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Forced labour in Myanmar (Burma)

Report of the Commission of Inquiry
appointed under article 26 of the Constitution of the
International Labour Organization to examine
the observance by Myanmar of the
Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29)

Geneva, 2 July 1998


Contents

Part I. Establishment of the Commission

1. Filing of the complaint and appointment of the Commission

Part II. Procedure followed by the Commission

2. First Session of the Commission

3. Communications received by the Commission following its First Session

4. Second Session of the Commission

5. Visit by the Commission to the region

6. Third Session of the Commission

Part III. Allegations by the parties and historical background of the case

7. Summary of the complaint and the Government's observations

8. Historical background

Part IV. Examination of the case by the Commission

9. Context of general international law and requirements of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29)

10. Brief description of Myanmar

11. Legislation of Myanmar relevant to the case

12. Findings of the Commission concerning the facts

13. Findings as to compliance with the Convention

Part V. Conclusions and recommendations

14. Conclusions and recommendations

Appendices

  1. Supplementary evidence submitted by the complainants in October 1996
  2. Observation of the Myanmar Government on the initial complaint and supplementary evidence made by 25 Worker delegates to the 83rd Session of the International Labour Conference under article 26 of the ILO Constitution
  3. Rules for the hearing of witnesses
  4. List of documents received by the Commission following its First Session
  5. List of documents received by the Commission following its Second Session
  6. List of documents received in the course of the hearings
  7. Summaries of testimony
  8. List of documents received in the course of the visit to the region
  9. Maps of Myanmar
  10. Names, foreign terms and acronyms
  11. Samples of orders received by the Commission
  12. Order by the Chairman of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) on the subject of "Prohibiting unpaid labour contributions in national development projects" dated 2 June 1995
  13. The Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29)


Part I

Establishment of the Commission


1. Filing of the complaint and appointment of the Commission

(1) Filing of the complaint

1. By a letter dated 20 June 1996 addressed to the Director-General of the ILO, 25 Workers' delegates to the 83rd Session of the International Labour Conference (June 1996)(1)  presented a complaint under article 26 of the Constitution against the Government of Myanmar for non-observance of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), which it ratified on 4 March 1955 and which came into force for Myanmar on 4 March 1956. The complaint stated, in particular, that:

2. Supplementary evidence was submitted to the ILO in the name of the complainants by a letter dated 31 October 1996 and is appended to the present report.(2) 

(2) Provisions of the Constitution of the
International Labour Organization relating
to complaints concerning non-observance
of ratified Conventions

3. The procedure under which the Workers' delegates filed their complaint against the Government of Myanmar is set out in articles 26 to 29 and 31 to 34 of the ILO Constitution, which read as follows:

Article 26

Article 27

Article 28

Article 29

Article 31

Article 32

Article 33

Article 34

(3) Summary of the measures taken by the
Governing Body of the International Labour
Office following the filing of the complaint
and establishment of the Commission

4. At its 267th Session (November 1996), the Governing Body had before it a report by its Officers (GB.267/16/2) concerning the subject of the complaint. The report recalled, inter alia, the dates of ratification and entering into force of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) (hereinafter "Convention No. 29") for Myanmar. It also pointed out that the 25 complainants were, on the date of filing the complaint, Workers' delegates of their countries to the 83rd Session of the International Labour Conference. Accordingly, they had the right to file a complaint under article 26, paragraph 4, of the Constitution, if they were not satisfied that the Government of Myanmar was securing the effective observance of Convention No. 29. In addition, the report indicated the following:

5. At the same session, the Governing Body took the following decisions:

(a) The Government of Myanmar should be requested by the Director-General to communicate its observations on the complaint so as to reach him not later than 31 January 1997.

(b) In accordance with article 26, paragraph 5, of the Constitution, the Governing Body should invite the Government of Myanmar to send a representative to take part in the proceedings of the Governing Body concerning this matter at its future sessions. When so inviting the Government of Myanmar, the Director-General should inform it that the Governing Body intended to continue its discussion of this case at its 268th Session, which was to take place in Geneva in March 1997.

6. In a letter dated 23 December 1996, the Director-General informed the Government of Myanmar of the decisions mentioned above.

7. By a letter dated 5 February 1997, the Permanent Mission of the Union of Myanmar in Geneva transmitted the observations of the Government of Myanmar on the complaint and the further supplementary evidence submitted. The document (without its confidential annexes) is appended to the present report (Appendix II).

8. At its 268th Session (March 1997), the Governing Body had before it another report of its Officers (GB.268/15/1) which noted that:

9. At the same session, the Governing Body decided that the Commission be composed as follows, as proposed by the Director-General (GB.268/14/8):

Chairperson: The Right Honourable Sir William DOUGLAS, PC, KCMG (Barbados), former Ambassador; former Chief Justice of Barbados; former Chairman, Commonwealth Caribbean Council of Legal Education; former Chairman, Inter-American Juridical Committee; former Judge of the High Court of Jamaica; Chairperson of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations.

Members: Mr. Prafullachandra Natvarlal BHAGWATI (India), former Chief Justice of India; former Chief Justice of the High Court of Gujarat; former Chairman, Legal Aid Committee and Judicial Reforms Committee, Government of Gujarat; former Chairman, Committee on Juridicare, Government of India; former Chairman of the Committee appointed by the Government of India for implementing legal aid schemes in the country; member of the International Committee on Human Rights of the International Law Association; member of the Editorial Committee of Reports of the Commonwealth; Chairman of the National Committee for Social and Economic Welfare of the Government of India; Ombudsman for the national newspaper Times of India; Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Geneva; Vice-President of El Taller; Chairman of the Panel for Social Audit of Telecom and Postal Services in India; member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee; member of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations.

Ms. Robyn A. LAYTON, QC (Australia), Barrister-at-Law; Director, National Rail Corporation; former Commissioner on Health Insurance Commission; former Chairperson of the Australian Health Ethics Committee of the National Health and Medical Research Council; former Honorary Solicitor for the South Australian Council for Civil Liberties; former Solicitor for the Central Aboriginal Land Council; former Chairman of the South Australian Sex Discrimination Board; former Judge and Deputy President of the South Australian Industrial Court and Commission; former Deputy President of the Federal Administrative Appeals Tribunal; member of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations.


1.  The Workers' delegates were: Messrs. E. About-Risk (Lebanon), C. Agyei (Ghana), K. Ahmed (Pakistan), M. Blondel (France), W. Brett (United Kingdom) and U. Edström (Sweden), Ms. U. Engelen-Kefer (Germany), Messrs. R. Falbr (Czech Republic), C. Gray (United States), S. Itoh (Japan), Y. Kara (Israel), A. Lettieri (Italy), I. Mayaki (Niger), S. Mookherjee (India), B.P. Mpangala (United Republic of Tanzania) and J.-C. Parrot (Canada), Ms. P. O'Donovan (Ireland) and Messrs. F. Ramirez Leon (Venezuela), Z. Rampak (Malaysia), I. Sahbani (Tunisia), A. Sanchez Madariaga (Mexico), G. Sibanda (Zimbabwe), L. Sombes (Cameroon), L. Trotman (Barbados) and T. Wojcik (Poland).

2.  Appendix I.


Updated by VC. Approved by RH. Last update: 26 January 2000.