Time for Action Over Burma

Date: 22 March 2002

As the ILO Governing Body meets for a special discussion on Burma today, the ICFTU is making a renewed call to its affiliates and to the international community to keep up the pressure on the Burmese ruling military junta.

In the 21 months since the ILO condemnation of forced labour in Burma in June 2000, whilst a number of companies have taken action, not a single government has implemented mandatory economic measures against the regime.

The brutality continues virtually unabated. An ILO mission to Burma in February this year failed to reach agreement with the junta on the establishment of a permanent investigative office in the country.

The failure follows an ICFTU report on Burma from November 2001, which revealed that forced labour still continues on a "massive" scale. Just before this 283rd session of the ILO governing body, however, Rangoon accepted the posting of an ILO liaison person in Burma from June 2002.

The ICFTU welcomes this step but stresses that, according to the terms of the agreement approved today, the posting of this liaison officer is only a first step toward a permanent and effective ILO presence in Burma, with all means necessary at its disposal to achieve the complete eradication of forced labour in the country.

Meanwhile, the ICFTU is calling on governments to refuse to extend export credits (finance insurance for foreign investors) to companies involved with exporting to Burma. It is further calling on governments to ban new investments in Burma by multinational enterprises based in their country, on the grounds that all trade and investment in the country constitutes financial support to the military junta.

ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder denounced the international ambivalence, stating that "Burma is being let off the hook by the international community, and foreign investment is propping up a junta that has no right to exist in the 21st century. The ICFTU is using the meeting of the ILO governing body as an opportunity to make a rallying call to its affiliates and to governments worldwide, saying, 'it is time to take action.'"

Click here to view the latest ICFTU report on Burma:
http://www.icftu.org/displaydocument.asp?index=991214391&Language=EN

The ICFTU represents 157 million workers in 225 affiliated organisations in 148 countries and territories. ICFTU is also a member of Global Unions: http://www.global-unions.org

For further information

Union:	Labor Council of NSW
WWW:	http://www.icftu.org

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