UN scolds Myanmar over forced labor

UN scolds Myanmar over forced labor

UNITED NATIONS (Reuter): Myanmar may be using forced labor to
restore landmarks for foreign tourists in an effort to promote
1996 as "Visit Myanmar Year," the United Nations said in a report
released on Monday.

The report to the General Assembly by a UN special human
rights investigator also speaks of summary executions, torture
and rape by the army with impunity.

The human rights rapporteur, Yozo Yokata of Japan, said there
were allegations that Burma, which calls itself Myanmar, had used
forced labor to restore such tourist sites as Mandalay Palace and
upgrade the country's railways, roads and airports.

The government, he said, had proclaimed 1996 as "Visit Myanmar
Year," an action which could be viewed as a sign of opening up of
the country.

"Forced labor has allegedly been used to restore some of the
tourist sights," he said. Workers must pay to rent bulldozers,
buy their own tools and supply their own food.

In Karen state, scene of sporadic fighting between the
military and insurgent groups, Yokata said several sources
reported an increase of forced labor, accompanied by "physical
abuse, appalling living conditions and arbitrary killings of
porters who are unable to perform their tasks."

Last April, for example, two porters were beaten to death for
requesting water supplies that had been cut in Ka Neh Lay.

In response, the government denied allegations of killings and
torture. It also said it was a tradition in Myanmar's culture to
donate labor in the building of pagodas, monasteries, roads and
bridges.

The local populace as well as army and government employees
"participate enthusiastically and conscientiously," and UN
agencies were involved in such restoration projects, the
government said.

Rape

Soldiers, the UN report said, viewed rape as a right with
women prisoners, in forced labor camps and among porters;
officers sometimes encouraged such behavior.

"These include the undressing of women in public, touching
breasts or sucking nipples, raping and gang-raping women
individually or in groups," Yokata said.

The government, which answered each point in the report, said
the charges were unfounded and it could do little unless the
victims brought their cases to the proper authorities.

The ruling military government has not recognized 1990
elections and has refused to give up power to followers of Nobel
Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released from house arrest
in July. Yokata last visited Myanmar in October but did not
include his observations in this report.

He told reporters at Yangon airport then that he was impressed
with both her willingness and the government's readiness "to meet
each other and to work together."

Nevertheless, he said in the report that politicians were
still imprisoned, and there was still a "high-level of
intimidation" although jailing people for anti-government
activities appeared less frequent.