Source ICFTU Online 053/180304

Brussels, 18 March 2004 (ICFTU OnLine): The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) today strongly condemned the Burmese authorities for the prosecution and subsequent sentencing to death of 9 Burmese workers on charges of high treason. Charges were brought against some individuals on the grounds of making contact with the United Nations’ International Labour Organisation (ILO).

One defendant received the death sentence having been found in possession of the report of the ILO Commission of Inquiry on Forced Labour in Burma, and ‘other sheets of paper’, including the business card of an ILO official currently serving in Rangoon.

In a letter to the Burmese authorities, the Brussels-based ICFTU underlined that the prosecution of individuals for making contact with the ILO is a violation of fundamental human rights. The ICFTU highlighted the blatant hypocrisy of the Burmese authorities’ pledges to work with the ILO to stamp out forced labour whilst prosecuting those individuals on grounds of treason for making contact with the UN agency.

As the world’s largest trade union body, the ICFTU committed its support to the ILO Governing Body which is currently examining these disturbing cases. ’The Burmese authorities must drop the charges of high treason against the defendants and ensure that they are released from prison. Anything short of this would show a flagrant disregard for fundamental human rights. The ICFTU will press the international community to use all tools available to ensure that the Burmese government ends the ongoing abuse of Burmese workers’ rights’ said the organisation from its headquarters in Brussels.

The ICFTU represents over 150 million workers in 233 affiliated organisations in 152 countries and territories. ICFTU is also a member of Global Unions: http://www.global-unions.org

Letter to Burmese authorities concerning death sentences

Source

Senior General Than Shwe
Chairman
State Peace and Development Council
Ministry of Defence, Dagon Post Office
Yangoon
Burma

TUR/FW 18 March 2004

Mr. Chairman,

Death sentences against ILO witnesses

On behalf of its 150 million members in 152 countries and territories worldwide, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) hereby condemns in the strongest possible terms the conviction on charges of high treason, as well as the subsequent death sentences, that were passed by the District Court of Rangoon, on 28 November 2003, on nine persons, including Nai Min Kyi, Shwe Man and Aye Myint.

The ICFTU is outraged that contacts between some of them and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva have been used as grounds for the charges brought against them. For one of them, for example, his crime seems to be that he was in possession of a copy of the Report of the ILO Commission of Inquiry on Forced Labour in Burma, and ‘other sheets of paper’, notably the visiting card of an ILO official, who is currently serving as the ILO Acting Liaison Officer in Rangoon.

Contact and cooperation with the ILO, an agency of the United Nations, cannot, under any circumstances, be considered as an offence of any nature, still less grounds for a death sentence. The very fact that anyone may be prosecuted, let alone condemned, for the possession of ILO materials in itself constitutes a grave violation of fundamental human rights. The fact that perfectly legitimate activity has been interpreted by the court as grounds for conviction on charges of high treason and imposition of the death penalty is conclusive evidence of the political nature of the judicial process and its absolute lack of credibility or legitimacy.

Moreover, the sincerity of your government’s proposed engagement with the ILO in its work for the elimination of the systematic use of forced labour in Burma is completely undermined by the fact that any contact between a Burmese citizen and the ILO runs the risk of being considered treason. It also exposes for what it is your government’s absurd and wilful representation of the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB) as a terrorist organisation and of its international supporters as accomplices to terrorism. The ILO Governing Body will be examining this matter in the coming days, and you may be sure that, in the absence of any positive reaction on the part of your government, the ICFTU will be pressing the international community to use all the tools available to it to ensure that your government puts an end to the continuous and grave abuse of Burmese workers.

I strongly urge you to order an immediate review of all the death sentences, ensure that the charges of high treason against Nai Min Kyi, Shwe Man and Aye Myint and the other defendants are dropped, and ensure that they are released immediately. In the meantime, we demand that the ILO should be authorised to visit them in prison without delay.

Yours sincerely,

General Secretary

Cc Burmese Embassy in Geneva FTUB