News

UNI Global Union today called for the immediate release of five union activists who were arrested, along with some of their family members, after they attended a union congress.



UNI says that they are being unlawfully detained and fears that they are being tortured.



“We are calling on the military government of Burma to release our colleagues immediately and to end their campaign of threats, intimidation and detention and torture of union members and their families,” said UNI Deputy General Secretary Philip Bowyer.



On April 1, five members of the Federation Trade Unions Burma (FTUB) were arrested in their homes in Rangoon after returning from border areas where they had participated as delegates in the FTUB’s First National Congress.



The FTUB says the five members are likely being held in interrogation centers in the Rangoon area where it is believed that they are being tortured. The union members have served as non-violent advocates and campaigners for workers’ rights and the improvement of wages and working conditions for workers inside Burma. While the charges on which they were arrested have not been announced, the FTUB condemns the unlawful arrests.



The five detained delegates are:



1. U Zaw Myint Aung (49 years old, Teacher, South Okkalapa, Rangoon)

2. U Soe Oo (37 years old, Textile Factory Worker, Shwe Pyi Thar, Rangoon)

3. Maung Tun Nyein (22 years old, Worker, Shwe Hninsi Textile factory, Hlaing Thayar, Rangoon)

4. Ms. Khine Lin Myat (22 years old, Worker, UMH Textile factory)

5. Ms. Shwe Yi Nyunt (25 years old, Nurses Aide and Law Student, University of Western

Rangoon, and Member, FTUB Women’s Committee)



Along with the unionists, an unspecified number of their family members were also arrested and threatened in an effort by the military authorities to compel cooperation from the five detained union members, the FTUB said.



“The fact that our members were arrested just after returning from participating in the 1^st National Congress of the FTUB, which is recognized by the international labour movement as the legitimate national labour center of Burma, shows just how little regard Burma’s generals have for human rights, labour rights, and the international agreements they ratify,” said U Maung Maung, the General Secretary of the FTUB.



The FTUB is demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all five union members; an end to SPDC intimidation, detention and threats to FTUB members’ families; SPDC compliance with ILO Convention 87, which Burma has ratified and which protects freedom of association; and denunciation of the arrests of the union members and an end to all activities that prevent workers from forming trade unions and exercising their workers’ rights in Burma.



See related files for the FTUB statement.