Making sense of the International Labour Organisation’s stance on Myanmar

Mizzima Commentary

Prior to the massive earthquake, March saw protests in Yangon and other areas of Myanmar calling for action against the Myanmar authorities under Article 33 of the Constitution of the United Nations’ labour agency, the International Labour Organisation or ILO.

The protestors were calling for sanctions against the Myanmar junta as the ILO has been debating their stance on Myanmar with a decision due to be made at the ILO Conference set for June in Geneva in Switzerland. In recent protests, demonstrators called on the ILO to implement Article 33.

Article 33 empowers the ILO to take action when a member state fails to comply with recommendations from the ILO’s Commission of Inquiry. Specifically, Article 33 states that in cases where a member does not fulfill the recommendations, the Governing Body may recommend to the International Labour Conference (ILC) measures of a punitive or corrective nature, including sanctions or other actions, to secure compliance.