Intervention for the Elimination of Forced Labour

Executive Summary Project title: Intervention for the Elimination of forced labour Target country: Burma / Myanmar Project main responsible official: Steve Marshall, ILO Liaison Officer, Myanmar marshall@ilo.org +95 1 242 393 Synopsis of the programme The ILO in Myanmar is mandated to work for the elimination of the use of forced labour including underage recruitment and human trafficking. The Government of Myanmar is a signatory to the ILO Convention against Forced Labour (C29). The military regime issued Order 1/99 and its Supplementary Order making the exaction of forced labour illegal and punishable under the Penal Code. These Orders have largely been honoured in the breach with the main perpetrators being the Government Authorities including the military. In 2007 the Supplementary Understanding (SU) was agreed. It gives residents of Myanmar the right to complain to the ILO Liaison Officer in Yangon if they believe that they have been subjected to forced labour. With the development of a facilitator’s network some 690 complaints have been received, a range of forced labour complaints have been investigated and agreed solutions found, however, much more needs to be done. Considerable structural change has recently taken place in Myanmar. The depth and potential of this change is as yet unclear; it was centrally orchestrated and falls short of full democracy. This project is designed to take advantage of this new environment as best as is possible. The overall goal is for the eventual elimination of all forms of forced labour in Myanmar. To this end the project will build on the successes of the ILO forced labour program to date through: 1. Increased general awareness of rights under the law and confidence to exercise those rights by way of complaint under the SU complaints mechanism. 2. Enhanced ILO capacity to monitor incidents, identify trends and obtain information and statistics for reporting and strategic operational decision making purposes. 3. Creation of opportunities to influence policy application and behavioural change on the part of the authorities (military and civil) at both central and regional levels. Under the project the ILO will: 1. Distribute brochures in the official and local languages and expand training workshop activity nationwide. 2. Strengthen, expand and improve coordination of the ILO facilitators’ network. 3. Increase and enhance the effectiveness of the operation of the SU Complaints Mechanism. Budget requested: US$ 297,000 for 24 months (Oct 2011 – Sept 2013) Elements of innovation and sustainability of the project: The SU mechanism effectively provides an independent third party ombudsman process demanding accountability and respect for the rule of law. The project will help establish understanding between the duty bearers (government) and rights holders as to the shared benefits of applying the rule of law opening the way for further replication of this principle in other areas of accountability and human rights application.

Project symbol

MMR/11/03/USA

Admin unit

IPEC

Start date

01/10/2011

End date

31/08/2013

Total allocation

297000

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

240361

Development Partners

USA, Department of State

Country/Countries

Myanmar

Outcomes

International Labour Standards