ILO Visit Begins

September 18, 2001—The International Labor Organization’s (ILO) three-week investigation of the alleged use of forced labor in Burma began this week as the four-member team descended upon Rangoon. The junta has given the group the green light to go anywhere in the country that it deems necessary. "The team will be given freedom of movement and we (the junta) will not accompany them except to take care of their security," Deputy Labour Minister Brigadier-General Win Sein told The Myanmar Times. According to the Geneva-based ILO, although the team theoretically has "full discretion to establish a program of such contacts and visits as it considers appropriate across the country" it is impossible for the people to tell everything they want to due to the military’s wide range of intelligence cells. U Lwin, a spokesman for the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), told the BBC Burmese Service yesterday that, " At the moment there is no forced labor in Burma." But when asked about the border areas, where much of the forced labor is believed to take place, U Lwin said, "I am not sure about the situation there (in the border areas)." However, an NLD-member in Pegu Division said, "I saw people cutting trees and cleaning up different roadside areas between Rangoon and Prome just last Saturday." He continued, "The villagers never dare complain about the orders and we do not even have the courage to inform the NLD’s headquarters because there are MI informers everywhere." Rumors are rife throughout Burma that the junta has been meticulously preparing for this visit in hopes of polishing its severely tarnished international reputation. According to sources in Burma’s more rural areas, the Military Intelligence Services (MIS) indirectly sent messages stating the villagers could tell the ILO representatives whatever they wanted but they must be prepared to take full responsibility for the statements. An alleged "awareness campaign" was also ordered by the junta to prepare villagers on how to properly answer the ILO’s questions, according to sources in the Tenasserim Division of southern Burma. Human Rights groups have expressed for some time that forced labor can easily be seen in Burma. The military regime claims that forced labor does not exist but that citizens participate in "charity labor". This trip marks the fourth time that the ILO has entered Burma to investigate forced labor. In June of last year the ILO internationally condemned the regime for its use of forced labor. The junta reacted by, for the first time, making it illegal in Burma in hopes of staving off increased sanctions. Some political analysts believe that the ILO’s condemnations pushed the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) into the secret talks that have been underway since October of last year between the SPDC and the NLD. The NLD won 82% of the seats in parliament during a 1990 election that the SPDC has never recognized.