The International Council of the Global March Against Child Labour has adopted the following statement:
The International Council of the GMACL, which is committed to end child and forced labour everywhere and pursue the goal of decent work for adults and universal education for children, and meeting in The Hague that took place between 22-24 October 2007, expresses it deepest concern about the violent repression by the junta in Burma of the popular demonstrations for democracy. The Global March Against Child Labour is writing to the leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and to the leadership of the Federation of Trade Unions -Burma (FTUB) to express our solidarity as the world's largest alliance of trade unions and NGOs.
We call on the junta to heed the demands of the international community for immediate and positive steps towards democracy and reconciliation, including the release of all political prisoners, full freedom of association and expression and the ending of forced and child labour in Burma, which has been systemic. We call on the United Nations and its member states and on the EU and ASEAN to exert the strongest possible influence on the regime, including through the enactment of comprehensive economic sanctions, and on all enterprises to cease investment in and trading with Burma in line with the demands of the popular democratic movement and in the spirit of the resolution adopted in 2000 by the ILO.”
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