Myanmar: Not another year of tyranny, 1 February 2022

The Building and Woodworkers’ International (BWI) joins the world in marking the heroism, courage and martyrdom of the people of Myanmar as they continue the struggle for democracy, one year after a military coup toppled their democratically-elected government. We reaffirm our steadfast support and solidarity to the Myanmar people, especially to the workers and trade unions, as they fight tyranny and oppression amidst overwhelming odds...

The Myanmar people fought back in various and extraordinary ways that defied bullets, surprised even the military junta, and inspired the world. The trade unions and workers launched successive general strikes that paralysed the country’s economy. The youth and students shut down schools and used the internet as a platform of resistance. And the women, widely hailed as the backbone of Myanmar’s struggle for democracy, were among the first in the frontlines to confront the military regime...

BWI, together with the international labour movement, was successful in kicking out the military regime from the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and contributed to persuade the credentials committee of the United Nations (UN) to defer a decision on who will represent Myanmar at its General Assembly...

Together with the international trade union movement, BWI will continue to mobilise and advocate for the recognition of the NUG as the legitimate representative of people of Myanmar, support the broadening of the economic sanctions to deny the military junta source of foreign currencies, and intensify the use the ILO complaint mechanism by filing a case using the Article 33 of the Constitution.  BWI will also work with international organisations to put the military regime in the remit of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice...