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UN slams Burma over forced labor practices
Associated Press - November 23, 2009
Geneva – The UN labor agency has criticized Burma for failing to abolish forced labor more than a decade after the global body first took up the issue with the Southeast Asian country, officials said Friday.
The International Labor Organization adopted a resolution last week saying it is "deeply concerned" that Burma continues to imprison people who claim to have been subject to forced labor or were involved in complaints against the practice, said spokeswoman Laetitia Dard.
The resolution called for the immediate and unconditional release of the prisoners, as well as of all other people detained for political or other labor activism. Foreign governments and human rights groups have for years urged Burma to release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained for 14 of the past 20 years, mostly under house arrest.
Burma has consistently maintained that it is making good-faith efforts to eliminate forced labor and recognize the right of its citizens to make complaints on the subject without fear of punishment. The ILO resolution acknowledged that the country was cooperating regarding complaints.
The Geneva-based ILO has since 1998 been investigating forced labor being used in Burma to aid the governing military junta and to build roads and other projects. The latest resolution also expresses concern about forced labor being used in infrastructure projects such as building oil and gas pipelines.
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