Burma sanctions imminent

The ILO has lost patience with Burma over its use of forced labour

By the BBC's Larry Jagan

The International Labour Organisation has decided to go ahead with sanctions against Burma over the issue of forced labour.

In an informal vote by the ILO's governing body, only four of its 56 member states opposed the move against Burma and the sanctions will come into force at the end of November.

The ILO is urging all member countries to increase pressure on the generals who rule the country to stamp out the use of forced labour

The measures were drawn up at the ILO's annual conference in June, when it warned Burma it would implement stern measures if it did not stamp out the use of forced labour - both in law and in practice.

The decision to approve the sanctions comes after an ILO delegation visited Burma last month and concluded that while the country had improved its laws on forced labour, it was still not doing enough.

The ILO has, for several years, called on Rangoon to put an end to forced labour.

Pressure

The organisation is now urging all workers, businesses and governments of member countries to review their relations with Burma and to increase pressure on the generals who rule the country to stamp out the use of forced labour.

It is also calling on all United Nations bodies to review their contacts with Burma.

The ILO warned Burma it would impose sanctions in June

Only Malaysia and some other South East Asian nations urged the ILO to postpone sanctions.

The Burmese Government formally outlawed force labour last week, but has not publicised this fact in the country's state-owned media.

A military spokesman told the BBC that the government had distributed the order through local government offices and police stations.

Some critics believe this suggests that the government is still unwilling to tackle the issue of forced labour.

Massive army

Human rights activists say the Burmese economy cannot support the country's massive army of more than 400,000 soldiers without using forced labour to feed it.

The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions submitted a 1,000-page report to the ILO earlier this week which documents more than 2,000 incidents of forced labour since the ILO adopted its resolution against forced labour in June.

According to that report, more than 1 million people were involved in forced labour on road, bridge and railroad construction, as well as in working on army bases and camps.

Some will see the ILO's move as a call for an international trade boycott, but whether this happens or not will depend on the political will of individual countries.

So far only the United States and Europe have adopted limited sanctions, and most countries seem reluctant to isolate Burma further. But for Rangoon it is certainly a political set-back.