2012-06-14 15:59:34

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.








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