After flooding the streets last May 1 to celebrate Labor Day, Filipino workers and other activists again trooped today to Makati City, this time to protest against “the worst labor rights violator in the world”—Burma.
{mosimage}After flooding the streets last May 1 to celebrate Labor Day, Filipino workers and other activists again trooped today to Makati City, this time to protest against “the worst labor rights violator in the world”—Burma.
Bringing along construction materials like hoes, shovels, hammers and packs of cement, the protesters from the Free-Burma Coalition (FBC) – Philippines and the Asia-Pacific Solidarity Coalition (APSOC) staged before the Burma (Myanmar) Embassy in Makati a street drama that depicted the “forced labor” problem in Burma.
The groups criticized the continuing practice of “forced labor” in Burma and called for the return of democracy and justice in Burma, which has been ruled by the military for four decades. “STOP FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA”! was their main call.
“Despite repeated condemnations and warnings from the International Labor Organization and other United Nations bodies, the military regime still practices forced labor. People from ethnic villages including women and children are being forced to work on road and other construction projects without pay or any form of monetary compensation,” said Gus Miclat convenor of the FBC-Phils and the regional coordinator of APSOC.
In November last year, the Burmese regime had threatened to withdraw membership from the ILO and accused the body of lacking good faith and being a political tool of Rangoon’s many international critics.
“Forced labor is not merely exploitation of workers. It is modern slavery. While others protest unjust wages and unfair work benefits, many peoples of Burma undergo forced labor where they do not receive anything. It’s a work-till-you-drop rule,” Miclat explained.
The ILO, which recently allowed its individual members to launch their own sanctions against Burma, said it wanted to see concrete action on eradicating forced labor before the next meeting of its governing body on June 2006. It also reported that its representative in Rangoon had received 21 death threats, shortly after junta-sponsored rallies against the organization last year.
“The ILO should do more than issue warnings against the regime. The death threats received by the ILO representatives means that the regime only intends to scare its detractors, not to stop inhumane practices like forced labor,” the APSOC coordinator stressed.
“Instead of acknowledging the problem of forced labor, the junta chose to blame its critics. The junta wants us to believe that it is a decent government; it wants us to believe that reforms are being done and all these criticisms against them are pure lies. Let us not be taken for a ride,” Miclat warned.
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