Myanmar court sentences four officials for imposing forced labor

AP ^ | 02/03/05

[ZayYa]

In an unprecedented decision, four local officials have been found guilty of forcing villagers to work on a road-building project and were given prison sentences of up to 16 months, a United Nations official said Thursday.

Western nations and human rights groups have accused Myanmar of widespread use of forced labor, especially for public works projects such as road building.

"This is a very significant development because this is the first time anybody has ever been found guilty of imposing forced labor in Myanmar," said Richard Horsey, a liaison officer from the U.N. International Labor Organization.

The ILO is seeking to eliminate forced labor in Myanmar and in 2002 established an office in the capital, Yangon, to work with Myanmar authorities to eliminate the practice.

Villagers from Kawhmu township near Yangon lodged court cases in mid 2004 against four local officials they accused of forcing residents to work on road construction. The villagers were threatened with punishment or forced to pay a fine if they did not work, they said.

All four village officials were recently found guilty and were given eight-month prison sentences, Horsey said. One of the four was found guilty on two separate counts and is to serve two consecutive eight-month terms, he said.

"Although the problem remains serious, this step will go some way in changing the climate of impunity surrounding those who impose forced labor. This can help to reduce the prevalence of the practice," Horsey said.

"The case was conducted in a very open and transparent way. If this becomes widely known within the country, it will change the climate of impunity," Horsey said.

Since the establishment of the ILO office, many have complained directly to the U.N. agency in Yangon or have gone directly to the courts, he said.

[ZayYa]

It should be hailed as an initial development to eliminate the widespread use of forced labour. Those four village officials given prison sentences had been received an order their town-superintendents who mostly were from the SPDC army to collect free labour for the project. You can guess that project was not their own sake because they did not have authority to build a road. Don't you think that all those town-superintendents and higher officials would be responsible for this case?

[nuconvert]

First, let's get the name straight...it's Burma.

This seems like a ploy to try to legitimize the government. The UN may fall for it, I'm not.