US embassy cable - 03RANGOON355

UNCLAS RANGOON 000355 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV AND DRL/IL 
USPACOM FOR FPA 
LABOR FOR ILAB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB, PHUM, BM, Human Rights 
SUBJECT: LABOR MINISTER REJECTS ILO ACTION PLAN 
 
REF: RANGOON 300 
 
1. (SBU)  COM Martinez met with Labor Minister Tin Winn on 
March 18 to encourage greater Burmese cooperation with the 
ILO on forced labor.  Specifically, the COM urged the 
Minister to accept Rangoon ILO Liaison Officer Ms. 
Perret-Nguyen's recommendations for a plan of action to be 
presented at the ILO Governing Body on March 26-27.  While 
Tin Winn said he has worked closely with Ms. Perret-Nguyen on 
the proposed plan of action, his government could not accept 
elements of the plan that she deemed essential for a 
minimally acceptable presentation to the GB.  Tin Winn said 
his government would not accept the concept of a "mediator" 
empowered to receive and follow-up complaints regarding 
forced labor.  He also rejected the idea of a pilot region 
where forced labor would be strictly prohibited and 
alternatives explored because, as envisioned by the ILO, the 
mediator would play a central role in the pilot region. 
 
2.  (SBU)  Responding to COM's recommendation that the 
government's implementation committee against forced labor 
needed a representative from the army (the largest user of 
forced labor in the country), Tin Winn said the government 
considered putting a representative from the military 
Inspector General's office on the Committee but decided a 
military intelligence officer with experience in 
international relations would be more appropriate.  Minister 
Tin Winn said the Burmese government has adequate mechanisms 
in place for receiving and investigations of complaints of 
forced labor and adequate laws for prosecution when 
necessary.  The Labor Minister emphasized that the GOB will 
continue to focus on public awareness campaigns to ensure 
that citizens understand that forced labor is not legal.  He 
dismissed the COM's comments that most victims of forced 
labor remained fearful of reporting abuses. 
 
3. (SBU)  Later the same day, ILO Liaison Officer Ms. 
Perret-Nguyen told COM that, on the eve of her departure for 
the GB meeting in Geneva, she was very discouraged by the 
government's intransigence on even the minimal elements 
necessary for a meaningful plan of action.  Ms. Perret-Nguyen 
said the GOB appears to have reached a critical juncture on 
the issue of forced labor; it does not know how to wean 
itself off of a dependency on forced labor yet it is 
unwilling to allow the ILO, or any outsiders, the necessary 
access to help solve the problem.  She said that in a meeting 
on March 5th, the Labor Minister asked if GOB acceptance of 
the two minimally required elements she was proposing to 
include in the action plan would satisfy the GB.  When she 
responded that the GB would probably ask for more steps to be 
taken (but she would work together with the GOB to address 
these concerns), the Minister said that there was no 
incentive for the GOB to accept these minimal elements if 
more requirements were to follow.  Perret-Nguyen said that 
the Minister appeared to be in the difficult position of 
attempting to appease the ILO without allowing real changes 
(i.e., greater transparency) that he knew Senior General Than 
Shwe and other memebrs of the military leadership would 
reject.  As it stands now, she said, she cannot endorse the 
government's plan and she expects that the GB will be quite 
critical of it. 
Martinez