BurmaNet News, June 7, 2006

[Editor]

June 7, 2006 Issue # 2978


INSIDE BURMA
AP: Myanmar pro-democracy party says members' resignations illegally coerced
DVB: Student leaders Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi on Su Su Nway’s release
LA Times: Myanmar releases rights activist early
Irrawaddy: Explosion injures worker in Pegu
Narinjara: Seven youth arrested for attack in Magwe
Khonumthung: Village headman pays with life for favouritism

ON THE BORDER
IMNA: Burmese migrant children look forward to education in Thailand

HEALTH / AIDS
Irrawaddy: Burmese child labor exposed to pesticides

BUSINESS / TRADE
Myanmar Times: Inspectors place hopes on exports
Myanmar Times: Dial-up users to be charged in FEC

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: Annan welcomes release of Myanmar rights activist
Mizzima: Activists protest during Total chief’s speech

OPINION / OTHER
Baltimore Sun: The Myanmar threat
Irrawaddy: Too little, but is it too late?

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 7, The Associated Press
Myanmar pro-democracy party says members' resignations illegally coerced

Yangon: Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy said Wednesday that Myanmar's military junta was illegally
forcing the group's members to resign from the party.

State-run newspapers have reported recently that members of the opposition
National League for Democracy have been resigning en masse because they
are "dismayed with the NLD's policies and its negative views of
developments within the country."

NLD spokesmen have repeatedly said the resignations were due to coercion
by local authorities, adding that in some parts of the country, local
authorities gave printed resignation statements to party members and told
them to sign.

Wednesday's NLD statement said its members had been "forced, pressured,
enticed or threatened to resign by authorities."

The party called such actions illegal.

Myanmar's ruling junta, which seized power after violently suppressing
pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988, staged elections in 1990 but refused
to recognized the results after they were won in a landslide by its top
critic, the NLD led by Suu Kyi.

Instead, the military stepped up arrests and harassment of pro-democracy
dissidents in the country formerly known as Burma. The junta now is
implementing its own seven-stage "road map to democracy," though it has
set no fixed date for elections.

Nobel laureate Suu Kyi has been detained about 10 of the last 17 years.

The NLD statement also described as unlawful the closure of party offices
in some areas.

It said the NLD is registered as a political party in accordance with the
law and has the right to conduct organizational work and other party
activities.

However, the pressure and various restrictions imposed on the party and
its members by local authorities" amounted to violating the political
parties registration law, and was against the "rule of law," said the
statement.

The military junta has threatened to dissolve the NLD and stepped up
pressure against the party in February and April.

____________________________________

June 6, Democratic Voice of Burma
Student leader Min Ko Naing on Su Su Nway’s release

 “We ourselves accompanied her onto the prison van. No brothers, no
sisters would like to accompany their little sister to the prison van for
her to dwell in the prison palace.

“But when we confront injustice, we will need to display our courage to
face anything. Therefore, we accompanied her ourselves with joined hands
to the prison van. We accompanied her thus knowing that she will be
sentenced unfairly at the court in the end. Therefore, we ourselves have
to welcome her ourselves today. Therefore, I told her; my little sister,
justice will prevail in the end. For us, there is no surprise. The reason
is – we all noticed that everyone who confronted (fight) for justice will
reap good benefits eventually.

“When the lady judge read out the guilty sentence, she (Su Su Nway) showed
no emotion. It was as if she came to hear an answer she had already known.
She is someone who decided to face anything. Therefore, she herself
invited us to come and listen on the last day of the trial at the court,
as the way that pleased her. When we told her that our presence will
burden her and advised her to think about it, she said let it be a burden
as much as you like. I will be very satisfied if you are seen standing by
my side while listening to the last sentence. As she told us to oblige her
thus, we had to stand by her side. Therefore, she showed no particular
sadness but walked onto the prison van.

“When she returns now, it is not in a form of her obtaining an
opportunity. She is calm, as if she is a little sister who had carried out
her duties faithfully and returned home. I like this kind of
calmness/serenity. Calmness and maturity are very important for fight (for
democracy) in the long run. We are very encouraged to see clearly Ma Su Su
Nway’s courage and her calmness and depth when she faces (problems).”

Student leader Ko Ko Gyi on Su Su Nway’s release

 “As she was released thus unexpectedly, we are welcoming her with joy. We
also respect and honour her success. What I want to say mainly is forced
labour is widespread in our country with several forms.

“For this, an ordinary villager, a tender girl, confronted this for
justice. As it was evidently clear that it was unfair forced labour, the
local authorities concerned took action (taken action against?). This is
the victory for Ma Su Su Nway from the side of justice. When confronting
injustice, it is not only well-known people who could do things. It is the
best example that an ordinary person could achieve things. Therefore, as
it was clear that it was forced labour, the local authorities concerned
were punished (and) that was Ma Su Su Nway’s first victory. As they were
feeling aggrieved by this, the local authorities tried to take action
against this tender woman by accusing her of intimidating/threatening the
local authority members, men who wear 20 foot long (sarong)! Therefore, Ma
Su Su Nway was punished and imprisoned.

“Although Ma Su Su Nway was imprisoned, as her spirit stands on the side
of justice, her spirit was recognised and honoured by not only all the
people of our nation but also the international human community. Although
she was imprisoned, this is Ma Su Su Nway’s second victory. Then again,
her release before the releasing date due to the international pressure
and demand is Ma Su Su Nway’s third victory. In fact, Ma Su Su Nway is a
girl who wins, wins, wins with successive victories. She is the best
lesson, the example, for all ordinary citizens who stand on the side of
injustice. Therefore, we are happy like brothers do for their little
sister who escaped from the small cell of atrocity, and on the other hand,
we come to welcome and honour a young girl who is brave and resolute
despite her tender age.”

____________________________________

June 7, Los Angeles Times
Myanmar releases rights activist early - Richard C. Paddock

Su Su Nway, who was in prison for protesting the forced labor of citizens,
says she will keep fighting and expects to be jailed again.

Denpasar, Indonesia: Myanmar rights activist Su Su Nway, who was sentenced
to 18 months in prison after she challenged the government practice of
forcing citizens to work, was unexpectedly released Tuesday, nine months
early.

Her release was hailed by human rights activists who had praised her
willingness to speak out in a country where dissent is severely punished.
Myanmar has more than 1,100 political prisoners.

Su Su Nway, 34, who suffers from a heart condition, visited the
headquarters of the opposition National League for Democracy and said she
would continue fighting for human rights in the nation, which is also
known as Burma, no matter what the cost.

"I took [my] prison uniform with me because I know that I will have to
come back to prison until Burma gains democracy," she told the
Norway-based opposition Democratic Voice of Burma radio service.

Myanmar, which has been run by the military for more than four decades,
has ruthlessly suppressed the country's nonviolent democracy movement.
Thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators were gunned down in 1988. The
military refused to hand over power in 1990 after losing the country's
only democratic election.

Among those stifled is opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel
Peace Prize laureate who has been in detention for more than 10 of the
last 17 years. The regime recently extended Suu Kyi's house arrest,
despite an appeal from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. There was no
immediate explanation for the decision to release Su Su Nway.

Her case had achieved international notoriety because she was the first
Myanmar citizen to take government officials to court for making people
work without compensation, a practice that is technically illegal but
widespread.

Two officials from her village near Yangon, the former capital, were
convicted last year and sentenced to eight months in prison for making Su
Su Nway and her neighbors work without pay on a road project.

Afterward, the slight and ailing activist was charged with intimidating a
new village official and in October was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Her supporters said that the idea of her intimidating anyone was ludicrous
and that the charge was simply revenge for her court victory.

The Times reported on her case in a May 21 article from Myanmar, noting
her unusual willingness to speak out in a country that has successfully
silenced most opposition leaders.

"I will continue to stand for the truth and fight for the elimination of
forced labor in the country," Su Su Nway told the Associated Press on
Tuesday in Yangon. She added her thanks to supporters and the
international media "who had helped make my release possible."

The International Labor Organization, a U.N. agency that has fought the
practice of forced labor, had urged the Myanmar government to free her and
reiterated that call Saturday at a meeting in Geneva.

"The ILO welcomes today's release of Su Su Nway," said Richard Horsey, the
ILO representative in Myanmar. "The ILO has always maintained that she
should be released."

The U.S. State Department also had called for her release, saying her
imprisonment underlined the brutality of the Myanmar government.
Supporters had worried that Su Su Nway was not receiving adequate care for
her heart ailment.

"I am fine, but I don't feel happy or sad about my release because forced
labor in Burma still exists," she told the Democratic Voice of Burma,
which also had highlighted her case. "I will continue fighting against
forced labor and all kinds of human rights abuses."

____________________________________

June 7, Narinjara News
Seven youth arrested for attack in Magwe

Seven young men, including some students, were arrested by Magwe police on
June 4, after they attacked and vandalized a restaurant in the capital of
Magwe Division, said a source close to those detained.

The men were identified as 19 year old Maung Ko Ko, son of Khin Maung
Htun; Lwin Ko Oo (19) son of San Lwin; Aung Ko Ko Htun (20), son of Maung
Than; Kyaw Soe Oo (20), son of Than Soe; Soe Win Naing, (19) son of Kyaw
Win Naing; Naing Htoo Aung (20) son of Myo Aung; Htun Naing Oo, aged 18
years. All the young men are from Son Rat Quarter in Chit Lang, Magwe.

The incident occurred at midnight on June 4, when the seven attacked the
restaurant Monaliza, carrying swords and striking apparently at random.
The reason for the attack is yet unknown.

One waiter, Myo Win, was severely injured, and some property in the
restaurant, including tables and chairs, was damaged.

The restaurant Monaliza, located in Magwe Town, is famous in the town for
its nightclub and karaoke.

____________________________________

June 7, Khonumthung News
Village headman pays with life for favouritism

A village headman in western Chin state paid with his life for alleged
favouritism over supply of chicken to the police and the army towards the
end of May.

The Village State Peace and Development (VPDC) chairman of Fungkah,
Thantlang Township, Chin state was shot dead by a police commander on May
28, over chicken provided for the joint routine patrol of the police and
the Burmese Army. The VPDC chairman was shot for allegedly showing
favouritism to the Burmese Army.

A joint team of 10 Burmese soldiers and five police personnel were resting
in Fungkah village on the fateful day. The VPDC chairman provided two
chickens for the soldiers and one chicken to the police personnel.

The police commander reportedly shot the VPDC chairman for playing
favourites, says a late report.

A villager told Khonumthung, “Police personnel in Chin state are cruel.”

The villagers in Fungkah took the body of the village head to Hakha civil
hospital where he was pronounced brought dead. The villagers reported the
incident to military authorities in Hakha Town.

The police commander was said to have been arrested and imprisoned in a
concentration camp.

Fungkah villagers refused to transport the body by a government vehicle
which was offered and instead made a carriage and carried the body till
Fungkah on foot.

The last rites of the Fungkah VPDC chairman was performed on May 30
sources said. The Burmese Army and the police forces often go on routine
joint patrols in remote areas and villages in Chin state.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

June 6, Independent Mon News Agency
Burmese migrant children look forward to education in Thailand - Banyol Kin

There is a new ray of hope for children of Burmese workers in Thailand
where more and more of them can attend school. The number of schools for
such children has been increasing, as has been the number of students in
Phang Nga District. For new students it is a welcome opportunity for
education.

“Last year, we had only 300 students in six schools but this year we have
over 450 students in nine schools with 27 teachers,” said Htoo Chit,
director of Grassroots Human Rights Education Group (GRHRE).

Among the nine schools are separate nursery and primary schools. There are
three nursery and six primary schools.

The students mostly come from Mon State in Southern Burma. They are of
ethnic origin from Mon and Tavoyee, looking for jobs in Thailand.

“After the Sangkran festival, many people came back with their children.
Some workers don’t want to leave their children behind and some others
want their children to have a better education in Thailand. That is why
they bring their children to Thailand,” said a Mon Buddhist Monk who
teaches in the school.

Win Tun (12), a first grade student said, “I like this school because they
give me free food and snacks and there are no school fees.” He moved from
Burma this year as his mother knew about this school.

Moe Moe who won the first prize last year does not want to go back to
Burma to study. “I don’t want to go back and study in Burma because it is
very expensive,” she said.

“Although, we have been successful in getting more students, we are still
struggling for places to teach students,” said Htoo Chit.

The school programme started last year in three towns Khara Buri, Takua
Pa, and Takda Thung in Phang Nga District, southern Thailand where the
majority was affected by the Tsunami in December 2004. GRHRE organized and
helped Tsunami victims to open schools and their rehabilitation supported
by Save the Children UK.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

June 7, Irrawaddy
Burmese child labor exposed to pesticides - Sai Silp

Many Burmese child farm laborers in the border area of Thailand’s Tak
province are being exposed to ‘very dangerous’ levels of chemicals, a
conference was told on Tuesday. The conference, in Tak, brought together
government officials, NGOs and representatives of International Labour
Organization (ILO).

A researcher from Chiang Mai University who conducted a study on child
labor in the agriculture sector of Pob Phra and Mae Sot districts,
Nongyaow Naowarat, said more than half of 600 youngsters under the age of
18 interviewed said they handled pesticides and fertilizers which are
“very dangerous for their physical and brain development”.

Nongyaow estimates there are about 4,000 laborers under the age of 18 in
the study areas, and 20 percent are under 13, which is illegal under Thai
law. Thirty percent of them receive no education.

The high demand for labor in Tak province was due to a rapidly expanding
agricultural industry and its proximity to Burma’s Karen state gave it
easy access to cheap labor.

The Foundation for Child Development said the problem of immigrant child
labor was nationwide in Thailand. The foundation helps more than 100
children a year leave their work places each year because they suffered
poor pay, bad conditions and long hours.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

May 29, The Myanmar Times
Inspectors place hopes on exports - May Thandar Win

Commodity-testing and inspection companies are hoping Myanmar's [Burma's]
international trade will pick up so that there will be more need for their
services in what they say has been an uneventful year for them. "We've had
a normal year in terms of business although we feel we could do much
better if exports picked up more momentum," said U Kyaw Tin, the managing
director of SGS (Myanmar) Ltd, a branch of Geneva-based Societe Generale
de Surveillance Holding.

"However, there was a drop of about seven per cent in inspections of
agricultural exports by our company compared to last year," he said. There
had been little movement in other sectors, such as marine or petroleum, he
added.

The inspection industry, which checks imported and exported goods for
impurities or irregularities, took a hit when the United States beefed up
economic sanctions on Myanmar in 2003. U Kyaw Tin said that the industry's
hardships had been eased somewhat through the government's allowance of
some private companies to export rice in 2005 and 2006.

"We were lucky that SGS got the major portion of rice exports to inspect.
It helped us a lot as it supplemented the shortfall we were suffering in
beans inspections in the first few months of 2006," he said.

U Aung Moe, the managing director of Asia Pacific Inspection Agency, one
of the biggest inspection companies in Myanmar, also said business had
been steady during the year to March. "But at the moment things have
slowed by about 35 per cent at our company because of sluggish exports,"
he said.

U Kyaw Tin said reduced orders from abroad for Myanmar-made garments as a
result of US sanctions have had a negative impact on the inspection
industry, which he said was yet to fully bounce back.

Positive signs were on the horizon, however, as U Kyaw Tin said SGS had
managed to fill the drop in garment inspections by diversifying more into
other services, such as ISO certification, auditing and training. Some
former clients in the garment industry were also rumoured to be starting
to return to Myanmar, he said.

U Aung Moe said that if the domestic garment industry could gain
subcontracts from neighbouring countries that have large garment orders
from the EU and US, then local inspection businesses would be able to
complete their rebound. The government's move away from more informal
border trade practices to one more closely scrutinised - known as "normal
trade" - has had little impact on inspection companies, they say.

As there are no official regulations requiring commodities traded across
borders to be endorsed by inspection agencies, traders do not use the
companies unless buyers ask them to do so, U Aung Moe said.

U Wan Aung Zaw, the managing director of Myanmar Petrol Technical
Inspection Co, Ltd, said his company had not faced the problems others had
as his business mostly concerned the petroleum sector. "The petroleum
sector is usually more stable than other sectors because it is essential
for the country and it is still difficult to reduce petroleum imports," he
said, pointing out that petroleum imports had increased annually by about
10 per cent.

"But I now have fewer customers in the cement-and fertilizer-importing
sectors, and in the fishery export sector as well. Exporters rarely use
inspection agencies for those products," he said.

U Kyaw Tin said the greatest impacting factor on the inspection industry
would be trade liberalization, especially with regards to rice and India's
beans and pulses market. Private inspection companies in Myanmar
experienced a rise after the government began moving towards a market
economy in 1989, prompting an increase in exports from Myanmar.

____________________________________

May 29, The Myanmar Times
Dial-up users to be charged in FEC - Ye Kaung Myint Maung

Myanmar Teleport, the highly influential internet servicing company,
announced last week that it will begin asking dial-up users to pay their
monthly fees in FEC [Foreign Exchange Certificate].

Formerly called Bagan Cybertech, Myanmar Teleport is one of only two
internet service providers in Myanmar [Burma]; the other is the state-run
Myanma Posts and Telecommunications.

Myanmar Teleport provides four kinds of internet connections: dial-up,
ADSL, broadband and iPStar satellite service. Charges for ADSL and
broadband are already calculated in FEC.

The new monthly fees will be FEC10 instead of K9500 for the student-user
plan; FEC20 instead of K19,000 for the consumer-user plan; FEC40 instead
of K49,000 for the enterprise-user plan; and FEC100 instead of K120,000
for the corporate-user plan. The change will take place on June 1.

A manager at Myanmar Teleport explained to The Myanmar Times that although
dial-up users must now pay in FEC, the time limit for internet usage will
be extended by 5 to 25 hours, depending on the user plan.

No reason was announced for the decision to charge dial-up users in FEC.
The company also provides a web-based email service called mail4u and a
pay-as-you-go internet service called Access Kit.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

June 7, Agence France Presse
Annan welcomes release of Myanmar rights activist

United Nations: UN chief Kofi Annan welcomes the release by Myanmar's
military rulers of a rights activist imprisoned last year after she sued
village officials for imposing forced labour, his spokesman said
Wednesday.

"The secretary general urges the Myanmar authorities to follow up this
measure with further action that will alleviate the political atmosphere
and promote national reconciliation, including the lifting of remaining
restrictions on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political leaders,"
spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Su Su Nway, a 33-year-old member of Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu
Kyi's National League for Democracy, told AFP that she was released at
1:30 pm (0700 GMT) Tuesday from the notorious Insein Prison.

Su Su Nway was arrested in October 2005, after she reported cases of
forced labor to the UN's International Labor Organization and then sued
village officials over the practice.

She had been given an 18-month sentence, and the country's Supreme Court
had refused to take up her case.

Her release came less than two weeks after Myanmar extended the house
arrest of 60-year-old Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, despite an
international clamor for her release.

____________________________________

June 7, Mizzima News
Activists protest during Total chief’s speech - Mungpi

Rights campaigners gathered outside the RAI Conference Centre in Amsterdam
today to protest during a speech by Total Oil head Thierry Desmarest at
the World Gas Conference.

Protesters said the sentiment of the speech on gas-exploitation and
sustainability was contradicted by Total Oil’s activities in Burma.

Peter Ras, director of the Burma Centre Netherlands, which organised the
protest, slammed the Total Oil leader’s claim that the company’s presence
in Burma had benefited local communities by creating jobs and development
projects.

“This is their common message, they always say that, and we say there are
numerous reports about continuing human rights violations just because of
Total's investments in Burma,” said Peter Ras.

French oil giant Total, the United State’s Unocal, Thailand’s PTTEP and
the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise agreed to explore oil fields in Andaman
Sea in 1992.

In 1995, a 346-kilometre sub sea pipeline and a 63-kilometre onshore
pipeline were constructed to transport gas to Thailand—the main purchaser
of gas from the field.

While overseeing construction of the pipeline, the Burmese military were
reported to have committed various human rights violations, including the
forced relocation of villages, rape, extra-judicial killings, the
recruitment of child soldiers and forced labour.

Activists have condemned Total for their involvement in the project and in
2002 several villagers sued the company for its hand in their subjection
to forced labour on the pipeline’s construction site.

Last month, Total issued 5.2 million euros-worth of compensation to
villagers living regions affected by the pipeline.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

June 7, The Baltimore Sun
The Myanmar threat

The decision by the United States last week to increase pressure on
Myanmar by seeking a U.N. Security Council resolution against its
continuing human rights abuses is necessary and laudable.

But the negative reactions of key world powers to the U.S. diplomatic
escalation are distressingly toothless.

China, Russia and, shockingly, Japan reportedly argued in a closed
Security Council meeting last Wednesday that the lack of political
freedoms in the country formerly known as Burma doesn't pose a threat to
world security - and therefore doesn't meet the test for such a
resolution.

No wonder the generals running Myanmar's junta believe they can get away
with responding to a recent visit by a senior U.N. envoy - the first in
more than two years - by immediately extending the long-standing house
arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Burma's
democratically elected leader. China, Russia and Japan essentially are
saying that that sort of finger in the United Nations' eye should go
unanswered.

But worse than that, Myanmar has long been a nightmare - essentially a
prison for its residents and a slave labor camp for some of them,
according to reports from international human rights groups. And for the
rest of Southeast Asia - and the world - it has long been a leading
exporter of AIDS, illegal drugs and refugees.

If Myanmar isn't considered a destabilizing situation - a threat to world
security and peace worthy of attention of the U.N. Security Council - then
the definition of threat is so narrow as to be blind.

A few regimes are so beyond the pale in their human rights abuses that the
rest of the world should shun them as much as possible, unless it's to
negotiate change. North Korea is one. Burma is clearly another.

____________________________________

June 7, The Irrawaddy
Too little, but is it too late? - Clive Parker

More than 1,000 political prisoners are still in detention in Burma,
including the leader of the opposition, Aung San Suu Kyi. Human rights
violations—including the continued use of forced labor—are common
throughout the country.

Against that background, if the skepticism over the junta’s motives for
releasing the prominent rights activist and National League for Democracy
youth member Su Su Nway is to make way for genuine optimism then the
Burmese government still has a long way to go before achieving anything
approaching acceptable.

In the case of the International Labour Organization and the issue of
forced labor, the government only has six days to prove that it is ready
to take further positive steps before a full discussion on Burma at the
ILO annual conference on June 13. Unprecedented ILO action is contemplated
if Burma remains obdurate.

The Burmese government has so far fulfilled two of the three demands
considered a minimum starting point for the ILO—it agreed to set up a
panel to assess complaints of forced labor and then on Tuesday it released
Su Su Nway.

The question—as always with Burma—is will the regime just offer minimal,
token improvements (that are all to often reversed at a later date) or
will real, permanent changes be enacted?

The remaining step would be to free Aye Myint, a lawyer who was at first
sentenced to death for “treason” by communicating with the ILO, then
released following international pressure in 2005 and later again arrested
and given a further jail term, this time for seven years. Aye Myint
currently languishes in Pegu Prison.

All appeals on Aye Myint’s behalf have so far failed, but this was also at
first the fate of Su Su Nway, who was not due to be freed until just
before next year’s Thingyan, the Burmese Water Festival, in April.

This case again proves another of the ILO’s major concerns—that the
Burmese judiciary is completely controlled by the junta. Only political
intervention at the highest level of the Burmese government prompted Su Su
Nway’s release which seems to undermine completely previous claims by the
junta that the judiciary was acting independently when she and others were
convicted.

A senior official in the Burmese Ministry of Defense confirmed to The
Irrawaddy on Monday that all decisions related to the ILO come directly
from the very top and are only communicated to a select few, including the
Director General of the Labor Department, Chit Shein, and the junta’s
representative to UN agencies in Geneva, Nyunt Maung Shein.

Whether Aye Myint receives the same treatment as Su Su Nway depends on
whether the government believes him to be a threat or not. He has
effectively been made impotent as the Burmese Bar Association has
withdrawn his lawyer’s license, meaning he will not be able to represent
plaintiffs in the future, the reason he was imprisoned in the first place.
The signs might therefore be considered relatively promising for Aye
Myint’s release, but on Tuesday his lawyer San Maung told the NLD that
there had been no word on such a move as yet.

If he is not free before full discussions on Burma next Tuesday ILO
members are unlikely to believe the junta is capable of progress on the
forced labor issue, meaning members would then strongly consider referring
complaints against Burma to the International Court of Justice in The
Hague.

If he is freed—a move that would be considered a significant compromise by
the regime—the ILO will still be mindful that the chances of real reform
remain slim. Incidents of forced labor are still occurring, and Burma’s
jails still hold people locked up because they provided “false
information” to the ILO.

When it comes to the junta’s first compromise, the exact composition and
workings of a joint panel to assess forced labor claims are still not
clear. The ILO itself proposed a similar scheme for the first time last
November, whereby a representative of the ILO and the Ministry of Labor
would be joined by a third independent and “unimpeachable” mediator, an
idea that was dismissed as unworkable by the Burmese government. Will the
similar system now agreed upon include a third party? Even if it does,
potential forced labor complainants and their representatives will remain
extremely wary, knowing full well that their complaints will be examined
by the junta jointly with the ILO.

Can the regime be trusted not to take action against people it knows have
complained to the world labor body? We should have a better idea after
June 13.