Top ILO Official in Burma

By WAI MOE
The Irrawaddy News - www.irrawaddy.org

February 25, 2008 - A top official from the International Labor Organization (ILO) is today in Burma to meet with Burmese officials regarding extending an agreement relating to forced labor, according to the ILO office in Rangoon.

An official who spoke on anonymity at the ILO Rangoon office told The Irrawaddy on Monday that Kari Tapiola, an executive director with the ILO, is in Rangoon along with ILO liaison officer for Burma, Steven Marshall, and met with staff at the Rangoon office on Monday.

Tapiola is scheduled to visit Burma’s new capital, Naypyidaw, and to meet with junta officials on Tuesday. During a four-day visit he is expected to talk about the extension of an agreement regarding a complaints mechanism between the ILO and the Burmese military government, which will expire on February 26.

Under the terms of the agreement, which was concluded in February 2007, the ILO liaison officer can direct complaints by the victims of forced labor without any retaliatory action against them.

“The current activities of the ILO in Myanmar [Burma] are governed by an understanding between the government of the Union of Myanmar and the International Labour Office concerning the appointment of an ILO Liaison Officer in Myanmar,” said the ILO official website.

“According to this understanding, the liaison officer’s role covers all activities relevant to ensuring the prompt and effective elimination of forced labor in the country.”

The “understanding” reached by the ILO and the regime allows alleged victims of forced labor to lodge complaints with the liaison officer without fear of retaliation. The regime also pledges to investigate complaints.

Aung Kyaw Soe, a member of a human rights group in Burma, the Human Rights Defenders and Promoters (HRDP), said that opening a liaison office in Burma is important to deter forced labor in the country.

“People in rural areas were not so afraid after they heard there was an office where they could complain about forced labor,” he said.

However, he added that villagers in Irrawaddy Division filed a complaint about forced labor in Hinthada Township in April 2007 to the ILO office. As result, an activist, Myint Naing, was beaten by thugs backed by local authorities for his role in encouraging villagers to report the issue to the ILO. Myint Naing was later arrested and sentenced to eight years imprisonment.

In the three months since the establishment of the complaint mechanism from February to May 2007, the ILO office in Rangoon received a total of 20 complaints—six from Rangoon division, five from Irrawaddy Division, four from Magwe Division, two from Pegu and one each from Chin, Kachin and Arakan states.