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AFP-ILO criticizes Myanmar for fail



Subject: AFP-ILO criticizes Myanmar for failing to tackle forced labour

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<font size=3D3>Myanmar-ILO<br>
=A0=A0 ILO criticizes Myanmar for failing to tackle forced labour<br>
<br>
=A0=A0 GENEVA, May 25 (AFP) - The International Labour Organization
Tuesday<br>
berated Myanmar for failing to make concerted efforts to clamp down
on<br>
widespread forced labour.<br>
=A0=A0 An ILO commission of enquiry in a report issued last August found
that<br>
compulsory labour in Myanmar was practiced in a &quot;systemtic manner
with a<br>
total<br>
disregard for the human dignity, safety and health&quot; of the
people.<br>
=A0=A0 The commission urged Myanmar authorities to end forced labour,<br>
particularly<br>
by the military, to enforce strict penalties on those who did not
comply,<br>
and<br>
to bring its national laws into line with the relevant ILO convention on
the<br>
issue.<br>
=A0=A0 &quot;Nearly one year later, little has changed,&quot; the ILO said i=
n
a<br>
newly-released report.<br>
=A0=A0 Myamar authorities have not amended any laws in line with
commission<br>
recommendations, proposed any new laws or taken steps to punish
those<br>
exacting<br>
forced labour, the report said.<br>
=A0=A0 Moreover, information provided by member states, workers' and
employers'<br>
organizations points to the &quot;continued widepsread use of forced
labour by<br>
the<br>
authorities, in particular the military,&quot; the report said.<br>
=A0=A0 Thousands of villagers continue to be pressed into work as
porters,<br>
messengers or as labourers on roads, railways, bridges and farms.<br>
=A0=A0 Among the evidence cited are hundreds of written official orders from
the<br>
army or civil administration, the ILO said.<br>
=A0=A0 The commission was barred from entering Myanmar, relying instead
on<br>
interviews with more than 250 eye-witnesses in neighbouring countries
and<br>
collecting more than 6,000 pages of documents.<br>
=A0=A0 Forced labour had direct and indirect social and economic
consequences,<br>
the<br>
report said.<br>
=A0=A0 It referred to information received by the UN refugee agency accordin=
g
to<br>
which families have resorted to sending children to perform labour in
place<br>
of<br>
adults in an effort not to disrupt those in paying jobs.<br>
=A0=A0 tjf/jl<br>
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