Myanmar’s junta rejects UN labor resolution as ‘politically motivated’

ISTANBUL

Myanmar’s junta on Saturday criticized a United Nations resolution passed against it for forced labor and other labor practice violations, calling the decision “politically motivated.”

This “politically motivated decision” will have no “effect” on employers, workers, and businesses in Myanmar, the junta’s Labor Ministry said in a statement.

The International Labour Organization (ILO), a specialized agency of the UN, invoked Article 33 for the third time in history on Thursday, during its 113th Session in Geneva.

According to the International Trade Union Confederation-Asia Pacific (ITUC-AP), the article was first invoked in 2000 for Myanmar and again in 2023 for Belarus.

The resolution urged the organization’s constituents—governments, employers, and workers—to “take appropriate measures to ensure that such relations in no way enable, facilitate, or prolong the violations of workers’ rights in respect of freedom of association and forced labor” in any interactions they may have with Myanmar military authorities.

“In particular, any relations that may contribute or enable the perpetuation of ongoing harm or violence or acts of repression and intimidation of workers and employers peacefully exercising their fundamental rights through the support or supply of military equipment or means, including jet fuel, or the free flow of funds to the military authorities, should be comprehensively reviewed with the aim to disable all means that have abetted or empowered the perpetuation of the above-mentioned egregious violations,” the resolution said.

The ILO also urged relevant bodies to report any activities “that may be found in the course of their work to have the effect of directly or indirectly enabling or abetting the practice of forced labor or compulsory labor or violations of freedom of association in the country.”

Meanwhile, the National Unity Government, Myanmar’s government-in-exile, issued a statement welcoming the resolution on the same day it was invoked.

“This ILO decision is a victory for the Myanmar people, achieved through years of resilience against the military’s bullets, various forms of oppression, sexual violence against women, and airstrikes targeting civilians and schools. It also exposes the military junta’s terrorist acts to the world,” the statement said.

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