Suu Kyi pleads for workers' rights at UN in Geneva
(June 14, 2012) Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has called for support
for democracy in her homeland, and warned against economic development which ignores
the rights of workers. She was addressing the International Labour Oganization (ILO)
at the start of her first visit to Europe since 1988. Suu Kyi who spent much of the
past 24 years under house arrest, was freed in late 2010. She won a seat in Myanmar’s
parliament in a by-election two months ago. In her speech, Aung San Suu Kyi welcomed
steps by the international community to reach out to her country, long isolated because
of its military dictatorship. "The international community is trying very hard to
bring my country into it and it's up to our country to respond the right way." She
chose to go first to the ILO because of its long campaign against forced labour in
Myanmar - a campaign which kept the oppressive regime in the spotlight during her
long years of house arrest. Earlier, ILO rewarded Myanmar's reform efforts by lifting
restrictions on the country's participation in the global body's work.