WHY SISSY BURMESE JUNTA WON'T QUIT ILO
14-NOV-2005
I am basically amused by suggestion that the junta will quit
ILO. To be sure, I could watch with a glee the idiots walks
out of the UN body: that would have caused the opposition
groups easier to make the UN expel this illegitimate junta.
Disappointing after all. This sissy junta won't quit
ILO.
By the way, the death threats made to the ILO reps. in Rangoon
was the work of junta itself; so that the ILO reps are 'forced'
to keep government security personnel whenever the reps go
out. This will indeed make difficult for ILO reps to gather
information about the violation of forced labour provisions.
Are you surprised ?? Well I'm not.
Regards, Ne Oo.
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The Nation
Junta not quitting ILO
Published on Nov 4, 2005
Burma has denied that it plans to quit the International Labour
Organisation, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday.
Thaksin said he asked Burma's Prime Minister Soe Win about a news
article stating that Burma was ready to withdraw from the ILO.
"He said no, no, no, it's just the opinion of one person . they are not
leaving," Thaksin said at a press conference after meeting his
counterparts from Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam at five-member forum
meeting, Acmecs.
On October 28, the ILO released a nine-page report, which was publicised
by a news daily, quoting Burma's Labour Minister Thaung as telling an
ILO delegation that the junta had already made the decision to withdraw,
but had not yet formally notified the Geneva-based body.
The ILO had warned that such a move could cause "far-reaching and
extremely serious consequences" for the country. The ILO is allowed to
maintain a liaison office in Rangoon but the junta has sharply limited
its activities.
In August and September, the ILO office said it had received 21 death
threats warning it not to interfere in (Burma's) internal affairs.
- - --- ----
RFA News
UN Labor Official to Stay in Burma Despite Death Threats
2005.11.03
BANGKOK-The director of the United Nations' labor watchdog has indicated
that he has no plans to leave Burma despite numerous death threats
against International Labour Organization (ILO) staff, ahead of a key
meeting on the issue in Geneva.
Asked if he planned to leave the country, the ILO country director
Richard Horsey told RFA's Burmese service, "I think the fact that I am
still speaking to you from Yangon is the answer to your question."
Multiple anonymous threats to the ILO since its global report on forced
labor singled out Burma as the worst offender have been reported to the
Burmese authorities, Horsey said, adding that he was unaware of any
official investigation.
The ILO's governing body will meet to discuss basic labor rights in
Burma, globalization, and employment issues, especially among the
world's youth at its headquarters from Nov. 3-18, the group said in a
statement Thursday.
"Of course the authorities have been informed by the director general of
the ILO and by the United Nations resident coordinator," Horsey said.
"Both have written to the prime minister of Myanmar [Burma] to inform
them about these threats and ask that appropriate action be taken."
Safety measures in place
"Of course it's never pleasant to receive such threats to your life,"
Horsey said. "And of course we have to take these things seriously. The
United Nations takes very seriously any threats to its staff."
"Measures have been put in place to ensure my safety-and I am not going
to discuss more than that," he said.
Horsey and his staff have received a number of death threats since
issuing their report. One letter released by the ILO called the
organization a CIA puppet and warned Horsey that "if you interfere [in]
our internal affairs your head will be cut off and our people will crush
you and poison you."
Mass rallies in July and August followed, with speakers slamming the ILO
and urging the ruling junta to withdraw from it.
"Of course the general climate created by such threats but also by these
rallies around the country criticizing the ILO... [in] the climate
created it is very difficult to work as normal," Horsey said. "People
don't feel free to speak with me and this makes our work much more
difficult."
The ILO and other overseas groups have repeatedly called Burma's
secretive military junta to task for its continuing reliance on forced
labor in state-sponsored development projects.
'No breakthrough'
In its recent global report, the agency said that while some
improvements in the situation had occurred in central parts of the
country, forced labor continued to be imposed in various forms,
particularly in remote areas under the authority of the army.
But it admitted that it had made little headway in a country where the
regime appeared to support current labor practices.
"No real breakthrough for effective action against forced labor in Burma
has taken place," the ILO report said.
"The Myanmar case thus demonstrates that it is impossible to make
effective progress against forced labor when there is a climate of
impunity and repression against persons who denounce forced labor
abuses, in the absence of the political will to clamp down on the
military and local authorities who are themselves deriving economic
advantage from forced labor practices," it said.
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