Objection against establishment of COI: Myanmar strongly rejects unilateral decisions of 110th ILC

Myanmar strongly rejects unilateral decisions and conclusions adopted during the 110th Session of the International Labour Conference, the Ministry of Labour issued an announcement on Friday.

The announcement stated it is observed that the decisions and conclusions against Myanmar were adopted respectively by the 345th Session of the ILO Governing Body and the Committee on Application of Standards during the 110th Session of the International Labour Conference (110th ILC), which was held in Geneva of Switzerland from 27th May to 11th June without the participation of Myanmar.

These decisions and conclusions were derived from the Report of the ILO Director-General on Development in Myanmar and 2022 Report of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations.

In this regard, Myanmar has already conveyed its observations to the respective bodies of the ILO. The reports contained excessive politically motivated elements rather than labour related matters and they are not credible.

The elements contained in the reports are heavily relied on distorted information and fabricated news, which are deliberately disseminated by the so-called labour activists. Accordingly, it is not surprised to see that the decisions and conclusions are largely politicized.

It is also observed that the ILO ignores the essence of tripartite mechanism in implementing the Decent Work Country Program and in providing technical assistance without engaging the government.

The ILO neglects the internationally-accepted principle of providing assistance at the request of the country concerned. The Government of Myanmar has been implementing the activities to assist the workers and employers with tripartite nature.

The decisions also mentioned about the Commission of Inquiry which was established in March this year, and questioned on Myanmar’s compliance with the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention, 1948 (No.87) and the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No.29).

In reality, there are 2,892 Basic Labor organizations; 162 Township Labor Organizations; 26 Region and State labor Organizations; 9 Labor Federations; one Labor Confederation in Myanmar with 190,000 members of such labour organizations.

It is not true and appropriate to generalize that Myanmar is not upholding its obligations under the Convention No. 87 because of taking legal actions against a handful number of so-called labour activists for inciting the general public to commit violence and unrest.

In Myanmar, the National Complaint Mechanism on Eliminating Forced Labour of Myanmar (NCM) was established since 2020. The report of the ILO Director-General mentioned that since February 2021, the ILO received 13 individual complaints that are subject to further assessment while no cases have yet been submitted to the NCM.

It is incomprehensible to learn that the ILO Liaison Office takes one and half year to submit the cases to the NCM. Furthermore, the allegations regarding the use of forced labour were made without verifiable information such as names of individuals, location and date of incidents.

For these reasons, Myanmar strongly protests and rejects the decisions and conclusions adopted at the 345th Session of the ILO Governing Body and the Committee on Application of Standards. Myanmar further reiterates its objection against the establishment of the Commission of Inquiry in the absence of the country concerned goes against the ILO Constitution.