Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2004, published 93rd ILC session (2005)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Myanmar (Ratification: 1955)

1. The Committee notes the Government’s report and the comments by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) contained in communications dated 14 June, 31 August, 1 September, 7 October and 10 November 2004. These comments, which are accompanied by many documents reporting the persistence of the use of forced labour in Myanmar, have been forwarded to the Government for any comments which it wishes to make in this respect. The Committee also notes the documents submitted to the Governing Body at its 289th and 291st Sessions (March and November 2004) on developments concerning the question of the observance by the Government of Myanmar of Convention No. 29, as well as the discussions in the Governing Body during these sessions and in the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards in June 2004.

2. Once again this year, the Committee is examining the measures adopted by the Government to give effect to the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry appointed by the Governing Body in March 1997 following a complaint submitted in June 1996 under article 26 of the Constitution. In the report that it published in July 1998, the Commission of Inquiry concluded that the Convention was violated in national law and in practice in a widespread and systematic manner, and it adopted the following recommendations:

(a)  that the relevant legislative texts, in particular the Village Act and the Towns Act, be brought into line with the Convention;

(b)  that in actual practice, no more forced or compulsory labour be imposed by the authorities, in particular the military; and

(c)  that the penalties which may be imposed under section 374 of the Penal Code for the exaction of forced or compulsory labour be strictly enforced.

Amendment of the legislation, paragraph 539(a) of the report
of the Commission of Inquiry

Brief history

3. The Committee has previously set out the history of this situation in detail in earlier observations. In brief, the Committee recalls that, in its report, the Commission of Inquiry urged the Government to take the necessary steps to ensure that the Towns Act, 1907, and the Village Act, 1908, which confer broad powers upon the local authorities to requisition labour, in violation of the Convention, were without further delay brought into conformity with the Convention. In summary, under particular sections of these acts, non-voluntary work or services may be exacted from any person residing in a village tract or in a town ward, and failure to comply with a requisition made under the legislation is punishable with penal sanctions. The Commission of Inquiry found that these Acts therefore provide for the exaction of "forced or compulsory labour" within the definition of Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention.

4. In its observation in 2001, the Committee noted that although the Village Act and the Towns Act still needed to be amended, an "Order directing not to exercise powers under certain provisions of the Towns Act, 1907, and the Village Act, 1908", Order No. 1/99, as modified by an "Order Supplementing Order No. 1/99", dated 27 October 2000, could provide a statutory basis for ensuring compliance with the Convention in practice, if bona fide effect was given by the local authorities and by civilian and military officers empowered to requisition or assist with requisition, under the Acts. In effect, the Order provides for the possibility of requisitioning labour in exceptional circumstances, where such work or service is important and of direct interest for the community and in the event of an emergency posing an imminent danger to the general public and the community, and in circumstances where it is impossible to obtain voluntary labour by the offer of the usual rates of wages. It also provides for the possibility of issuing directives which may set aside the restrictions on powers of requisitioning. In this respect, the Committee indicated that a bona fide application of this Order involved the adoption of the measures indicated by both the Commission of Inquiry in paragraph 539(b) of its report and by the Committee of Experts in its previous comments (regarding specific instructions and the budgeting of adequate means to hire free wage labour for the public activities which are today based on forced and unpaid labour).

5. The Committee observes that, as set out in the paragraphs below, the measures requested have not been adopted or have only been adopted partially and that the exaction of forced labour persists on a broad scale. It appears that the orders have not been effective and that it has therefore become more imperative to take action without delay for the amendment or repeal of the Towns and Village Acts with a view to the elimination of the legislative basis for the exaction of forced labour and the incompatibility of these texts with the Convention. The Committee notes that, in his intervention in the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards in June 2004, the Government representative of Myanmar stated that, with regard to the "amendment of the Village Act and the Towns Act (…) his Government had been exploring ways and means to modify certain of their provisions" and had consulted with various parties in this respect. Recalling that the Commission of Inquiry recommended that these amendments should be done without further delay and completed at the very latest by 1 May 1999, the Committee of Experts hopes that the Government will finally take the necessary measures to amend in the very near future the provisions in question of the Towns Act, 1907, and the Village Act, 1908, as it has been promising to do for over 30 years.

Measures to bring an end to the exaction of forced labour in practice (paragraph 539(b) of the report of the Commission of Inquiry) and
available information on existing practices

6. The Committee recalls that, in its recommendations, the Commission of Inquiry emphasized that, besides amending the legislation, concrete action needed to be taken immediately to bring to an end the exaction of forced labour in practice, in particular by the military. In its previous observations, the Committee of Experts identified four areas in which measures should be taken by the Government to achieve this outcome: issuing specific and concrete instructions to the civilian and military authorities; ensuring that the prohibition of forced labour is given wide publicity; providing for the budgeting of adequate means for the replacement of forced or unpaid labour; and ensuring the enforcement of the prohibition of forced labour.

7. Specific and concrete instructions. In its previous observations, the Committee drew the Government’s attention to the fact that, in the absence of specific and concrete instructions enabling the civilian and military authorities to identify the various forms and manners of exaction of forced labour, it would be difficult to bring an end to forced labour in practice. The Committee observed that, although "explanations", "instructions" and "directives" had been given at offices of the Peace and Development Councils at various levels and the offices of the General Administration Department, the Department of Justice and the police forces and township courts, and despite the guidance provided by the field observation teams during their visits in the country, the Government had supplied no details on the contents of the explanations, instructions, directives or guidance, nor had it provided the text of any instruction or directive containing details of the tasks for which the requisitioning of labour is prohibited or the manner in which the same tasks are to be performed without resorting to forced labour.

8. The Committee notes that, in its latest report, the Government states that it has made every effort to ensure the prohibition of the use of forced labour under Order No. 1/99 and its Supplementing Order. The Government also provides three documents intended to support its contentions (Instructions No. 1/2004, dated 19 August 2004, of the Department of General Administration, in Burmese; the Directive issued by the Supreme Court to all states and divisional judges, all district judges and all township judges, by letter dated 2 November 2000 and letter No. 1002(3)/202/G4 "to prevent illicit summon on the requisition of forced labour", signed by the director-general of the police force, which had already been provided to the ILO). The Committee observes that none of these documents would enable the authorities concerned to identify practices which constitute forced labour.

9. The Committee also notes from the Government’s last report, and the intervention of the Government representative in the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards in June 2004, the reference to the holding of information workshops on the implementation of Convention No. 29 in various regions of the country during the course of 2004. The Committee considers that such workshops do not appear to have had the desired effect and that, until effective measures have been taken to enable the civilian and military authorities to identify the various forms and manners of exaction of forced labour that should be prohibited, it will not be possible to bring an end to forced labour in practice.

10. In conclusion on this point, the information provided by the Government shows once again that clear and effectively conveyed instructions are still required to indicate to all the representatives of the authorities, including the members of the armed forces, the kinds of practices that constitute forced labour and for which the requisitioning of labour is prohibited, and the manner in which the same tasks are henceforth to be performed. In a previous observation, the Committee enumerated a number of tasks and practices which are closely related with the exaction of forced labour, namely:

-  portering for the military (or other military/paramilitary groups, for military campaigns or regular patrols);

-  construction or repair of military camps/facilities;

-  other support for camps (guides, messengers, cooks, cleaners, etc.);

-  income-generation by individuals or groups (including work in army-owned agricultural and industrial projects);

-  national or local infrastructure projects (including roads, railways, dams, etc.);

-  cleaning/beautification of rural or urban areas;

-  the supply of materials or provisions of any kind, which must be prohibited in the same way as demands for money (except where due to the State or to a municipal authority under the relevant legislation) since in practice, demands by the military for money or services are often interchangeable.

The Committee once again requests that these matters be addressed urgently.

11. Publicity given to orders. The Committee noted previously, from the information provided by the Government, that measures continued to be taken in order to make the prohibition of forced labour contained in Order No. 1/99 and its Supplementing Order widely known by all the authorities concerned and the general public. It noted that these measures included conveying information through bulletins and pamphlets, distributing copies of orders translated into ethnic languages, and the work of field observation teams.

12. In its last report, the Government reaffirms that copies of Order No. 1/99 and its Supplementing Order have been widely distributed throughout the country. The Committee understands, from the information provided by the Government, which appears to be confirmed by the Liaison Officer a.i., that the translation of the Orders into the four Chin dialects has been completed. In this respect, the Committee notes that, according to the Liaison Officer a.i., "although all the translations have been completed, he has yet to see these translations posted in any ethnic area that he has visited, or to meet anyone in these areas who has seen these translations, and he is therefore yet to be convinced that they have been widely distributed by the authorities" (document GB.289/8, submitted to the 289th Session of the Governing Body in March 2004, paragraph 10).

13. The Committee hopes that the Government will provide copies of the instructions issued to the armed forces and information on the meetings, workshops and seminars organized for the dissemination of these instructions in the armed forces. It once again hopes that measures will be taken to ensure that the texts, duly translated, are distributed and displayed in ethnic areas, which are those where the prevalence of forced labour practices appear to be the highest.

14. Budgeting of adequate means. In its recommendations, the Commission of Inquiry emphasized the need to budget for adequate means to hire free wage labour for the public activities which are today based on forced and unpaid labour. In its report, the High-level Team (2001) stated that it had received no information allowing it to conclude that the authorities had indeed provided for any real substitute for the cost-free forced labour imposed to support the military or public works projects.

15. In its previous observations, the Committee pursued the matter and sought to obtain concrete evidence that adequate means are budgeted to hire voluntary paid labour. The Government in response has reiterated its previous statements according to which there is always a budget allotment for each and every project, with allocations which include the cost of material and labour. The Committee observed, however, that in practice forced labour continued to be imposed in many parts of the country, in particular in those areas with a heavy presence of the army, and that the budgetary allocations that may exist were not adequate to make recourse to forced labour unnecessary. The Government has not provided any information on this subject in its latest report. The Committee once again asks that adequate means be budgeted for the civilian and the military authorities to allow them to carry out their tasks without using forced labour and that the next report indicate the measures taken in this regard.

16. Monitoring machinery. With regard to the measures taken by the Government to ensure the enforcement of the prohibition of forced labour, the Committee notes the information provided by the Government representative to the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards in June 2004. It notes that these measures include the establishment of seven field observation teams empowered to carry out investigations into allegations of the use of forced labour, the findings of which are submitted to the Convention 29 Implementation Committee. With regard to the activities of the Implementation Committee, the Committee of Experts notes, according to the information contained in the document submitted to the Governing Body in November 2004 (GB.291/5/2, paragraph 13), that "recent experience of the Liaison Officer a.i. has shown that specific complaints of forced labour brought to the attention of the Convention 29 Implementation Committee are systematically denied, and cases brought directly before the courts are rejected. The picture which emerges is of a response by the authorities to complaints of forced labour that is lacking in credibility. This is all the more concerning given the types of cases involved. While a number of the allegations which have been raised with the authorities are extremely serious cases involving the army often in remote areas, others relate to comparatively minor cases of forced labour imposed by local officials in central Myanmar. Action on these latter cases should be more straightforward because of both the location and nature of the offences involved. The fact that the authorities have not taken steps to deal with these latter cases must raise serious doubts as to the possibility of making significant progress in those areas under the control of the army, where all the indications are that the forced labour situation is far more serious in both form and extent".

17. The Committee also notes that, in the view of the Liaison Officer a.i., "the mechanism put in place by the authorities for addressing forced labour allegations, that of sending an ad hoc team composed of senior government officials to the region to conduct an investigation, is not well suited to dealing with the increasing numbers of cases" (GB.291/5/1, paragraph 12). The Liaison Officer a.i. indicates that allegations of forced labour tend to be investigated internally by the General Administration Department. Cases concerning the army (that is, cases of forced recruitment, or forced labour allegedly imposed by the army) are referred by the Convention 29 Implementation Committee to the representative of the Ministry of Defence. These cases are also investigated internally by the army. The Committee of Experts notes that, "of the 38 cases referred to the Convention 29 Implementation Committee, responses have been received in 18 cases. In all these cases, the allegation that forced labour was involved was rejected. In the six cases where individuals complained directly to the court, three cases were rejected on the grounds that there was no prima facie evidence of forced labour (…)".

18. The Committee observes, as does the Liaison Officer a.i., that the assessments made by the field observation teams and the Convention 29 Implementation Committee appear to lack credibility, particularly as the ILO continues to receive trustworthy evidence that this practice continues to be widespread. The Committee once again expresses the hope that the Government will take the necessary measures to develop a credible, fair and more effective procedure for investigating allegations of forced labour, in particular those involving the army, and that it will cooperate more closely in future with the Liaison Officer.

Information available on actual practice

19. The Committee notes that the Liaison Officer a.i.’s general evaluation of the forced labour situation, on the basis of all the information available to him is that "although there have been some improvements since the Commission of Inquiry, the practice remains widespread throughout the country, and is particularly serious in border areas where there is a large presence of the army" (report of the Liaison Officer a.i., document GB.291/5/1, paragraph 9). The Committee further notes that at the time of his report (22 October 2004), the Liaison Officer a.i. had received a total of 72 complaints in 2004, and that interventions had been made with the authorities on 38 cases. Of these 38 cases, 18 concerned various forms of forced labour (other than forced recruitment); 13  concerned forced recruitment of minors into the armed forces; one case concerned alleged harassment of a complainant; and six were direct complaints by individuals to Myanmar courts under section 374 of the Penal Code, copies of which had been communicated to the Liaison Officer a.i. by the complainants.

Recent information

20. In communications dated 14 June, 31 August, 1 September and 7 October 2004, the ICFTU forwarded many documents to the ILO bearing witness to the persistence of the systematic use of forced labour by the military authorities on a very broad scale. The cases of forced labour described in these documents occurred in many areas of Myanmar (the States of Chin, Kachin, Kayin, Mon, Rakhine and Shan and the Ayeyarwady, Magway, Bago, Sagaing, Tenasserim and Yangon Divisions) during the period between September 2003 and September 2004, and are supported by precise information referring to the locations and dates of the reported facts and the army units and the names of the officers involved.

21. The documents provided include a report by the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB) of over 100 pages in length entitled "Forced labour in Burma (Myanmar): Forced labour after 2003 International Labour Conference". This report contains dozens of testimonies by victims of forced labour for the military. The witnesses were mostly used as porters (of arms, munitions, wood, supplies, etc.), on construction or maintenance sites of roads or bridges, or exploited in labour camps and paddy fields controlled by the army. The experiences of the witnesses included:

-  being requisitioned as a consequence of a military order directed to village heads in rural areas to provide villagers for unpaid labour for portering, working on construction sites and the maintenance of military camps (many provided copies of labour requisition orders);

-  being forced to participate in military training programmes, doing sentry duty or acting as guides;

-  being forced by military chiefs to comply with a system of enforced labour rotation whereby each family in a village must provide a certain number of family members each day, under the menace of reprisals or a fine. The requisitioned workers have to equip themselves with their own tools and provide the food necessary for their own subsistence for the duration of their work, which is mostly unknown.

In addition, witnesses report that the types of ill-treatment suffered include:

-  being deprived of food;

-  being systematically beaten when they collapsed through exhaustion or sought permission to rest;

-  in the most serious cases, reporting that porters incapable of walking due to a wound or extreme fatigue were purely and simply assassinated;

-  mutilations and violent deaths occurring during mine-clearing operations, with the persons equipped only with rakes.

The military are also said to commit other acts of violence, including: murders, rapes, torture, pillage, the intentional burning of habitations, the destruction of plantations and consumer goods, forced expropriations and expulsions, as well as confiscating and extorting money and goods under the pretext of various types of taxation.

22. The ICFTU also forwarded a document prepared by the Asian Legal Resource Centre, an NGO with general consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, and which is based in Hong Kong, reporting two cases of forced labour imposed upon civilians by the authorities. The document illustrates the manner in which the authorities endeavour to turn against those who refuse to comply with requisition orders. The first case concerns two inhabitants of Henzada (old name for Hinthada) Township, Ayeyarwady Division, who in July 2003 refused to perform sentry duty at the Buddhist monastery of Oatpone village. They were sentenced respectively to one month and six months of imprisonment under the Penal Code for intentional failure to furnish assistance to a public servant in the execution of his public duty (section 187) and the threat of injury to any public servant (section 189). They filed a case under section 374 of the Penal Code (penalizing the imposition of unlawful compulsory labour), but both complainants were dismissed by the Henzada Township Court. The authorities filed a counter-complaint for defamation (sections 499 and 500 of the Penal Code) and the two complainants were both subsequently sentenced to six months’ imprisonment on 7 October 2004. The second case concerns an inhabitant of Kawmhu Township, Yangon Division, who in April 2004 brought a complaint against the local authorities under section 374 of the Penal Code, and who had previously been threatened with legal action for failing to comply with instructions to work on a road in the neighbourhood. The local authorities then organized other villagers to depose that no one had been coerced to undertake the road construction and that the work in question had been carried out voluntarily. The ICFTU expresses the fear that the case may be decided against the complainant, in the same way as in the first case.

23. The other documents provided by the ICFTU include:

-  three other reports by the FTUB, entitled: "State-induced violence and poverty in Burma", dated June 2004; "Impact of US sanctions on the textile and garment industry in Burma" and "All-round impact of promotion of tourism on the entire community of Ngwe Saung area in Ayeyarwady Division, Burma", both dated 2004, and the testimony of a child soldier, dated 2 January 2004;

-  articles by various press agencies and human rights defence organizations reporting dozens of cases of forced labour, including the use of around 250 villagers from the Muslim minority in Rohingya in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, to build houses for 130 families of Buddhist settlers from the centre of the country, and the requisitioning of 500 other villagers in June 2004 to build a bridge under the orders of the NaSaKa (border security forces). These articles refer to other cases of the exploitation of ethnic minorities by the authorities, such as the forced labour exacted from Naga villagers for the construction of tourist accommodation for the Naga New Year celebrations in Layshee (Sagaing Division) and the exploitation for the purposes of tourism of certain Salons (also called Mokens), forced to perform traditional dances (Tenasserim Division). Other cases reported include the abduction of civilians for use as human shields during a military operation carried out against the armed groups in southern Mon State and northern Tenasserim Division during the period December 2003-January 2004 and the rape of women villagers in southern Ye Township (Mon State) during the same period;

-  the authentic translation of the ruling in Criminal Regular Trial No. 111/2003 of the Yangon Northern District Court of 28 November 2003 sentencing nine persons to death for high treason, based on evidence for the charges which included alleged contacts between a number of them and the ILO and having received or communicated information relating to the activities of the Organization;

-  the authentic translation of the ruling of the Supreme Court in the same case, reducing the sentences of the accused to transportation for life for five of them and, for the four others, to three years’ imprisonment with rigorous labour (case No. 457/2003, Nay Win, Shwe Mann, Naing Tun and others v. Union of Myanmar). The ILO subsequently received, on 21 October 2004, the authentic translation of the ruling issued on 14 October 2004 by the Supreme Court on the application for special appeal in the same case. The sentences of the four accused who had been convicted on appeal to three years’ imprisonment with rigorous labour were reduced to two years’ imprisonment with rigorous labour, while that of Shwe Mann, convicted on appeal to transportation for life, was reduced to five years’ imprisonment with rigorous labour. Moreover, the Supreme Court found that references to contacts with the ILO contained in the ruling of the Yangon Northern District Court should be deleted from the judgement, as the Supreme Court indicated that "communication and cooperation with the ILO does not amount to an offence under the existing laws of Myanmar";

-  the second preliminary report of the Ad Hoc Commission on the Depayin Massacre, dated May 2004; and

-  two documents prepared by the Federation of Trade Unions Kawthoolei (FTUK) reporting dozens of other cases of forced labour, including two interviews with victims of forced labour dated 19 June 2004.

24. The Committee notes the new allegations of the forced recruitment of children by the armed forces contained in the documents supplied by the ICFTU and the report on the activities of the Liaison Officer a.i. submitted to the Governing Body in November 2004 (document GB.291/5/1). Among the cases brought to the attention of the Liaison Officer a.i., is one of a young person of 15 years of age who, according to the allegations, was recruited into the army and then escaped, before being arrested and convicted by a court martial to four years’ imprisonment for desertion.

25. The Committee recalls in this respect that it previously requested the Government to provide information on any investigation that may have been undertaken to ascertain that in practice no person under 18 is recruited into the armed forces and that it hoped that the Government, with the assistance of the ILO, would make every effort to carry out a thorough assessment of the extent of this practice and would take the necessary action to put an end to it.

26. With regard to programmes of military training and service, the Government indicates in its last report that it has established a Committee for Prevention against Recruitment of Minors, headed by the Secretary (2) of the State Peace and Development Council. While noting this information, the Committee observes, from a reading of the many documents in the file, that the recruitment of children to serve in army units is still current and that certain young persons have been convicted by military courts to sentences of imprisonment for desertion. The Committee urges the Government to bring an end to these practices and to enter into full and complete collaboration with the Liaison Officer a.i. in dealing with complaints that are brought to his attention, and to ensure that young persons who are victims of such abuses cannot in future be convicted by military courts.

27. In conclusion on this subject, the Committee notes that forced and compulsory labour continues to be prevalent in many areas of the country, and particularly in the border areas inhabited by ethnic minorities, in which there is a strong military presence. It notes with concern the many documents brought to its attention by the ICFTU and the cases followed by the Liaison Officer a.i., that demonstrate forcefully that the exaction of forced labour is far from disappearing in practice. It notes the Government’s statement concerning its determination to eliminate forced labour in the country; however, the Committee considers that this determination has not so far led to the achievement of the expected results. The Committee trusts that the Government, in keeping with its expressed intention, will significantly increase its efforts to bring a definitive end to forced labour, and urges the Government to pursue its cooperation with the ILO for this purpose. The Committee hopes that the Government will reply in detail concerning all the cases of forced labour reported by the ICFTU.

Imposition of the penalties established by the Penal Code in cases
of the illegal exaction of forced or compulsory labour

28. The Committee recalls that in its report the Commission of Inquiry urged the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that the penalties established under section 374 of the Penal Code for the exaction of forced or compulsory labour be strictly enforced, in conformity with Article 25 of the Convention. In the view of the Commission of Inquiry, this would require thorough investigation, prosecution and adequate punishment of those found guilty.

29. The Committee notes from the report submitted by the Liaison Officer a.i. to the Governing Body in November 2004 (document GB.291/5/1, paragraph 13 and Appendix II) that, for the first time, cases have been brought to the courts of Myanmar under section 374 of the Penal Code concerning the illegal exaction of forced labour. However, it notes that none of the six cases brought during the course of 2004 led to the initiation of proceedings, nor even to recognition of a situation of forced labour. In three cases, the courts rejected the cases on the grounds that there was no prima facie evidence of forced labour. Further, in two of the three cases which have been completed, the complainants were even sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for defamation and these persons had  already been imprisoned for refusing to carry out the forced labour. The three other cases were still ongoing at the time of the report (22 October 2004). Furthermore, the Liaison Officer a.i. indicates in his report that "two individuals were arrested after returning to their village following a visit to him in Yangon. During the visit, one of the individuals provided details on a direct complaint he had made to a court under section 374 of the Penal Code, concerning forced labour in Kawhmu Township (Yangon Division)" (document GB.291/5/1, paragraph 17).

30. The Committee notes that, although for the first time cases have been brought under section 374 of the Penal Code by individuals claiming to be victims of the exaction of forced labour, none of these cases has yet been found receivable. It notes that the fact that certain victims have been arrested after contacting the Liaison Officer a.i., or convicted to a sentence of imprisonment for defamation after bringing a case under section 374 of the Penal Code, creates a climate of fear which is likely to dissuade victims from turning to the courts. It hopes that the Government will make every effort to ensure that the victims of forced labour are in practice able to avail themselves of the provisions of section 374 of the Penal Code without risking prosecution for defamation and that they can freely contact the Liaison Officer a.i. without running the risk of being arrested or interrogated by the police forces. It hopes that the Government will provide information in its next report on the progress achieved in this field.

Joint Plan of Action

31. In its last observation, the Committee noted with interest that a Joint Plan of Action for the Elimination of Forced Labour Practices in Myanmar had been agreed upon on 27 May 2003 between the ILO and the Government. Although the Joint Plan of Action was welcomed by the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards during the discussion at the 91st Session of the International Labour Conference, the Conference Committee also observed that its debate was taking place in the context of recent events, and the resulting climate of uncertainty and fear, which "called seriously into question the will and ability of the authorities to make significant progress in the elimination of forced labour". The Committee of Experts notes that the situation has scarcely improved since then, particularly in the view of the fact that three persons have been convicted for high treason on grounds which include contacts with the ILO. Although the Supreme Court ruling on a special appeal commuted the death sentence which had been imposed on these persons in November 2003 by a court in Myanmar to sentences of imprisonment of two and five years and acknowledged the legality of contacts with the ILO, the Committee notes that the Workers’ group, the Employers’ group and many Government members of the Governing Body expressed regret at the continued detention of the persons concerned and called for their immediate release or pardon. The situation of these persons is a matter of great concern to the Committee. The Committee regrets that, under these conditions, the Joint Plan of Action cannot be implemented as envisaged. It notes the decision of the Governing Body to field a very high-level mission to evaluate the attitude of the authorities and assess their determination to continue their cooperation with the ILO (GB.291/5, Conclusions).

Concluding comments

32. The Committee notes once again with grave concern, that the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry have still not been implemented: the provisions of the Towns Act, 1907, and the Village Act, 1908, allowing requisition of labour in violation of the Convention, have not been repealed; forced labour continues to be exacted in many areas of the country, in circumstances of severe cruelty and brutality; and no person responsible for the exaction of forced labour has been prosecuted or convicted under the relevant provisions of the Penal Code. The Committee expresses its strongest condemnation and urges the Government to demonstrate its expressed determination to eliminate forced labour and to take the necessary measures to ensure compliance with the Convention.