Investigators silent after Burma visit

The delegation met opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi

By Larry Jagan in Bangkok

A high-level delegation from the International Labour Organisation has finished a three-week investigation of the use of forced labour in Burma.

The team, led by former governor general of Australia, Sir Ninian Stephen, was trying to assess whether a government-ordered ban on forced labour was being complied with.

The delegation met the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi - currently under house-arrest - before they left.

Unpaid labour

It has held talks with government officials, opposition leaders and representatives of ethnic political parties involved in labour matters.

Human rights groups have accused the Burmese Government of forcing citizens to do unpaid manual labour on public works projects and as porters for the army.

The ILO has been tight-lipped about everything on this trip.

They continued to give no details of the visit, as they left the country.

However western diplomats believe the investigation has been extremely rigorous.

The ILO team has toured the country for three weeks

In the past three weeks the ILO team has also spoken with the country's military leader and the opposition National League for Democracy.

They have also consulted UN officials and representatives of international aid agencies based in Rangoon.

Most importantly they have travelled around some of the border areas where there have been recent reports of forced labour.

They appear to have been given access to all the people and places they wanted to visit.

But some analysts still fear the military authorities will have ensured that the delegation did not see the real situation for themselves.

The Burmese military government was stung into action last November when the ILO condemned Burma for its use of what the international community calls slavery.

Mission

The ILO called on members to implement what would in effect be an international economic boycott of Burma.

With its economy plunging deeper into crisis, this is the last thing that the Burmese generals want to see happen.

The Burmese government officially outlawed forced labour and circulated the directive throughout the country immediately afterwards.

The mission's main objective is to assess to what extent forced labour has been stopped.

But the ILO is well aware that what is really needed is a permanent presence in Rangoon to continually monitor the situation.

Sources in the ILO believe this will be the main recommendation of the ILO team when it makes its reports to the organisation in November.