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GENEVA : The International Labour Organisation expressed its concern on Saturday that the Myanmar ruling military junta will use forced labour to rebuild areas of the country devastated by Cyclone Nargis.
The cyclone left 133,000 people dead or missing when it pounded into Myanmar on May 2-3, destroying entire villages and laying waste to the country's rice-growing region.
The ruling junta has already been harshly criticised for blocking entry to foreign aid in the crucial hours following the disaster, which US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Saturday said cost "tens of thousands of lives".
The ILO says there is a risk that the reconstruction of Myanmar will involve further injustices if it is not closely watched over.
There is an "increased risk of incidences of forced labour, child labour, human trafficking and migrant labour" following the disaster, the UN organisation said in a report out of Yangon presented on Saturday.
To guard against this threat, the ILO said "attention is being given to ensure that relief and recovery operations do not inadvertently accommodate forced labour or other human rights abuses".
"...Particular emphasis is being placed on preventing displaced and orphaned children from dropping into forced labour," said the Geneva-based group.
On May 19, the ILO's representative in Yangon presented 46 complaints of forced labour, though the report said "it is still too early to assess what effect Cyclone Nargis has had" and that "the number of complaints cannot be seen to reflect the size of the issue". - AFP/de
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