UN labor agency warns: forced labor in Myanmar could increase in cyclone reconstruction

14th June,
GENEVA: The U.N. labor agency said Saturday it was concerned that Myanmar's military government may increasingly use forced labor in the reconstruction of the cyclone-devastated country.

The government and aid agencies should be "conscious of the increased risk of incidences of forced labor, child labor, human trafficking and migrant labor" in the efforts to rebuild the country, said a report by the International Labor Organization liaison officer in Myanmar.

Steven Marshall

An estimated 2.4 million people remain homeless and hungry from the May 2-3 cyclone, which left at least 134,000 people dead or missing.

The report by Steve Marshall was discussed Saturday by a key committee of the International Labor Organization, or ILO, at its annual conference being held in Geneva through June 13.

The committee said it hoped the reconstruction work is done without the use of forced labor. It urged the military government to increase efforts to implement a complaint mechanism the ILO set up with the junta in February 2007.
The mechanism allows victims of forced labor to submit complaints to the U.N. agency with the guarantee that "no retaliatory action" be taken against them.

"The exaction of forced labor continued to be widespread particularly by the army," the ILO committee said in its conclusions, adding that the recruitment of children into the army was a major concern.

The conclusions are expected to be formally adopted by the ILO conference on June 13.

Myanmar's ambassador to the ILO conference, U Wunna Maung Lwin, said the issue of forced labor is specifically mentioned in the country's new constitution, which was approved in a referendum in the aftermath of the severe cyclone.

"This clearly demonstrates that the government of the Union of Myanmar has put in place a comprehensive framework of legislative measures to eliminate the practice of forced labor in the country," he told the gathering.

Critics say the constitution is designed to perpetuate the military's decades-old grip on power and have questioned the fairness of the referendum.

"At this stage we have not received any complaints of the use of forced labor or the use of child labor in regard to the cyclone reconstruction activity," said Steve Marshall.

But "in any disaster of this kind, the risk of abuses of that nature increases," he told The Associated Press, adding that displaced people and women and children who have lost their families are particularly vulnerable.

"The risk is very high," Marshall said.

The ILO has long been a vocal critic of forced labor in Myanmar, which it says is used by the ruling military junta. Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been widely criticized for its handling of the disaster, with aid agencies and western governments saying obstruction of international efforts to help cyclone victims may cost thousands of lives.

The ILO has received 89 cases of alleged forced labor under the complaint mechanism, according to Marshall.

But "reports of harassment and detention of persons associated with the application of the complaints mechanism," hamper the agreement, his report said. "The number of complaints therefore cannot be seen to reflect the size of the issue."