An arm of the International Labor Organization (ILO) has arrived at a verdict in favor of detained rights activists aligned with the outlawed Federal Trade Union of Burma (FTUB).

The ILO's Committee on Freedom and Association, on Wednesday, reached a decision against the incarceration of six human and trade rights activists associated with the FTUB and arrested last year.

 

According to the case brought before the ILO, the six were arrested, and subsequently sentenced to over 20 years incarceration, for their part in assisting in celebrations and speeches for last year's International Labor Day on May 1. The festivities were arranged to take place at the American Center in Rangoon.

 

The Committee, noting that Burma is a signatory to the 1948 Convention (No. 87) on the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, concluded that no Burmese citizen should suffer hardship at the hands of officials "for exercising his or her rights to freedom of association, opinion and expression."

 

Drawing attention to "the total absence of a legislative framework and climate sufficient to enable trade unions to exist in Myanmar," the working group also determined that it is essential that the Burmese government permit the involvement of exile organizations in the process, inclusive of the FTUB.

 

Attention was further drawn to the ILO's position that the Burmese government has repeatedly failed to honor its international commitments under Convention No. 87.

 

Consequently, the Committee's recommendations are that all six detainees should be immediately released, the FTUB recognized as a legal body and that the authorities make a committed effort to recognize the people's right to public association.

 

On its side, the Burmese government argues that those arrested were detained as a result of their having illegally left and re-entered the country, the arrests having nothing to do with May Day or workers rights.

 

Specifically, the six in question are charged with membership in a terrorist group, FTUB. The junta accuses the FTUB of financially supporting and partaking in terrorist acts inside Burma.

 

According to the government, "the defendants received monetary support from illegal associations such as the NLD(LA) [National League for Democracy – Liberated Areas] and the FTUB, arranged and facilitated the dissemination of information about these associations to workers in Myanmar and acted in defaming the Government in the course of these activities."

 

Though the government maintains the arrests were not related to trade union rights, the government's response to the ILO inquiry inferred that since the six were neither factory workers nor in fact employed anywhere, they could not be expected to accurately represent the desires of true workers and to speak on their behalf.

 

The FTUB, which maintains an office in the United States, states its objectives as the restoration of democracy and human and trade union rights in Burma, in addition to the goal of equal distribution of wealth.