TWO FARMERS WHO COMPLAINED TO ILO SENTENCED; ILO

C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 000811 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP/MLS, DRL, AND IO PACOM FOR FPA E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/17/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM BM SUBJECT: TWO FARMERS WHO COMPLAINED TO ILO SENTENCED; ILO TO PROTEST Classified By: Political Officer Marc Shaw for Reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) Farmers Sentenced on Trumped-up Charges... -------------- ¶1. (C) Rangoon-based International Labor Organization (ILO) representative Steve Marshall told Poloff December 14 the Burma government is "embarrassed" by the recent sentencing of two farmers to seven years each in prison for cutting down eucalyptus trees on their property, but has not yet addressed the situation. According to a December 11 Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) article, a Magwe Division Court convicted the two of "misappropriation and damages to public property." After ILO Successfully Resolves 2007 Complaint -------------- - ¶2. (C) The indictment stems from a 2007 incident in which the Burmese Army attempted to confiscate and re-distribute the farmland of a number of local soy and cotton farmers unless they agreed to plant eucalyptus trees. (Note: It is common practice for local officials in Magwe to redistribute privately held land to those who agree to plant certain designated crops, eucalyptus trees in this case. Eucalyptus trees are widely cultivated in Burma for the gums, resins, oils, and woods they produce, which local officials allegedly sell for personal profit. End note.) After their land was seized, the farmers complained to the ILO. The ILO subsequently lodged a complaint with the Burma government on grounds of forced labor (because of forced cultivation). As a result, two local government officials were jailed and another was dismissed. The government also required local officials to return farmers' lands. ILO Will Press GOB to Investigate Sentencing -------------- ¶3. (C) Marshall believes local authorities then framed the two farmers in retaliation for their filing a complaint with the ILO. Locals living in the area provided the ILO evidence that local Forestry Department authorities cut-down trees from another location and physically placed them on the accused farmers' lands, then arrested them for felling those trees without government permission. Marshall said he will press the GOB to investigate this case. ¶4. (C) Marshall stressed the two instances in Magwe are isolated cases and do not reflect the generally "positive" relationship between Burmese authorities and the ILO. The Burmese government resolves "90 percent" of cases the organization brings to its attention, according to Marshall. Magwe Division, he added, is a perennial source of trouble for the ILO and he suggested that the GOB needs to "get that area under control." DINGER