Don't be fooled by the window-dressing

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:Financial Times; Oct 17, 2001
By GLENYS KINNOCK

Sir, The issues raised by Prof Robert Taylor and Dr Richard Jones (Letters, October 15) deserve, and need, a reply.

The fact is that the International Labour Organisation has found that forced labour in Burma was "on a scale which amounted to a crime against humanity" and has agreed an unprecedented Resolution, which calls on member governments, unions and employers to review their relations with Burma.

This Resolution was agreed in the light of evidence of the systematic and widespread use of forced labour in that country. ILO members have since been looking at possible restrictions both on foreign investment and on Burma's export sector. It is very unlikely that this review will lead to the resumption of aid, as Prof Taylor and Dr Jones suggest.

It defies belief that anyone can claim that the regime is doing all it can to end forced labour. Human Rights Watch recently reported that, after three years of the ILO process, not a single Burmese official had been prosecuted. And as for claims about human rights training programmes carried out in Rangoon - do we really think that the regime is unaware that raping women, burning villages and torturing political prisoners are human rights violations? The regime's window-dressing does not fool most people, though it obviously still fools some.

Last, it is simply offensive to imply that earlier reports of forced labour were mere propaganda from "expatriate political groups". Testimonies in those reports were taken from thousands of refugees fleeing Burma's borders, many of whom brought with them orders written by military commanders demanding that villagers provide labour or face the brutal consequences.

Dr Jones and Prof Taylor should read these testimonies and then they would learn about the suffering and hardship that the people of Burma continue to endure. The ruling regime is corrupt, immoral and inept and deserves no defence.

Glenys Kinnock,
European Parliament,
B-1047 Brussels, Belgium

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