ILO team to visit Myanmar to assess efforts against forced labour

The United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) today announced the composition of a high-level team that will visit Myanmar next month to assess the Government's actions on forced labour.

In a statement issued in Geneva, the ILO said the establishment of the team, which was agreed in May and considered by the International Labour Conference at its June 2001 session, was a "new and significant development" which follows a series of steps by the ILO's competent bodies to secure compliance by Myanmar with its obligations under the Organization's Convention No. 29 (1930) concerning forced labour.

The team's mandate is to make an objective assessment of the implementation and impact of various legislative, executive and administrative measures announced by the Government in response to previous ILO action, with a view to determining whether these measures have been effective in eliminating the practice of forced labour. In making its assessment, the team will take into account the views expressed recently on this matter by the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations.

In carrying out its mandate, the team will have "full discretion to establish a programme of such contacts and visits as it considers appropriate across the country," the statement said. It is anticipated that it will visit Myanmar in mid-September and spend up to three weeks in the country. It will report to the ILO Governing Body at its November 2001 session.

The team is composed of Sir Ninian Stephen, former Governor-General of Australia; Nieves Roldan-Confessor, former Philippines Secretary of Labour and Employment; Mr. Kulatilaka Arthanayake Parinda Ranashinghe, former Chief Justice of Sri Lanka; and Mr. Jerzy Makarczyk of Poland, a judge with the European Court of Human Rights.