The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and its "Global Unions" partners have blacklisted 250 companies for doing business in Burma.

The Unions' list, published on 15 November, was the culmination of an eight-month campaign in which it contacted all companies that have links with Burma urging them to stop doing business with the country. Some companies said their presence helped the people in Burma, others did not respond.

According to the trade unions, "it is impossible to conduct any business in Burma without directly or indirectly supporting the Burmese military dictatorship, which is responsible for the extensive use of forced labour, as well as other serious violations of human and trade union rights."

The blacklist follows the release of the International Labour Organization's (ILO) report on forced labour in Burma. A high-level ILO mission visited Burma for three-weeks in September and October to assess whether forced labour had been eliminated. Last year, the ILO called on member-States to "review their relations with" Burma for its "persistent violations" of the Forced Labour Convention, No. 29.

The mission concluded forced labour was widespread particularly in the hinterland where ethnic minorities were forced to work without pay. The ILO report recommends the government accepts a permanent ILO presence and the creation of a special ombudsman to investigate allegations of abuse.

Trade unions estimate that more than 800,000 people in Burma are forced to work as agricultural workers, army porters and construction workers for little or no pay. There are about 1,500 political prisoners, thousands have fled to Thailand, China, India and Bangladesh as refugees and the democratically elected government has been stopped by the military dictatorship from taking power.

Anti-Slavery International supports the ICFTU's action and believes that by imposing sanctions an important source of revenue will be cut off thereby weakening the economy and forcing the regime to consider political and economic reform.