US embassy cable - 04RANGOON1224

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 001224 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV; PACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/08/2014 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, PINS, ELAB, BM, Human Rights 
SUBJECT: SHOWDOWN AT THE ILO?  GOB CAVALIER ON FORCED LABOR 
PROBLEMS 
 
REF: A. RANGOON 1136 
     B. RANGOON 676 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: COM Carmen Martinez for Reasons 1.4 (b,d) 
 
1. (U) This is an action request.  Please see para 11. 
 
2. (C) Summary:  The ILO's Burma representative corroborates 
UNHCR reports of a "serious resurgence" in forced labor in 
Rakhine State.  He adds that the GOB has dismissed all recent 
ILO interventions on forced labor and appears to be 
completely indifferent to potential countermeasures imposed 
by the international community.  We've requested a meeting 
with the Minister of Labor to raise our concerns about these 
forced labor reports and alleged GOB complicity and to 
highlight potential repercussions for Burma at the November 
ILO Governing Board meeting.  End Summary. 
 
3. (C) P/E chief met on September 8 with Richard Horsey, 
liaison officer for the International Labor Organization 
(ILO), to discuss recent reports of a surge in the use of 
forced labor in Rakhine State.  Horsey not only corroborated 
the alarming reports we've heard from UNHCR and others 
sources (ref A), but assessed that the forced labor situation 
near the western border "is the most serious it has been in 
years." 
 
4. (C) Horsey said that the ILO first learned from 
independent sources in July that local military units in 
northern Rakhine State were rounding up villagers to rebuild 
six bridges in northern Maungdaw Township, near the border 
with Bangladesh.  Military commanders required each nearby 
village to provide 45 persons per day to work on the project; 
villages unable to contribute labor were forced to offer cash 
payments to local authorities.  The project contractor, who 
reportedly has close ties with SPDC military intelligence, 
provided small food packets or "minuscule" cash payments to 
some villagers, but most were uncompensated. 
 
5. (C) The ILO made a written intervention to the GOB on July 
23, documenting the reports of forced labor in Rakhine State 
and requesting action to address the problem.  Horsey noted 
that villagers forced to work on the bridges were unable to 
partake in the seasonal planting of rice, leading to food 
shortages and reduced family income.  The GOB responded in 
late August that its "Convention 29 Implementing Committee" 
had dispatched a field observation team to Rakhine State and 
concluded that there was no merit to the reports of forced 
labor, "which appear to be nothing more than rumors spread by 
jealous contractors." 
 
6. (C) Horsey was not surprised by the GOB's flat denial. 
The ILO, he said, has made 35 interventions thus far this 
year to the GOB, documenting credible reports of forced labor 
throughout Burma.  The GOB has responded to roughly two 
thirds of the inquiries, ignoring the remaining third, and 
denying in every case that any forced labor existed.  In one 
egregious example, Horsey provided the GOB with a first-hand 
account of forced labor in Chin State, including photos of 
women and children working on a road project.  The GOB 
acknowledged that the project existed, but claimed that all 
work was "mechanized" and required no human labor whatsoever. 
 
7. (C) In early September, Horsey met with the GOB's 
Interagency Implementing Committee on forced labor and raised 
the Rakhine reports as well as additional forced labor 
issues, including: the arrest of two individuals after they 
had filed forced labor complaints with the ILO office in 
Rangoon; the arrest of three individuals in southern Rakhine 
State after they had written the GOB with complaints of 
forced labor; and the ongoing court case of several Burmese 
convicted of treason for having contact with the ILO (ref B). 
 Horsey said he had expected the GOB, facing a November ILO 
Governing Board meeting in Geneva, to be superficially 
cooperative or to at least take minimal efforts to stem the 
most blatant cases of forced labor.  However, Horsey said, 
"the GOB is unconcerned about our reports and appears to be 
completely indifferent to potential ILO sanctions." 
Comment: The Comfort Zone 
8. (C) Forced labor and other human rights abuses in Rakhine 
State, home to a significant portion of Burma's repressed 
Muslim minority, are not new phenomena.  Such practices, 
condoned and encouraged by the GOB and the Burmese Armed 
Forces, were a primary factor leading to the mass exodus of 
several hundred thousand ethnic Rohingyas who fled Burma into 
Bangladesh in the early 1990s.  However, the presence of UN 
agencies and NGOs in the region, and corresponding pressure 
from the ILO since 2000, had until this year led to an 
overall decline in the use of forced labor. 
 
9. (C) Local ILO staff acknowledge that the use of forced 
labor had declined overall throughout Burma, but conclude 
that such progress does not reflect the regime's desire to 
stem labor abuses and was simply a result of international 
pressure and a GOB effort to forestall punitive ILO action. 
According to ILO rep Horsey, the outstanding treason court 
case, the recent resurgence of forced labor practices, and 
the GOB's lack of response could very likely lead the ILO in 
November to reactivate a 2000 resolution calling on ILO 
members and affiliates to review relations with Burma.  The 
ILO, he added, may also seek to invoke new and unprecedented 
measures under Article 33, such as discouraging foreign 
direct investment in Burma. 
 
10. (C) We find this resurgence in forced labor incidents, 
and the GOB's cavalier attitude toward the possibility of ILO 
action, a further sign that a decline in pressure from ASEAN 
and others in the region has allowed the regime to feel 
increasingly secure in its political comfort zone.  End 
Comment. 
 
11. (C) Action Request: The Chief of Mission has requested a 
meeting with Minister of Labor, Tin Winn, to express our 
concern over the reports of forced labor in Rakhine State, 
including the alleged complicity of local government and 
military authorities.  Post would appreciate, as background 
and additional talking points for this meeting, more 
information on the anticipated process at the November ILO 
meeting and potential measures directed at the GOB for its 
failure to stem forced labor practices.  We understand that 
Burma discussions in Geneva are scheduled to take place on 
November 17 or 18.  End action request. 
Martinez