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UNICEF confident it won’t work with forced labour in Myanmar

The United Nations children’s fund says it is confident it will not be working alongside forced labourers during Myanmar recovery efforts.

UNICEF emergency relief official Pierrette Vu Thi says UNICEF’s mandate at the moment is to provide whatever humanitarian assistance possible.

But she adds that the agency has a wider responsibility to uphold human rights standards for workers and children.

U.N. bodies have criticised Myanmar’s ruling junta for years for forcing people to work against their will. Nevertheless, Vu Thi told reporters on Thursday in Geneva that she did not think the Myanmar government would put her agency in such a difficult position during joint recovery work. — AP

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