Statement Made by Dr. Yu Tsune-Chi on Forced Labor on June 10, 1956 at the 39th International Labor Conference, Geneva.
Although it is my conviction that I should not take too much of your time on any subject (and that is the reason why I have not said much in this session of the Conference), I do wish to point out that the problem of forced labour is one of such importance that I cannot let this opportunity go by without expressing fully and comprehensively the views of my Government concerning this subject.
Before I proceed with the comments in connection with the report submitted by the Committee on Forced Labour, I should like to say that I do not wish to provoke any discussion but I do wish to point out that certain remarks have been made from this rostrum which are derogatory to my delegation. I do not even want to waste your time and mine by answering all of them because the answers are very clear, but one delegate said a while ago that it was necessary for him to clear the air of this Conference before he could go ahead to speak. I agree with him because I too wish to clear the air right now before I proceed with my comments on the report.
The best way to clarify the point is by mentioning the fact to you that this Organization of ours enjoyed tranquility and peace up to the time when certain delegations began to participate, and ever since that time I am sorry to say, we have not been able to enjoy the erstwhile tranquility. Therefore, I leave it to your judgment as to what is the right way to clarify the atmosphere. Again, there was another delegate who spoke from this rostrum and he said blandly and without any demonstration that the Workers' delegate of my country spoke without any foundation of facts. I can assure you that the Workers' representative of my delegation has been representing the workers of China during the last decade and he was elected purely by members of the unions of All-China many years ago, and he cannot speak lightly and he cannot ignore facts. What is more, I listened carefully to what he said and I have to tell you, and I think most of you will agree with me, that his facts and figures are based on documents which have been in circulation at this Conference. So much regarding that point.
The reason why my delegation takes a special interest in this point is that things are happening which are so important to humanity that we cannot afford to let them go from one year to another. We cannot pass the buck from the I.L.O. to the Economic and Social Council, and from the Economic and Social Council to the United Nations, and come back here again to the I.L.O. If there is any organization that has the supreme duty to look after this problem, that organization is the I.L.O., and I think, as a member of this Organization, that we should recognize that fact and perform our duty not only to the Organization but to humanity at large.
I have listened very carefully to the interesting, enthusiastic, illuminating remarks of the different delegates and I salute them when they pay so much attention to this problem because at this very moment there are millions and millions of human beings who are compelled to work against their own volition. Each day that we delay means one more day they have to suffer. If there is any one organization that has the responsibility to correct that situation, that responsibility lies with the International Labour Organization, and, indeed, everyone attending this Conference.
I am happy to say that my delegation agrees with the decision made by the Committee on Forced Labour and I congratulate those who worked so assiduously to put more substance into it, but unhappily, that was not possible. Therefore, it is our duty to continue our efforts irrespective of the obstacles and obstructions. The facts and figures concerning this problem have been documented in volumes and the figures and the laws have been printed in black and white. Who can deny them? Only those who do not wish to recognize facts. There are certain delegates who have made up their minds to sabotage the work by diluting the situation through manipulated amendments. To put amendments to the resolutions which have been happily accepted by the Committee would be tantamount to putting water into gasoline so that the automobile will not go. What is more, there is the question of interpretation. When you have an amendment attached to a resolution you can interpret it in a way to suit your own purpose, because, after all, an international court cannot interpret in the letter and spirit every word of every provision of our Conventions; therefore, those who design to destroy the true interest of our Organization will have the opportunity to accomplish their preconceived designs. Finally, who can be assured that those who advocate the widening of the range against forced labour can live up to the letter and spirit of the Convention after they have signed? Those countries which try to dilute the proposition are the very countries which have violated international pledges time and again. That is the situation. What are we going to do about it? The only thing we can do is the right thing that is to defend the international organization which is ours to our utmost ability.
We are here in an atmosphere which is international, but at the same time it is political. There is something which is far more important than international politics and that is humanity. Above all is humanity. That is the saying in my country imbued in the mind and blood and tradition of my country, which has had centuries of experience. With that in mind, I believe it is our duty to go ahead step by step without losing sight of the facts and figures. Therefore, what I would suggest is that we read over all the documents and do not pass judgment on them by saying that they are not reliable, that they are not complete and not perfect, simply because we have had a glance at one particular paragraph which : is not to our own liking. I think most of the reports are impartial and are based on the facts and figures available in the circumstances. Any one of us would be committing an error if we were to attack the gentlemen who have spent so much time in preparing documents such as the report of the Ad Hoc Committee of the I.L.O. by saying that they are not complete and that therefore these gentlemen are to blame. That is not just. They are based on the facts and figures available.
The sections in the Ad Hoc Committee's report concerning the mainland of my country are comprehensive and are based on the facts obtainable under the circumstances. Requests are sent out to certain countries asking for information. If they do not submit information in their defence, then the members of a committee such as the Ad Hoc Committee on Forced Labour have to write their reports based on material which has been published in laws, ordinances, regulations and even constitutions. How can we conscientiously attack those gentlemen by saying that their report was not complete when they have merely put this information in the report?
I do not wish to take more time by relating some of the facts as supplemented by documents. No one can deny that facts are facts. Some people even say, especially one delegate who raised the question, that there is no country which has a constitution with provisions encouraging forced labour. But I wish to quote to you one article of the so-called Constitution of the Chinese Communist regime, promulgated on 20 September 1954, which runs as follows:
"The People's Republic of China safeguards the people's democratic system, suppresses all treasonable and' counter-revolutionary activities and punishes all traitors and counter-revolutionaries. The State deprives feudal landlords and deprives capitalists of political rights for a specific period of time according to law. At the same time it provides them with a way to earn a living in order to enable them to reform through work and become citizens who earn their livelihood by their own labour." That is in the Constitution of the so-called regime and you can deduce everything therefrom.
In conclusion, I wish to tell you that this important problem concerns all of us and we must do whatever we can to uphold the suggestions contained in the report in the two resolutions and vote against amendments which attempt to divert the attention of delegates.
Statement Made by Liang Yung-chang on June 11, 1956, during General Discussion in Committee on Forced Labor at the 39th International Labor Conference
Mr. Chairman,
After careful scrutiny of the reports submitted to this Committee for discussion, we will find that in spite of efforts made by the United Nations and the ILO in the past several years to bring about the abolition of forced labor practices, the situation has grown worse and is still deteriorating. One cannot help being shocked by the amazingly large number of human beings involved in the evil system of forced labor in many countries of the world, by adding together the figures presented in these reports.
In view of the importance of this question, this Committee will no doubt have a very difficult task, and the result of its deliberations will have a great influence on the worthiness of this great Organization. I would like to congratulate the Office for its accomplishment in having presented to the Committee a very objective and valuable report to serve as a. basis for our discussion. I am also gratified to note that as a result of analysis of the replies of governments, there is a remarkable degree of unanimity on the need for a new international instrument to cover all forms of forced labor excluded from the scope of the Forced Labor Convention of 1930, and in particular those forms to which attention was drawn in the report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Forced Labor. I am also happy to note that a great majority of countries consider that the new instrument should take the form of a Convention as the most effective means of achieving the end in view. While I do not intend to go into detail at this stage on the substance of the proposed conclusions of the Office report, I do agree with the suggestion that there should be both a Convention, and a Recommendation, the scope of the Convention to be limited to three forms of forced labor, i.e., political coercion, mobilizing labor for purposes of economic development, Or as a means of labor discipline, and that of the Recommendation to include mainly those forms of forced labor which are excluded from the scope of the Forced Labor Convention of 1930. My desire to support the Office text is based on the consideration that the proposed instrument should aim at commanding the widest possible measure of support from Member States of this Organization. It has been and it is always the sincere desire of the loyal member States of this Organization, and the genuine representatives of the employers and workers, that we should strive not only of or the adoption of some instrument stipulating benefits and protections for the working people, but we must adopt instruments which would secure the widest ratifications of the Member States in order to insure their effective implementation. Having this objective in view, I think we should agree that compulsory labor services such as normal civic obligations of the citizens and emergency mobilization for national importance should not be included in .the proposed Convention, but instead they might be included in a Recommendation supplementing the Convention, in order to avoid creating obstacles to the ratification of the Convention by those Member States which have national legislative provisions for such civic obligations and emergency mobilizations. This seems to be the only approach to meet the requirements of most countries and to secure their ratification of the proposed Convention. I must also point out that suggestions for a much wider scope and for an implicated definition of the forced labor practices which have been made by some countries should not be considered by members of the Committee, because their intention constitutes a deliberate misinterpretation of the definition of the forced labor practices. To consider the adoption of an instrument covering so-called "all forms of forced labor, whether open or concealed, and whether used as a means of direct or indirect coersion" would lead members of the Committee to unduly protracted and fruitless discussions. The Committee would not only be distracted from its main objective, which is the abolition of forced labor as a means of political coercion or for economic purposes, but would also misrepresent world opinion which is based on the fact that forced labor in its worst form exists only in those countries or occupied areas which are notorious for their slave labor camps. It would also create an undesirable effect of minimizing the seriousness and the deplorable conditions of the forced labor system obtaining in these countries, and also misleading the public to believe that discriminatory, unfair labor practices and other unfavorable labor conditions are also forms of forced labor.
I agree with the Office that work or services exacted as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law should be regulated. I also note with great interest the significance of the provisions set forth in Section B, IV of the proposed conclusions, which refers to such provisions as "convictions as a result of legal proceedings before an independent tribunal," "work or service exacted as a penalty under the law 'of the State," "work or service should be carried out under the supervision and control of a specified public authority" and so on.
I wish to point out that the forced labor systems are initiated and perpetuated by means of laws and regulations in almost all of those countries or areas where forced labor practices prevail, and the organization of the forced labor system is placed under the control of the military or public security forces of these countries.
In this connection, as it has been pointed out in the reports submitted to the Committee, on the Mainland of China, which is the largest slave labor camp in the world, enslaving 25,000,000 people, the use of forced labor is stipulated even in the so-called Constitution of the regime. An over-all Statute on the widely-expanded forced labor institutions was promulgated on August 26, 1954, namely the "Regulations Governing Reform through Labor," These regulations include 77 articles which require the "coordination of disciplinary control with thought reform," and the "coordination of productive labor with political education," The irony is that these regulations were adopted four months after the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations had solemnly condemned forced labor. It is also stipulated in these regulations that reformatory labor institutions shall be under the direction of the people's public security bureau…." It is therefore very clear that the enforcement of such forced labor practices is vested with all legality.
In view of the situations prevailing in these Communist countries or occupied areas, I cannot but consider the provisions of Section B, IV as constituting a serious loophole in the proposed instrument. A dictatorial regime can enslave millions of its population under the pretext of a normal conviction in a court of law, a law made by the party in power to crush the people who dare to hint the slightest form of dissatisfaction or opposition to the dictatorial rule. Mr. Chairman, forced labor is based on law, reform through labor is based on law, even brain-washing is based on law. But who makes the law, who enforces the law, that is the hinge of the problem. If forced labor is allowed through a conviction in a court of law, I am afraid this will perpetuate a system which we are making great effort to abolish. I wish the members of this Committee will give this matter some serious thinking before we come to any conclusion in the general discussion. I thank you.