Free Republic

Military authorities in Chin state, Burma, have reportedly engaged 10 students at Malar primary school in Malar village to transpor army rations. On July 15, Sergeant Tin Soe along with his five companies from Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 304 station in Matupi town forcibly made the underage students carry army rations to Lailenpi from Malar village in Matupi Township, according to a Village Council (VC) member (name withheld) currently visiting Mizoram state in India. The relay transportation of rations from Sabongte military camp by the villagers along Sabawngte and Malar came to a halt because there were no villagers...

Myanmar's war veteran's group urged the country to quit the U.N. International Labor Organization, which has repeatedly criticized the ruling junta for allowing the use of forced labor, a state-run newspaper reported Thursday. "Despite the government's sincere cooperation with the ILO, it had unjustly passed a resolution to impose sanctions against Myanmar," Lt. Col. Hla Swe, chairman of Magwe Division War Veterans Organization Supervisory committee, was quoted as saying by the Myanma Ahlin daily. "The ILO is applying political pressure which has nothing to do with labor affairs ... therefore, Myanmar should resign from the ILO," said Hla Swe. The...

SAW HLA HENRY, of Worldview International Foundation, said Burma's economy was a mess. It was regarded by the international community as a human rights disaster zone and an economic embarrassment. The total number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) who had been forced to leave their homes and had not been able to return and reintegrate was currently estimated to be at least 526,000 people. More than half the internally displaced households were forced to work without compensation, and cash or property were extorted from them. These and other human rights abuses were widespread. The Commission had an excellent opportunity to...

Another international delegation to Burma has cut short its visit because of a lack of cooperation Burma's military rulers are likely to face increasing calls for tougher economic sanctions following the failure of a recent high-level International Labour Organisation visit to Rangoon. The delegation published its report on the visit earlier this week. It paints a bleak picture of government ignorance and intransigence. The ILO leaders were careful though to try to keep the door open for further dialogue with Burma's generals. When the high-level delegation cut short its visit and left Rangoon a week ago, it left the regime...

An International Labor Organization team in Burma to assess progress on ending forced labor has cut short its visit. Diplomats say the delegation's early departure followed its failure to meet the military government's leader, Senior General Than Shwe. The delegation from the International Labor Organization (ILO), was seeking firm commitments from Burma's military government to end forced labor. The three-member delegation, led by former Australian Governor-General Sir Ninian Stephen, had been scheduled to remain in Burma until Friday. Instead, it left Wednesday evening after failing to arrange meetings with Senior General Than Shwe, the government's top leader. On Tuesday, the...

(Dec. 16, 2004)(Boxun Received Burma's News Published by Burma's Chinese) SHAN-EU:London, 15 December, (Asiantribune.com): A joint delegation from Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) and the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART) has returned from a visit to ethnic groups on the Thai-Burmese border with evidence of a campaign of genocide perpetrated by the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). The report includes first-hand testimonies of forced labour from new Karen and Karenni refugees, as well as details of the situation facing IDPs. It concludes with a brief analysis of the case for genocide and crimes against humanity, and also covers the...

An exhibition in Geneva devoted to Soviet forced labour camps is bringing home the horrors of Stalin’s Gulags. But for one Swiss woman who spent five years in a camp in Soviet Kazakhstan, the memories of her imprisonment are still vivid. Else Rutgers, now 92, was one of around 200 Swiss Communists who emigrated to Moscow after the Russian Revolution of 1917 - and one of the few to survive the Gulags. Rutgers was 19 years old when she left Zurich for Moscow with her husband, Wim, a Dutch Communist. It was to be 25 years before she would return...