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ICFTU briefing on implementation of
- Subject: ICFTU briefing on implementation of
- From: darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2001 05:34:00
Brussels, January 30 2001 (ICFTU
Trade unions across the world have been requested to press their
governments to impose a ban on investments in and trade with Burma,
ahead of an important meeting of the International Labour Organisation,
next March.
Below is the 10-page briefing on Burma sent today to its 221affiliated
national
union centres in 148 countries by the Brussels-based International
Confederation
of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)
It is also accessible as a link in the Press release on the ICFTU home page --
www.icftu.org if you want a cleaner version than will probably come by email.
TUR/JK 26 January 2001
Dear Friends,
Burma: Implementation of the ILO Resolution of June 2000
You will have received in recent days a letter from the
ILO?s Workers? Activities Branch
(ILO-ACTRAV), requesting you to send detailed information
to the ILO before 15th February
2001 concerning the above-mentioned issue. I am now writing
you in order to suggest a number
of concrete steps in this respect.
As you recall, the ILO Resolution, adopted by the
International Labour Conference at its 88th
Session (May-June 2000)
"recommend[ed] to the Organisation's constituents as a
whole ? governments, employers and
workers ? that they: (i) review, in the light of the
conclusions of the Commission of Inquiry, the
relations that they may have with [Burma] and take
appropriate measures to ensure that
[Burma] cannot take advantage of such relations to
perpetuate or extend the system of forced
or compulsory labour (?) and to contribute as far as
possible to the implementation of its
recommendations; and (ii) report back in due course and at
appropriate intervals to the
Governing Body".
As you may also have learned in the meantime, the ICFTU,
ICFTU-APRO and ITS are preparing
an international trade union Conference on solidarity with
Burma, designed precisely to design
and co-ordinate international trade union initiatives on
this subject. The Conference is
scheduled for 28 February ? 1st March, 2001, in Tokyo. All
affiliates and ITS will be informed of
its results in due course.
Meanwhile, I am requesting your organisation to write
urgently to its national authorities with the
following questions and requests:
1.Please ask your Ministry of Labour what response it
has given to the ILO
Director-General?s letter inviting it to inform ILO by
15th February 2001 about any
measures taken by your country to implement the ILO
Resolution.
2.Please request your Government (Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Ministry for External Trade,
etc.) and your national Employers? organisation (where
applicable) to provide your
organisation with a complete list of enterprises based
in your country and maintaining
trade relations with Burma, i.e. exports to, imports
from and investments in that country.
Please request the recipients to indicate whether
these enterprises are national or
multinational.
3.Please request your Government to provide your
organisation with comprehensive
information about the total value of trade between
your country and Burma, including
exports, imports and investments, if any.
4.Please request your Government to consider in
particular, when responding to your
request, of any of the following products imported
from Burma into your country,
production of which with recourse to forced labour,
prison labour and/or child labour is
demonstrated in evidence recently presented by the
ICFTU to the ILO and other available
material:
Carved wood products, teak wood, eucalyptus wood,
timber (sawed), rubber,
cement, bricks, rocks, woven products, joss sticks,
furniture, rice, shrimp, fish,
vegetables, chilli, mustard, soy beans, coffee,
peanut, poultry, corn, sugar cane,
salt, beans, livestock, cashew, sesame, coconut oil.
5.Please also request your government to consider,
especially, import from or export to and
investment in Burma, by domestic or multinational
companies based in your country, of
goods and services in the following areas:
Textiles, construction of roads, bridges, railroads,
hotels, dams and other civil
engineering objects, automobile and motorcycle
manufacturing, electronics,
telecommunications, air, sea, road and rail transport,
pharmaceuticals, insurance and
re-insurance, oil and gas exploration and production,
mining and other extraction,
including gems, as well as the tourism industry, including
manufacturing of tourist
equipment, such as back-packs.
Please note that these requests also appear at the top of a
new ICFTU document: "Burma,
Forced Labour, the ILO Resolution and the ICFTU: Frequently
Asked Questions". This
document, which may help clarify some issues, is enclosed
for your information as Appendix
1. Please note that this document discusses far-reaching
measures, including trade and
investment bans on the grounds that economic engagement
with Burma supports the military
regime. It is also worth mentioning that, of course, in a
dictatorship such as Burma, freedom of
association is virtually out of the question, in spite of
all of the efforts that have been made by
the FTUB.
Finally, please also note that a model-letter, which you
may wish to send to your Foreign Affairs
or Foreign Trade minister is also enclosed, as Appendix 2.
Please use or adapt this letter to
relay the ICFTU requests to your Government as soon as
possible, and please keep the ICFTU
and ICFTU-APRO informed of any action taken in respect of
the above, at the following e-mail
address: internetpo@xxxxxxxxx, or by fax at n°:
++32.2.224.02.97.
Thanking you in advance for your important solidarity action,
Yours sincerely,
General Secretary
Appendix 1
Burma, Forced Labour, the ILO Resolution and the
ICFTU:
Frequently Asked Questions
(25 January 2001)
Question 1: What can your organisation do?
1.Please ask your Ministry of Labour what response it
has given to the ILO
Director-General?s letter inviting it to inform ILO by
15th February 2001 about any
measures taken by your country to implement the ILO
Resolution.
2.Please request your Government (Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Ministry for External Trade,
etc.) and your national Employers? organisation (where
applicable) to provide your
organisation with a complete list of enterprises based
in your country and maintaining
trade relations with Burma, i.e. exports to, imports
from and investments in that country.
Please request the recipients to indicate whether
these enterprises are national or
multinational.
3.Please request your Government to provide your
organisation with comprehensive
information about the total value of trade between
your country and Burma, including
exports, imports and investments, if any.
4.Please request your Government to consider in
particular, when responding to your
request, of any of the following products imported
from Burma into your country,
production of which with recourse to forced labour,
prison labour and/or child labour is
demonstrated in evidence recently presented by the
ICFTU to the ILO and other available
material:
Carved wood products, teak wood, eucalyptus wood,
timber (sawed), rubber,
cement, bricks, rocks, woven products, joss sticks,
furniture, rice, shrimp, fish,
vegetables, chilli, mustard, soy beans, coffee,
peanut, poultry, corn, sugar cane,
salt, beans, livestock, cashew, sesame, coconut oil.
5.Please also request your government to consider,
especially, import from or export to and
investment in Burma, by domestic or multinational
companies based in your country, of
goods and services in the following areas:
Textiles, construction of roads, bridges, railroads,
hotels, dams and other civil
engineering objects, automobile and motorcycle
manufacturing, electronics,
telecommunications, air, sea, road and rail transport,
pharmaceuticals, insurance and
re-insurance, oil and gas exploration and production,
mining and other extraction,
including gems, as well as the tourism industry, including
manufacturing of tourist
equipment, such as back-packs.
Question 2: How will the ICFTU respond to the ILO?s
15th February deadline?
In the run-up to the Tokyo Conference, the ICFTU will
collect and make available to its members
further data concerning products made with recourse to
forced labour as well as information
concerning particular firms and companies, at national or
multinational level, that trade with the
Burmese junta and its representatives or allies.
In the meantime, the ICFTU will also, in line with the ILO
Director-General?s request, submit by
15 February all its most recent available evidence
concerning the continuation of forced labour
in Burma after the ILO Governing Body decision of November
2000 (which confirmed the June
Resolution). Earlier this month, we have received detailed
and recent information from the
Federation of Trade Unions ? Burma (FTUB) of forced labour
which has occurred since
November 2000 and continued until early January 2001. It
will be analysed and communicated
to the ILO. Parts of it are described below, under the
question: "Has forced labour stopped in
Burma after 16th November 2000 ?"
Question 3: Why does the ICFTU seek to identify
the actors & volume of
trade with Burma in these goods, products and
services?
The measures called for by the ILO Resolution on Burma
cannot be either put in place nor
recalled overnight. Conversely, their effective
implementation calls for in-depth research and
other preparatory work.
Shortly after the November 2000 ILO Governing Body, the
ICFTU?s Executive Board, at its 116th
meeting (Brussels, 22-24 November 2000) adopted its own
Resolution, entitled "Implementing
the ILO Resolution on Burma". In this document, the Board
expressed its deep concern at
"mounting evidence that particular foreign investments and
trade help the military regime and
many investments continue to be connected to the exaction
of forced labour, notably in
agriculture, infrastructure construction and the extraction
of natural resources and tourism
industries".
Vast amounts of evidence are available of forced labour
being used over the last 10 years to
produce most, if not all, of the goods listed above
(Question 1, section 4). Evidence also exists
of connections between forced labour and other severe
violations of core labour standards, on
the one hand, and many of the above-mentioned industries
(idem, section 5), on the other hand.
In many cases, these links are well-established, such as in
the gas or textiles industries and
infrastructure development. In other cases, we are
researching the products, activities and/or
investments of companies known to trade with Burma or to
contemplate doing so.
In its Resolution mentioned above, the ICFTU Executive
Board also "pledged it full support" for
"identifying and putting adequate pressure on the economic
interests of the Burmese
Government, including pressure on any national or
multinational investors and companies with
activities in Burma".
Adequate information about trade with and investments in
Burma is a pre-requisite for a
meaningful implementation of the ILO measures.
Question 4: Is the ICFTU calling for a boycott of all
products from Burma?
Not at this stage, but proposals have been made in certain
sectors by affiliated national centres
and ITS. This is likely to be discussed during the
forthcoming ICFTU/ICFTU-APRO/ITS
Conference (Tokyo, 28 February?1 March 2001). As is
explained below, there is abundant
evidence to prove that (a) doing business with Burma
involves providing (mainly financial)
support to the junta and that (b) the latter is directly
and exclusively responsible for the systemic
practice of forced labour.
Question 5: Is the ICFTU calling for dis-investment
from & an investment ban on
Burma?
Decision-making bodies of the ICFTU as well as certain
affiliated national centres and ITS have
over the years called for dis-investment from and a ban on
new investments in Burma. At its
November 2000 meeting, the ICFTU Executive Board endorsed
the recommendations adopted
by its Committee Human and Trade Union Rights (11th
meeting, Geneva, 24 June 2000), which
had requested the ICFTU General Secretary to
"support or initiate, as the case may be, and in close
collaboration with the ITS? and other
relevant organisations, serious initiatives aimed at
pressing foreign investors to withdraw from
Burma, notably, where appropriate, through concerted
shareholder action".
Following years of research and ILO procedures, the ICFTU
firmly believes that is has become
virtually impossible for any foreign firm, company,
government or other institution, to conduct
any trade or other economic activity with or in Burma
without providing direct financial support to
the military junta, mainly its most senior members. Recent
information from Burma makes this
crystal-clear in the textile, clothing and garments sector.
We expect to release data on this
particular industry in the near future. We are
simultaneously investigating other areas of activity.
On the other hand, the ICFTU has amply demonstrated over
the years that the top military
hierarchy is directly responsible for the massive forced
labour problem affecting the civilian
population and the ILO Commission of Inquiry has confirmed
this beyond the shadow of a
doubt.
It follows from the above that any commercial or economic
links with Burma in effect today help
the junta "to perpetuate or extend the system of forced or
compulsory labour", in the meaning of
the ILO Resolution of June 2000.
Question 6: What is the ICFTU involvement with Burma
at the EU level?
In co-operation with the European Trade Union Confederation
(ETUC, Brussels) and their
affiliated organisations in the European Union (EU), the
ICFTU has repeatedly called on the EU
Council of Ministers and Commission to impose an investment
ban in Burma for EU-based
companies and to call for those already present there to
withdraw their investments. If forced
labour persists, and pending the outcome of the Tokyo
Conference, it will pursue this campaign
with the ETUC ahead of the next six-monthly discussion of
the EU?s Common Policy on Burma
by the EU Council, to be held in April 2001.
(It is recalled that preparation for the next review is a
key objective of the EU Troika Mission
scheduled to be in Burma at the end of January; members of
this mission have been briefed on
present and future implications of the ILO Resolution on
Burma and the Governing Body
decision by the ICFTU, both directly and by our affiliated
organisation in Sweden, which holds
the rotating EU Presidency at the time of writing).
Also concerning the EU, the International Conference on
Democracy for Burma (organised by
the ICFTU?s Asia and Pacific Regional Organisation,
ICFTU-APRO, from 20 to 22 January 2000
in Kathmandu, Nepal) stated the following in its final
Declaration:
"the position of the European Union (EU) in excluding Burma
as an official member of the
ASEM process is noted and the EU should be requested to
continue with that stand as well as
with the withdrawal of trade preferences in relation to Burma".
(It is recalled that In June 1995, the ICFTU and the ETUC,
along with the textile workers?
international, the ITGLWF and its European section the
ETUC/TCL, submitted complaints under
the EU?s Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) over the
use of forced labour in Pakistan
and Burma. As a result Burma has had its tariff preferences
withdrawn by a decision of the
Council of Ministers, in January 1997, affecting both its
industrial and agricultural exports to the
EU).
Question 7: Has forced labour stopped in Burma after
16th November 2000?
On the basis of evidence available at the time of writing,
no. Here below is a typical example,
taken from an FTUB Forced Labour Report dated January 2001.
Forced construction work has been imposed on villagers
since November 2000 and was still in
progress at the beginning of January 2001 on the Ta Ku Khee
- Thee Hta Baw road. The road is
situated in Karen State, in the Doo-pla-ya district (called
"Kyar Inn Seik Kyi" in Burmese). The
following villages were affected: Ta-Ku-Khee, Ka-late-khee,
Yar-ther-ta, Noe Taw Plar,
Hnget-pyaw-taw, Yaw-doe and others (detailed colour maps
are included in the evidence).
Military units involved were Light Infantry Battalions
(LIB) n° 206, 207 and 208. Families unable
to send a member for forced labour were fined 500 kyats.
Illegal arrests and torture by the army
of village heads, as well as complete confiscation of all
rice stocks were also reported from the
area at the same time.
Other parts of the report bring detailed evidence of forced
labour in the following areas:
Agriculture: rice production, victims forced to work
their own land after confiscation by
the army, repeated incidents, e.g. 300 acres in Kyone
Doe, Karen State (by LIB 545, last
November); villagers have to bring and pay for seeds,
tools and fertilizers; compulsory
production quotas set at 30 baskets (1380 lbs) per
acre; after the harvest, villagers forced
to grow vegetables in the army?s "agricultural
gardens"; same practice in Naung Ta Pwe
(LIB 549).
Army construction: building and maintenance of
barracks, cleaning, fencing, collecting
and carrying firewood; military road construction (see
below).
Fines: from 500 Kyats per day (for not crushing stones
on the Nabu-Daw Lan road, in
December) to 3000 Kyats per day in livestock (for not
sending people for army road
construction in Kawkareik township, see above), or 75
cart-full of firewood (for failing to
repair a road during the rainy season, when villagers
were busy tending their rice fields, in
Kaw Toe, under LIB 549).
Forced "porterage": carrying ammunitions and supplies
for the army:; insufficient food,
if provided at all, and no pay. 34 porterage victims
are named in 3 separate incidents
affecting one village of Pa-an district last November
and December. 52% were women,
including two girls aged 10. All had to carry 37.5 kg
(25 viss ?) of rice, but weights were
reduced by one-third for the five children aged 10
(down to 25 kg.).
Road construction: repeated incidents; stone crushing,
carrying and laying; filling the
ground, one incident gives the names of 29 victims
from a single village in Karen State,
aged 16 to 68, forced to clear the ground for road
building. 10% are women, the oldest is
54-years old; building army road to connect Yin Gwe
Taung and Mya Pa Dine army
camps (10 persons per village, imposed by LIB 547, 548
and 549 from Nabu, in
Kawkareik township).
Based on an analysis of the information contained in the
new FTUB report, the ICFTU believes
that at least 80,000 individuals, men, women, children and
elderly persons from approximately
60 villages in four districts of Karen State were forced to
perform hard labour during the period
November 2000 to January 2001. At lest 10 different army
units are concerned. Two army
officers are named in the report (Major Tin Maung Twe from
LIB 548 and Commander Nyunt Tin
from LIB 356, both have ordered and organised road
construction).
Question 8: Can the ICFTU ignore the secret SPDC talks
with the NLD?
No, but these are still in their very early stages and very
little is heard officially about them. In
particular, the ICFTU has not so far noticed any call ?
either from the FTUB or from its other
trusted partners in the Burma democracy movement - for any
modification of the ILO decision.
Should such calls be issued ahead of the Tokyo Conference,
they would be duly taken into
account by the ICFTU in determining its attitude at the ILO
level.
Question 9: What are the ILO?s deadlines on Burma?
15 February 2001: Reports expected by Director-General
from all countries, on the
implementation of measures contained in the ILO
Resolution. Also up-date on forced
labour situation in practice.
8 ?30 March 2001: ILO Governing Body meeting (Geneva).
Director-General presents two
reports: one on measures taken by Governments, Workers
and Employers to implement
the June ILO Resolution. and another on the present
situation of forced labour.
June 2001: International Labour Conference, Geneva
-------------------------------------------
Appendix 2
MODEL for ICFTU Affiliates? letter to Foreign
Affairs/ Foreign Trade Ministers
Dear [ Minister],
Burma: implementation of the ILO Resolution of
June 2000
As you will no doubt recall, the International Labour
Conference at its 88th Session (May-June
2000) adopted the following resolution:
"recommend[ed] to the Organisation's constituents as a
whole ? governments, employers and
workers ? that they: (i) review, in the light of the
conclusions of the Commission of Inquiry, the
relations that they may have with [Burma] and take
appropriate measures to ensure that
[Burma] cannot take advantage of such relations to
perpetuate or extend the system of forced
or compulsory labour (?) and to contribute as far as
possible to the implementation of its
recommendations; and (ii) report back in due course and at
appropriate intervals to the
Governing Body".
Forced labour in Burma has clearly been continuing after
the ILO Governing Body decision of
November 2000 (which confirmed the June Resolution).
Earlier this month, our international
umbrella body, the International Confederation of Free
Trade Unions (ICFTU) received detailed
and recent information from the Federation of Trade Unions
? Burma (FTUB) of forced labour
which has occurred since November 2000 and continued in
January 2001.
Vast amounts of evidence are available of forced labour
being used over the last 10 years to
produce the following goods:
Carved wood products, teak wood, eucalyptus wood, timber
(sawed), rubber, cement,
bricks, rocks, woven products, joss sticks, furniture,
rice, shrimp, fish, vegetables,
chilli, mustard, soy beans, coffee, peanut, poultry, corn,
sugar cane, salt, beans,
livestock, cashew, sesame, coconut oil.
Evidence also exists of connections between forced labour
and other severe violations of core
labour standards, on the one hand, and many of the
following industries:
Textiles, construction of roads, bridges, railroads,
hotels, dams and other civil
engineering objects, automobile and motorcycle
manufacturing, electronics,
telecommunications, air, sea, road and rail transport,
pharmaceuticals, insurance and
re-insurance, oil and gas exploration and production,
mining and other extraction,
including gems, as well as the tourism industry, including
manufacturing of tourist
equipment, such as back-packs.
In many cases, these links are well-established, such as in
the gas or textiles industries and
infrastructure development. In other cases, the ICFTU is
presently researching the products,
activities and/or investments of companies known to trade
with Burma or to contemplate doing
so.
Following years of research and ILO procedures, the ICFTU
firmly believes that is has become
virtually impossible for any foreign firm, company,
government or other institution, to conduct
any trade or other economic activity with or in Burma
without providing direct financial support to
the military junta, mainly its most senior members. Recent
information from Burma makes this
crystal-clear in the textile, clothing and garments sector.
The ICFTU expects to release data on
this particular industry in the near future. It is
simultaneously investigating other areas of activity.
Furthermore, the ICFTU has amply demonstrated over the
years that the top military hierarchy
is directly responsible for the massive forced labour
problem affecting the civilian population and
the ILO Commission of Inquiry has confirmed this beyond the
shadow of a doubt.
It follows from the above that any commercial or economic
links with Burma in effect today help
the junta "to perpetuate or extend the system of forced or
compulsory labour", in the meaning of
the ILO Resolution of June 2000.
In the light of the above, we would request firstly to be
provided with a complete list of
enterprises based in our country and maintaining trade
relations with Burma, i.e. exports to,
imports from and investments in that country, indicating
whether these enterprises are national
or multinational; comprehensive information about the total
value of trade between our country
and Burma, including exports, imports and investments, if
any; and indications in particular of
the above-mentioned products imported from Burma into our
country, production of which with
recourse to forced labour, prison labour and/or child
labour is demonstrated in evidence
recently presented by the ICFTU to the ILO and other
available material.
Secondly, we believe it has now become timely to issue a
clear indication to the government of
Burma that our government will proceed:
to impose a ban on investments by companies from our
country in Burma and on imports
from Burma into our own country;
[For affiliated organisations in the European Union only:]
to call on the EU Council of Ministers to impose an
investment ban in Burma for all
EU-based companies, at latest by the time of the next
six-monthly discussion of the EU?s
Common Policy on Burma by the EU Council, to be held
by April 2001;
to call on the EU to impose a ban on imports from
Burma, on the grounds that any
commercial or economic links with Burma in effect
today help the junta "to perpetuate or
extend the system of forced or compulsory labour", in
the meaning of the ILO Resolution
of June 2000.
Such measures would come into force on a stipulated date,
unless the Burmese government
took steps by that time to stop forced labour and to
provide credible evidence that it had done
so.
We would be happy to meet you to discuss in
greater detail any part of this letter.
Yours sincerely,
(s) [Official in charge of our organisation]