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BANGKOK, Jun. 21, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Burma could become the first nation to be taken before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over abusive labor practices if its ruling generals do not heed a global call to end forced labor.
Rangoon has till November to convince members of the International Labor Organization (ILO) that it means business, this time. The ILO has called for the junta to release from prison, by the end of July, civilians arrested for filing complaints to the ILO office in Burma about forced labor, and to end prosecutions currently under way.
By the end of October, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the junta is officially known, should also have in place "a credible mechanism for dealing with complaints of forced labor with all necessary guarantees for the protection of complainants," the ILO says.
The new benchmarks for the junta's commitment to change were set during the just-concluded 95th International Labor Conference (ILC) in Geneva, which was attended by some 3,000 delegates representing the three main pillars of this specialized U.N. agency. They included representatives from the government, workers and employers.
This is not the first time Burma has been called to task for an abusive labor culture that borders on slavery. During the ILC last June, the junta's refusal to reform resulted in...