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  Issue No 111 Official Organ of LaborNet 14 September 2001  

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News

Travel Site Severs Burma Links


The international campaign against the Burmese junta is gathering pace, with Europe's largest online travel agent dumping the Lonely Planet travel guide.

Lonely Planet is one of the companies facing global pressure to withdraw from Burma in accordance with International Labour Organisation sanctions over the regime's use of slave labour.

ebookers.com this week withdrew extracts from Lonely Planet's guide to Burma, replacing it with a warning about the situation in Burma.

It also features a link to an article by Burma Canmpaign UK explaining the tourism boycott and one by Lonely Planet attempting to justify tourism to Burma.

Director of Burma Campaign UK Yvette Mahon says she is delighted with the decision.

"The situation in Burma is unique," Mahon says. "Travel agents can not act as if a holiday in Burma is the same as a holiday in France or Spain. "

"ebookers have understood this. We hope it will help Lonely Planet get the message that they should withdraw their guide to Burma."

ILO High Level Team to Visit Burma

Meanwhile, the composition of a High Level Team due to visit Myanmar for a three-week period next month to assess Government actions on forced labour was announced tthis week by the International Labour Office (ILO) Director-General Juan Somavia.

The Team Is Composed Of The Right Honourable Sir Ninian Stephen Of Australia (Chair); Ms. Nieves Roldan-Confesor Of The Philippines (Vice-Chair); Mr. Kulatilaka Arthanayake Parinda Ranasinghe Of Sri Lanka And Mr. Jerzy Makarczyk Of Poland, As Members.

The establishment of the Team, which was agreed in May and considered by the International Labour Conference at its June 2001 session, is a new and significant development which follows a series of steps taken by the ILO's competent bodies to secure compliance by Myanmar with its obligations under ILO Convention No. 29 (1930) concerning forced labour.

The mandate of the Team is to make an objective assessment of the practical implementation and actual impact of various legislative, executive and administrative measures announced by the Government in response to previous ILO action, with a view to determining whether these measures have been effective in eliminating the practice of forced labour. In making its assessment, the Team will take into account in particular the views expressed recently on this matter by the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations.

In carrying out its mandate, the Team will have full discretion to establish a programme of such contacts and visits as it considers appropriate across the country. It is anticipated that it will visit Myanmar in mid-September and spend up to three weeks in the country. It is due to report to the Governing Body at its November 2001 session.


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*   Issue 111 contents

In this issue
Features
*  Interview: Amidst the Debris
ACTU President Sharan Burrow surveys the wreckage from a week that rocked the world.
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*  Politics: Consequences of Empire
The horror of the events in New York has not led to all American and international observers feeling committed to bloody revenge.
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*  Industrial: Grounded
Ansett workers lay bare their feelings at seeing their company driven into oblivion.
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*  International: Election Results from East Timor
Fretelin as expected has topped the poll in East Timor�s first free democratic election and the violence predicted by some has not eventuated.
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*  E-Change: 3.2 The Electronic Consumerist
In their latest instalment Peter Lewis and Michael Gadiel ask how effective has the law become in safeguarding the things that really matter to us?
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*  Legal: Howard's Falkland War
Zoe Reynolds chronicles the bizarre tale of the Tampa and how a group of refugees bacame pawns in a bigger political game.
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*  Compo: Round Two Begins
Nancy Searle reviews the Sheahan Report and highlights some of the areas of concern to injured workers.
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*  Economics: Knowledge, Power, Banking
Raj Patel questions whether a new World Bank initiative is actually designed to control the way the Third World thinks.
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*  Review: Political Theatre
The Naked Theatre Company is a youthful, adventurous, professional, Sydney theatre company committed to the development and production of Australian playwrights.
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*  Satire: Howard US Visit "Marginally Overshadowed"
Australian Prime Minister John Howard has said his US trip was a complete success, if slightly upstaged towards the middle.
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News
»  Howard Deserts Ansett Workers
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»  Trans Tasman Battle for Entitlements
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»  Qantas Workers Move To Protect Their Entitlements
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»  Unions Denounce Muslim Attacks
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»  Fund Established for New York Workers
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»  Australian Unionist Lost in New York
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»  US Flight Crews Support Ansett Workers
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»  Compo: Threshold Too High
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»  Della Moves on Premium Evasion
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»  Travel Site Severs Burma Links
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»  Paint Company Wants Strike Declared Illegal
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»  Casino Staff Locked Out Again
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»  Tax Staff to Strike Back
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»  Union Applauds Deet Ruling On Clothing
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»  Unions Take Message to Migrant Workers
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»  Get Ready to Wobble
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»  Activists' Notebook
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»  STOP PRESS: Howard Rolls Abbott on Entitlements
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Columns
»  The Soapbox
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»  The Locker Room
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»  Trades Hall
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»  Tool Shed
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Letters to the editor
»  Message from the AFL-CIO
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»  Online Opinion
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