A/HRC/16/59 89. The Special Rapporteur commends the considerable progress made in addressing underage recruitment. The Government cooperated with the ILO to return 73 underage recruits during 2010, 40 from complaints received in 2010 and 33 from complaints initiated in 2009. At the end of December 2010, the ILO had received 331 complaints of underage recruitment since beginning to monitor the problem in February 2007. Of those complaints, 142 underage recruits have been discharged back to their families, while 120 cases were in the process towards discharge and a further 60 complaints were either under assessment or required further information prior to submission. 90. Complaints have steadily increased: 13 were made in 2007, 31 in 2008, 86 in 2009, and 201 in 2010, a result of the increase in both the awareness of Myanmar residents of the existence of the minimum age and their confidence to complain rather than an indication of an increase in the actual recruitment rate. Each complaint that the ILO has filed on behalf of a family member has been investigated by the military. In most instances, it is reported that the identified military perpetrator of the underage recruitment is prosecuted under Military Regulations. Penalties have ranged from the issuing of a reprimand, loss of service rights, and monetary fines to, in three cases, terms of imprisonment. To date no prosecutions against identified civilian brokers have been reported. 91. According to the ILO, the Myanmar Army has undertaken extensive training activities for military personnel on the legal issue of underage recruitment, including activities undertaken with UNICEF and the ILO. A brochure explaining the law relating to forced labour, including underage recruitment, and procedures to be taken in the event of a breach of the law, continues to be widely circulated nationwide. 92. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the report that there has been no harassment of persons who complained about child-soldier cases. In contrast, the ILO regards the ongoing imprisonment of three persons associated with the filing of forced labour complaints as a direct breach of the non-retribution provisions of the Supplementary Understanding and continues to call for their immediate release. The Special Rapporteur supports this call. 93. According to the ILO, the Government appears to have reduced, through extensive awareness-raising efforts, the incidence of forced labour imposed by the civilian authorities. However, the use of forced labour by the military continues unabated. Although formal complaints are not received from conflict areas, there are reliable reports on the systematic use of forced labour by the military in such activities as portering, sentry or guard duty and camp security fence construction. 94. The Special Rapporteur is concerned about reports of fundamental problems in the structure and application of the Land Laws that have resulted in numerous complaints by farmers who refused to undertake forced labour on their traditional family land and subsequently lost the land to the Army or companies owned by the Ministry of Defence. 95. The Government has formally advised the ILO of the intention to introduce legislation in the new parliament permitting the establishment of trade unions as reflected in the provisions of the 2008 Constitution. Such action also meets Government obligations as a ratifying signatory to ILO Convention No. 87 (1948) concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise. The Special Rapporteur is encouraged to learn that a high-level ILO mission to Myanmar in late February 2011 will include, at the Government’s request, a freedom-of-association expert who is expected to be consulted on the draft legislation content prior to its finalization and tabling in the parliament. Nine labour activists associated with the ILO remain in prison. The ILO expects those persons to be immediately released in the spirit of moving towards Myanmar’s adoption of freedomof-association principles. 96. Finally, the Special Rapporteur would like to draw attention to the HIV epidemic: there are estimated to be over 10,000 new infections a year in Myanmar, and HIV-related 18