News Burma Turning to Forced-Labor for Reconstruction

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The discussion centers on the urgent need for UN intervention in Burma, where a military junta is exploiting cyclone survivors for labor in reconstruction efforts. Aid workers report that survivors are being forced to work on construction sites under harsh conditions, raising concerns about human rights violations. Participants debate the feasibility of military action against the junta, highlighting the challenge of obtaining support from China and Russia, who back the regime. There are differing opinions on whether the international community has the right to intervene in a sovereign nation's internal matters, especially when humanitarian crises arise. The conversation underscores the complexities of geopolitics and the potential consequences of intervention in Burma.
  • #31
Vanadium 50 said:
Um, where exactly does it say in the UN charter (especially Article VII) where the UN can use force on a sovereign country because it doesn't like how it is handling a purely internal matter?
...
Then UN can act if the genocide convention is triggered:

Article 8
Any Contracting Party may call upon the competent organs of the United Nations to take such action under the Charter of the United Nations as they consider appropriate for the prevention and suppression of acts of genocide[i.e. use of force] or any of the other acts enumerated in Article 3.
http://www.hrweb.org/legal/genocide.html

which is why genocide is such a hot potato word. It provides international justification for the use of force.
 
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  • #32
mheslep said:
Then UN can act if the genocide convention is triggered:


http://www.hrweb.org/legal/genocide.html

which is why genocide is such a hot potato word. It provides international justification for the use of force.

Technically you may be right but what are the chances that the UN would actually act on this considering the mess it could start? I don't see it happening.
 
  • #33
Pretty good chance is the US would agree to take the lead, otherwise zero.
 

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