shall be carried out during the normal working hours. The hours worked in excess of the normal working hours shall be remunerated at prevailing overtime rates.
(h) In case of accident, sickness or disability arising at the place of work, benefits shall be granted in accordance with the Workmen's Compensation Act.
(i) The work or service shall not be used for work underground in mines.
3. When the responsible persons have to requisition work or service for purposes mentioned in Clause 1 (b) of this Supplementary Order, they shall do so only with the permission of the Deputy Commissioner of the General Administration Department who is also a member of the relevant District Peace and Development Council.
4. The State or Divisional Commissioner of the General Administration Department who is also a member of the relevant State or Divisional Peace and Development Council shall supervise the responsible persons to abide by the Order No 1/99 and this Supplementary Order.
5. The phrase "Any person who fails to abide by this Order shall have action taken against him under the existing law" contained in Clause 6 of the said Order No 1/99 means that any person including local authorities, members of the Armed Forces, members of the Police Force and other public service personnel shall have action taken against him under Section 374 of the Penal Code or any other existing law.
Published on 27 October 2000 by Minister Tin Hlaing, the Ministry of Home Affairs
Myanmar's commitment to the abolition of forced labour was acknowledged by the governing body of the International Labour Organization (ILO) when it accepted the report of the High Level Team that visited our country -with the full cooperation of the authorities in October, 2001.
The High Level Team, led by the distinguished former governor-general of Australia, Sir. Ninian Stephen, was able to visit various parts of Myanmar and take evidence directly from the people on the steps the government is taking to eradicate the practice.Their report drew attention to things the government is doing, and must do more consistently, if we are to succeed in our national goal of eradicating forced labour in Myanmar. Their report also drew attention to the underlying historic causes of forced labour in Myanmar, as in other countries of the world.
The success achieved by the government in improving the distribution of news and information through the newspapers, radio and television has now provided an opportunity to fully publicize our national goal of eradicating forced labour. This must be done step-by-step, systematically but with a sense of urgency appropriate for a national responsibility. All the people, including government servants and officers, need to familiarize themselves with the purposes and intention of the government's order 1/99. The procedures for following up allegations of forced labour must also be made known through new, modern means of mass communication.
And officials must make sure that the people fully understand the related procedures, and feel confident in using them. Record keeping should be encouraged so that when higher authorities check to ensure that forced labour has been effectively dealt with when discovered, there is clear proof that the required action has been taken.
There are other steps recommended in the ILO's very thorough report, which our government is now discussing as a matter of urgency with the authorities.
Myanmar nationals can be proud of the record of our country in meeting our obligations to the international organizations and conventions to which we subscribe willingly in full keeping with our national sovereignty and our own desire to promote and protect the humanity of all the people of Myanmar.
As we have demonstrated to the High Level Team, we are open and above board in our practices and we are continuing to improve our ability to demonstrate that. Cooperation by the international community, rather than blind condemnation, makes that easier for all of us.
Our commitment to humanity is not in doubt. However, our limited capacity sometimes limits us from doing all that we wish to do to achieve our national goals, and this must be recognized. Our country faces many other challenges: national security, the development of infrastructure and dealing with poverty have variously stretched our already limited resources.
The report of the High Level Team is particularly welcome for its balanced approach to recognizing the underlying historical reasons for the existence of forced labour in our country. Those reasons stem from the historically relatively low level of the economic development of our country.
The efforts of some big powers to slow progress in our country are in fact undermining our national effort to advance our country and are also denying us the resources in terms of trade and investment, which we need to grow and develop. The international media, in reporting the publication of the ILO report, never drew attention to this important aspect of the report. They should become as unbiased as Sir Ninian Stephens and his colleagues in giving the full picture of the realities of the country rather than a one-sided account.
Those who criticize our country from positions of affluence and comfort abroad often forget that conditions in Myanmar are different from those in their countries. And they therefore do little to help the situation but rather they manage to make it worse. As the ILO report noted, for example, in Myanmar the annual government expenditure is a mere 2.5 or 3 per cent of gross domestic product.
That means that the government has control over just a small proportion of the money and resources which our country generates each year. Contrast that to the situation in developed industrialized economies. In those which have achieved the highest levels of welfare provision for the population, as much as 50 per cent or more of the gross domestic product is collected by the government in taxes and then in turn spent by the government on its own projects. Our government does not have the advantage of high levels of public expenditure, which are derived from such a high level of taxation.
The modern nation that our government is attempting to build stands on a foundation of national security, roads, bridges, schools, hospitals and jobs. But building a modern nation cannot take place overnight. That is why we Myanmars must now seize the opportunity that this ILO report presents to remove the issue of forced labour by concentrating our minds and the minds of the international community on how we can achieve the economic development which will ensure that forced labour never returns to our country.
Experience around the world demonstrates that where poverty and the lack of development exist, so does forced labour. Let us end poverty and achieve development in cooperation with our friends who are willing to join us in ending forced labour in Myanmar forever.Our government has taken this decision, and therefore the ILO's offer to work with Myanmar to achieve our goal is very welcome.