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Responsible investment in Burma

Issue date
Solidarity with Burmese workers

G8 Foreign Ministers' meeting

April 2013

TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady has written to Foreign Secretary William Hague ahead of the G8 Foreign Ministers' meeting that he is hosting in London next week. Her letter urges him to use the meeting's discussion of Burma to secure international agreement on a code of responsible investment in Burma.

The code has been drafted by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in consultation with the Burmese trade union movement (FTUB), national centres like the TUC, global union federations and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD. Unions are sending similar letters to the Foreign Ministers of the other G8 member states (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the USA and the EU.)

Frances' letter - and the draft ITUC code of practice - follows.

Dear William

Burma: responsible. accountable investment

On 10-11 April 2013, you will be hosting the G8 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in London, and the need to support a framework for responsible international investment in Burma will be a major issue on the agenda.

The TUC appreciates and supports this initiative in principle, particularly as G8 members ease or eliminate economic sanctions and G8 based corporations invest in and increase trade with Burma. It is essential that any new business support long-term economic and social development, which simply cannot be accomplished without full respect for human rights - including the human rights of workers.

In the immediate term, we urge that all enterprises doing business in Burma comply fully with the UN Guiding Principles and OECD Guidelines. In the short term, and in the absence of more binding regulation, we urge you to support at the G8 meeting the attached proposal to establish a Commission for Responsible and Accountable Investment, prepared in the context of the European Union. We believe this proposal if implemented will better ensure that the responsibilities found under the UN Guiding Principles and OECD Guidelines are given meaningful effect in practice. We hope that we can count on your support in moving this proposal forward.

We are troubled by the long and continuing history of serious human rights violations and corruption associated with business in Burma. While the country has passed new labour legislation and trade unions are now being registered for the first time in a generation, serious labour violations are routine and the newly enacted dispute settlement mechanisms have as yet proven ineffective in providing an adequate remedy to workers who suffer discrimination on the basis of their union activity. We must avoid the situation where Burma slowly emerges from decades of government repression only to face exploitation by multinational enterprises seeking to take advantage of low labour costs and a still weak regulatory environment.

We have advocated that enterprises doing business in Burma uphold human rights standards, consistent with those found in the UN's Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. Importantly, at European level the Committee on International Trade of the European Parliament is currently considering a resolution that calls on the EU to create a centralized mechanism that would require companies doing business with Burma to undertake human rights due diligence and disclosure of their supply chains and policies. We agree that any worthwhile framework must have as its foundation due diligence and disclosure, as well as effective dispute settlement procedures in order to provide remediation in the case of violations.

Finally, the TUC also urges you to continue to press the government of Burma on its human rights record. While recognizing dramatic changes under the current government, serious concerns related to political prisoners, land confiscation and attacks on ethnic groups, among others, still remain.

Yours sincerely

FRANCES O'GRADY

General Secretary

Annex: Commission for Responsible, Accountable Investment in Myanmar

Structure: The commission would be comprised of an office in Myanmar comprised of a team of international and local staff with expertise on human rights as well as the economy of Myanmar. The basic functions of the commission would be to carry our promotional activities with regard to business and human rights, to be a repository of the information (described in the disclosure section below) and to provide mediation/conciliation services regarding breaches of human rights. The commission would be overseen by an advisory board including representatives of civil society, government and business.

Participation: The EU shall take on-going, affirmative measures to encourage EU corporations doing business with Burma to enrol with the Commission. The EU should hold a conference in 2013 convening major EU multinationals and Burmese civil society representatives to discuss UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and their application, human rights issues that may arise in the course of investment in Burma, recommendations for avoiding or remediating those impacts, and related matters. Further, corporations receiving any subsidies or other benefits from the EU or member states should be required to participate in the commission.

Disclosure: Enterprises joining the commission would be required to undertake a thorough and credible human rights due diligence process, assessing any actual or potential adverse impacts associated with that trade or investment, including business relationships, and publish that assessment on a centralized website maintained by the Commission prior to establishing the investment and thereafter. Enterprises would also be required to publicly disclose their direct or indirect business relationships including their supply chains within Burma on this site.

Dispute Settlement: Enterprises would consent to a process to review alleged breaches of its human rights requirements. This is not a substitute for any legal action which could be taken in any court with jurisdiction.[1] Any third party/affected persons or their representatives could bring a complaint to the commission. The complaint would be reviewed together with all evidence and a final report with specific recommendations, if any, would be issued. Efforts would first be made to have the corporation voluntarily prepare and implement a remediation plan consistent with the recommendations. If no plan is prepared or it is not implemented in full, then the enterprise would accept review by ad-hoc arbitration, if requested by the claimant, which would issue a binding award. Claimants could alternatively seek relief in court.

The EU would also facilitate access to courts in the jurisdiction where the corporation is headquartered to hear claims arising in Burma where laws so provide.

Oversight: The Commission will issue an annual report as to the compliance of European corporations with UN Guiding Principles which will be submitted to INTA. On the basis of this report, INTA will annually hold a hearing to discuss its finding and to assess ways to improve compliance in Myanmar (measures both by business and government).


The commission would also work to provide technical support when requested to help the government fulfil its duty to protect human rights.

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