4 October 2006, Geneva

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) today expressed deep concern after the Sri Lankan Government informed it that the ICJ�s official representative would be prevented from entering the country to observe the inquest into the killing of 17 Action Internationale Contre la Faim (ACF) aid workers in Muttur in August.

What the union members of the KGEU Gyeongnam Jinju Chapter, which had protected the union office from the attacks by the riot police and the authority, faced in the morning of September 28 were much more riot policemen packed up around the building and a ladder truck outside. At 06:10, the union members and solidarity organisations members who held a protest sit-in overnight were forcefully pulled out o­ne by o­ne. Till 07:00, the union office was taken over by the riot police and authority.The same happened to the KGEU Gyeonggi Siheung Chapter and Gwangmyeong Chapter. From the dawn of September 28, the attacks started. It didn�t take more than an hour. 2 members from the KGEU Gwangmyeong Chapter were hospitalised. At the same time, the KGEU RDA Chapter was also being attacked. The RDA (Rural Development Administration) is a research institute under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. After the directive o­n March 22 by the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs was issued, the new administrator had broken agreements with the union and refused any negotiations. A peaceful protest rally by the KGEU o­n May 25 in front of the RDA had been attacked by the riot police and hundreds of the union members had been arrested. o­n September 8, the 7 leaders of the KGEU RDA Chapter were dismissed.

KCTU/KGEU Breaking News #2 - Sep. 22, 2006

In Nam-gu(district, municipality), Ulsan Metropolitan City, at 12:10 pm. the riot cops broke the wall of the KGEU local office to storm into and shut down the union office. In Geoje-gun(county), Gyeongnam-do(province), hundreds of riot cops have been deployed inside and outside of the building and, as of 12:10 pm., are learing away barricades that the union members established. More than 100 KGEU members are holding a sit-in protest around the union office and the confrontation continues.

The KGEU held a mass rally o­n September 9th in Changwon, Gyeongnam-do (province, south western part of Korea), where the KGEU Gyeongnam Regional Branch office were forcefully closed down o­n August 30, while the ILO Asian Regional Meeting was held in Busan, Korea.The Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs (MOGAHA) claimed that the rally was illegal activities and that all the government employees participating would be taken to disciplines. Despite that the rally was legally notified to the police in advance, the MOGAHA insisted that government employees' participating was illegal and that should be blocked.

On Friday the Security Council voted 10 - 4, plus o­ne abstention, in favour of putting Burma o­n its formal agenda for the first time. This is a major success, and means the UN is finally taking up its responsibility to address the situation in Burma, after 16 years of avoiding the issue. Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, described the vote as "a step toward finding political solutions to our problems." While getting Burma o­n the agenda is a significant step forward, we still have a struggle ahead of us to persuade the Council to pass a binding resolution to require change in Burma.

You can read more about this campaign here: http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/unitednations.php