ILO starts mission to check Myanmar forced labor

ILO starts mission to check Myanmar forced labor

YANGON (Agencies): Myanmar on Monday promised to fully cooperate with an International Labor Organization team that began an unprecedented three-week visit to assess the military junta's efforts to end forced labor.

A high level International Labor Organization (ILO) mission arrived in Myanmar on Monday for a three-week visit to check the military government's pledge it has ended forced labor.

A four-member team, headed by former Australian governor general, Sir Ninian Stephen, flew from Bangkok to Yangon on Monday for five days of meeting with officials and others.

The other members of the team are: Ms. Nieves Roldan-Confessor of the Philippines, Kulatilaka Arthanayake Parinda Ranasinghe of Sri Lanka and Jerzy Makarczyk of Poland.

In the following days the multinational team will travel to various places around the country "to investigate the situation," the United Nations agency said in a statement.

This is the first time that the ILO has been allowed by the junta to travel around the country to make its "own direct assessment of the forced labor situation," the statement said.

The team's mandate is to assess the practical implementation and the impact of various laws and measures announced by the government to stop forced labor in response to ILO threats of sanctions.

A Myanmar Foreign Ministry official said the ILO team will be allowed to move around freely and the government will not interfere in its work.

Government officials, factory owners and managers were told to cooperate fully with the ILO mission by providing correct and complete information, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Factory workers were also told not to bring along their children to work places as "children inside factories could be misconstrued as violation of child labor," said a member of the Myanmar Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Myanmar's military has been accused of forcibly recruiting civilians to build road and railways and to act as military porters for the army on campaigns in border regions against anti- government insurgents.

In an unprecedented move last November, the ILO urged its 175 member governments to impose sanctions and review their dealings with Myanmar to ensure they are not abetting forced labor.

The ILO recommended individual governments, organizations and labor unions should decide for themselves what to do.

Faced with such sweeping censure, the Myanmar junta made it illegal for authorities to force anyone to work, and promised to circulate the directive to every village to ensure compliance.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been ruled by the military since 1962, employing a pervasive military intelligence apparatus. According to human rights groups, it has more than 1,800 political prisoners. Its rights record has earned the country pariah status in the West.

The ILO said that in an understanding with Myanmar in May, the ILO team will have "full discretion" to establish a program of contacts and visits "as it considers appropriate across the country."

Myanmar authorities also promised that the people who give information to the team or assist its work will not face retribution. The authorities will also not seek to identify such persons, the ILO statement said.

The team's report will be considered by the ILO Governing Body, which will meet at the agency's headquarters in Geneva in November.