Question: How did you come to be in Chin State?

Answer: Essentially there were two reasons. The first reason is that the government of Myanmar [Burma] and the ILO have agreed that we should undertake joint awareness-raising seminars over all of the country, and Chin was one of the states where we had not undertaken that activity yet. The second was that we have over a period of time received a number of complaints about the use of forced labour from Chin state.

Q: How many complaint letters have you received from Chin State?

A: We’ve received about five formal complaints and a large number of informal complaints. But what we discussed with the government was that we should undertake this training and awareness activity, with a view to seeing whether in fact we were able to start effecting some change in the behavioural patterns in that region. It is no different in fact from any other region in the country. We receive complaints from all over the country, and the awareness raising activity has proven very positive in terms of getting peoples’ understanding and towards some behavioural change.

Q: The ILO will distribute brochures about forced labour in Chin state. How will you distribute this information?

A: We have a brochure which has been developed in agreement with the government, and you should be aware that it has already been distributed to all of the persons that were present at our seminar, and that the senior official at that seminar in fact requested more, so that he would be in a position to distribute them through to other government personnel who were not present at the seminar, which is extremely positive. However, of course it is also important for citizens to understand their rights under the law, which are also covered in the brochure, and so that is normally distributed through a range of different community based organizations and NGOs, people with an interest in their environment and who can brief others in terms of their rights and responsibilities.

Q: Apart from the brochures, are there other activities for the awareness campaign in Chin state?

A: Not specifically in Chin State, but frankly we use every opportunity we can to raise awareness.  For example, my talking with you is important, because media is one of the important networks for getting people aware of the situation and more aware of their rights under the law and their responsibilities under the law. So I use the media as much as is possible. We also undertake a whole range of workshop activities for individuals who are concerned, or the staff of community-based organizations, to give them an understanding and a basis on which they can then pass the word to others in the locations where they live and work, and we have undertaken a lot of this kind of workshop activity over the last year.

Q: How many Chin State authorities did you get a chance to meet?

A: Well, it was a state-wide activity, so the state authorities invited in representatives from townships. There were 160-plus persons, they represented almost every government department, from township, district and state levels. It encompassed the military as well, representatives of the army, representatives of the police, the judicial authorities, legal officers and all of the government departments and ministries with operations in Chin state.

Q: Did you meet with any members of Parliament or local people?

A: At that particular meeting there were no members of Parliament, but we have in fact had separate discussions with a number of members of Parliament. They obviously are interested in terms of the issues, and want to see the law applied and development activities result from that application of the law.

Similarly in terms of ordinary citizens, we undertake our educational activity with them through workshops and through community-based operations. This was a specific seminar targeted for local authority personnel, both military and civilian from all levels of the state.

Q: So overall you are satisfied with the visit?

A: Frankly, I am always satisfied with the opportunity of actually meeting people and exchanging information and knowledge. The critical factor now is that we maintain a monitoring activity to measure whether in fact there is any change in approach, in terms of the use of forced labour in Chin state, and that will only be measured over a period of time. I am very hopeful that the outcome will be positive both for the country  and for the people of Chin state.

Q: What is your comment on the Physicians for Human Rights report critical of forced labour in the state?

A: That was an important report. We obviously took serious note of the content of that report and elements of that report were discussed with the government towards getting understanding and agreement that we should hold this training activity. However, that report took place previously. It is important, however, what we are now loooking to determine whether a future report would say anything different in terms of changed behaviour and change approaches; it is my hope that it would.

Q: When will you return to Chin State?

A: To be honest, I have no idea; the ILO office in Myanmar is very small, we are not in the position to do regular follow-up missions, and so what we do is we operate through a network of individuals throughout the whole country, voluntary individuals, who keep us informed, who observe, record and report on developments, both positive developments and negative developments. So I am hopeful that through that mechanism we will be able to keep a good eye on how things are developing.

Q: Compared with other states in terms of human rights violations or forced labour, what can you say about Chin State?

A: You are aware that forced labour has been a problem in Myanmar for many years, and it is not an issue which is limited or restricted to particular states; it has been a general problem. There have been a number of areas in the country, because of their geographic location, or their economic situation or their political situation, which have had more serious histories in respect of forced labour. Chin, I would say, is an area that because of its geographic location, and possibly because of some of the political environment, has had serious issues in the past.

I do not see it as necessarily being worse than any other similar part of the country, but again I have to say that we are working towards the future, and we are not concentrating purely on what has happened in the past.