Statement

ILO Myanmar May Day

May Day to be observed by workers around the world each year, in recognition of the efforts of the labour movement to secure workers labour rights.

Statement | Yangon | 30 April 2021
For more than 100 years, on 1 May each year, workers around the world commemorate May Day, in recognition of the efforts of the labour movement to secure workers labour rights.

On this day of special significance to the world of work, the precariousness and injustice facing workers and people in Myanmar is laid starkly bare. The economic survival of many businesses has been already under serious strain as a result of the global pandemic. Many workers and their families are facing a profound crisis and living in a climate of fear, intimidation and violence. Some workers no longer earn a sustainable living or have lost their jobs.

Now more than ever, respect for all labour rights is critical to the livelihoods and economic survival of workers and businesses.

Today is also a reminder that the ILO Centenary Declaration of 2019 reaffirmed the aims, purposes, principles and mandate set out in the ILO Constitution and the Declaration of Philadelphia (1944) that says:
(a) labour is not a commodity;
(b) freedom of expression and of association are essential to sustained progress;
(c) poverty anywhere constitutes a danger to prosperity everywhere;
(d) the war against want requires to be carried on with unrelenting vigour within each nation, and by continuous and concerted international effort in which the representatives of workers and employers, enjoying equal status with those of governments, join with them in free discussion and democratic decision with a view to the promotion of the common welfare.

As a member of the ILO, Myanmar has also ratified Fundamental ILO Conventions including: the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87); Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29); Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138); and the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182).

In February this year, the ILO Director General highlighted the obligations flowing from Myanmar’s membership of the ILO and its ratification of the key ILO Convention - the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 No.(87), and underlined the importance of the ILO’s continuing work to eliminate forced labour in the country.

The ILO Director General also urged military leaders to uphold commitments under the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) to ensure that workers including civil servants and employers are able to exercise their freedom of association rights in a climate of complete freedom and security, free from violence and threats.

The ILO Liaison Office for Myanmar extends its solidarity and support to workers in Myanmar and reiterates that workers must be free to exercise their fundamental labour rights. The ILO Office for Myanmar is working with other UN agencies and partners to help provide essential support to workers in Myanmar.

More information about Fundamental ILO Conventions in English and Myanmar languages is available at https://www.ilo.org/yangon/publications/WCMS_738362/lang--en/index.htm


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