United Nations must respect Myanmar sovereignty, junta says

Dec 17, 2006, 15:42 GMT

Yangon, - Myanmar's (Burma's) military junta on Sunday welcomed the United Nations participation in economic development of the country but warned the international body against any infringements of its national sovereignty.

'We warmly welcome those who come and work with us in accord with the UN Charter for the further development of social and economic conditions of Myanmar,' said Soe Tha, Myanmar's minister of national planning and economic development.

But, he added, 'I would like to stress that we can not accept those who use UN to do activities that will infringe our sovereignty and harmful to our union solidarity.'

Soe Tha's comments were made at a press conference Sunday held at Nay Pyi Taw, the country's new capital situated 300 kilometres north of the old capital of Yangon.

The press conference was attended by the junta's main economic ministers, diplomats, representatives of UN agencies and non- governmental organizations.

Myanmar has not received development aid from western democracies and their chief multilateral aid organizations such as the World Bank, IMF and Asian Development Bank since 1988, when the military crushed a pro-democracy movement that had gripped the isolated country, leaving thousands dead.

UN agencies and various NGOs have remained in the country with limited development programmes aimed primarily at addressing the country's worst humanitarian problems but even these organizations have occasionly threatened to pull out due to excessive interference in their work by the ruling junta.

The International Labour Organization (ILO), for instance, has threatened to bring sanctions against the regime for its imprisonment of Burmese nationals who reported labour abuses in the country.

Although several of the people imprisoned have been released this year, the ILO has been pressuring the government to set up a mechanism whereby it can guarantee the safety of those who report labour abuses to it, but negotiations have stalled on the debate over national sovereignty, sources said.

'Negotiations are required to continue to set up a mechanism as there are three remaining differences between ILO and Myanmar,' said Labour Deputy Minister Maj-Gen Aung Kyi.

He noted that negotiations with the ILO were held four times in Yangon, the former capital, this year and five times in Geneva.

Aung Kyi questioned the appropriateness of the ILO taking the labour reporting mechanism debate to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the primary court of the UN.

'Political pressure is out of tune with ILO matters. According relevant article of ILO constitution, ICJ cannot entertain complaints on prevailing the labour matter,' said Aung Kyi.