Myanmar's endeavours to combat trafficking in persons
has been launched as national task

Myanmar views trafficking in persons as a grave issue confronting humankind. Therefore, Myanmar has been seriously tackling the issue through a comprehensive framework comprising national legislation, a national plan of action, high level commitment, bilateral, regional and international cooperation.

One of these endeavours is to host the Meeting of the six-nation Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking (COMMIT) in Myanmar in October this year. A meeting to discuss the successful holding of the COMMIT Meeting was held at the Ministry of Home Affairs on 25 June 2004. The meeting was attended by Minister for Home Affairs Col Tin Hlaing, Minister for Foreign Affairs U Win Aung, Minister for Labour U Tin Winn, Deputy Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, Deputy Chief Justice, Deputy Attorney-General, General Secretary of Myanmar Women's Affairs Federation, officials of the related ministries, Office of the Commander-in-Chief Defence Services, Military Intelligence Office and Yangon Command.

Salient points of the remarks made by Minister Col Tin Hlaing are as follows:
- Myanmar has acceded the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children and Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air.
- A draft law on anti-human trafficking is being drafted in accord with the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
- The Myanmar National Committee for Women's Affairs and Working Committee to Prevent Human Trafficking were formed to combat trafficking in persons.
- A total of 540 human traffickers were arrested in 294 cases during the period from 17 July 2002, when the committee was formed, to 31 December 2003. Of them 314 have faced prison sentences. Two faced life imprisonment; 77, above-ten-year imprisonment; 158, above-five-year imprisonment; and 77 under-five-year imprisonment. Myanmar is curbing human trafficking in accord with the existing laws.
- A receiving station was opened in Myawaddy on 18 February 2002 with the participation of six departments to receive back Myanmar nationals working illegally in other countries. Up to 7 June 2004, 10,031 men, 3,506 women, 177 boys and 176 girls returned to Myanmar through the station.
- Moreover, three Myanmar women, who came back from Malaysia; six Myanmar women, who came back from Thailand, were reunited with their families in 2004.
- Anti-human trafficking training under the agreement with Australia is being made.
- A Committee for the Prevention of the Recruitment of Child Soldiers was formed on 5 January 2004 under the leadership of the Adjutant-General, and juveniles have been barred from entering the institution.
- Although Myanmar has been making greater efforts on all fronts to expose, suppress and punish human trafficking and persons involved in the crime, giving education to the general public and cooperating with regional countries, America is ignoring them. The State Department of the US unjustly included Myanmar in the Tire-3 of its report issued on 14 June 2004.

Next, Minister U Win Aung discussed the matter regarding the continued inclusion of Myanmar in Tier-3 of the US State Department's unilateral classification of countries that appeared in the fourth annual Trafficking in Persons Report. He said that the Government of Myanmar is striving diligently to build a better future for its citizens. The Minister also said that it will continue to exert utmost efforts to combat trafficking in persons regardless of negative responses received from those which always refuse to recognize commendable efforts of Myanmar.

After that, Minister U Tin Winn said that pressures were applied on Myanmar since 1996 with the accusation that there was forced labour in Myanmar, despite her efforts to cooperation with the ILO. He also said that Myanmar enacted necessary laws, cooperated with the ILO experts many times and agreed on 19 March 2002 to the appointment of an ILO liaison officer and to the opening of its office in Myanmar. The Minister said that the Ministry of Labour has formed field observation teams that oversee the implementation measures in the various parts of the country and investigate allegations of the use of forced labour. The findings are submitted to the Director-General of the ILO under the close supervision of the ILO Convention 29 Implementation Committee and in collaboration with the ILO Liaison Officer a.i., although the entry into force of the Joint Plan of Action on Elimination of Forced Labour was postponed.

Participants of the meeting also took part in the discussions.

* * * * *