Myanmar News Updated
Highlight Myanmar News
Myanmar to Resume Sending Maids Abroad
15/05/2019
AUTHOR: SWE LEI MON
For the last five years it has been illegal for maids to go work overseas, however the Myanmar government is planning to illegalize overseas employment for maids, they are preparing to sign an agreement that will allow maids to go abroad for work.
Due to lack of jobs opportunities in the country, going overseas to work as maids has become popular. In addition, those who go abroad can earn around S$500 or K600,000 a month while working as a maid, this has only made it more appealing for many young ladies to take up working abroad.
In 2013, the former president U Thein Sein’s administration legalized sending domestic workers. Within a year, Myanmar sent 130 maids to Singapore and 170 maids to Hong Kong, but in 2014 they stopped sending them after a rights abuse issue occurred.
Myanmar Overseas Employment Agencies Federation estimates that despite the 2014 ban on sending maids overseas, at least 30-40 girls leave the Yangon international airport daily to work as maids.
“According to labor organizations in Singapore, there are around 40,000 Myanmar maids in Singapore. Singapore is not a country where you can easily be smuggled into, because of that people leave the country for Singapore holding only a visit visa; then stay there and work. When you see them, you will know that they can’t afford to go shopping in Singapore,” said U Kyaw Htin Kyaw, General Secretary of MOEAF.
Faced with excessive working hours and exploitation from the employers, often Myanmar maids have attempted suicide by jumping from the apartments where they work. During ban, even illegal employment agents often overcharged or exploited the maids by charging a fee worth six months’ salary for their services.
“It’s very heartbreaking that Myanmar maids are being exploited, they should be protected, instead they choose to overcharge them. Legalizing it can reduce these exploitations,” a human rights activist said.
Since Myanmar banned sending maids abroad, those working as maids in Singapore, Hong Kong, Macao and Thailand automatically became illegal workers, this exposed them to more abuse because they did not have protection from the laws of both countries.
With the aim of protecting their rights, the Committee to Education, Health and Human Resource Development decided at its meeting held in March to resume sending maids to Singapore, Macao, Hong Kong and Thailand.
“We are preparing to sign an MoU with Singapore. After that, we will do the same with Hong Kong. We are trying to complete the deal as soon as possible,” said U Win Shein, Director General of Labour Department.
Worker rights activists believe that the root cause of Myanmar maids being exploited is from the ban on sending maids, they believe it can be reduced by training them before they are sent overseas.
U Win Shien said the government has drafted requirements that employment agencies must meet. “If we don’t allow sending maids, the law can’t protect the maids; they don’t even know where they can go to report when they have problems. So, we need to allow it because the number of illegal maids is growing,” said U Peter Nuynt Maung, President of MOEAF.
At present, the government has asked MOEAF to draft requirements such as working hours, beneficiaries, fees and curriculum for a training program. MOEAF will submit them to the government.
“Before sending maids, we need to train them so that they can operate household electronics and know their rights. The other thing is the language and background information of the country they are going to. For that, the employment agencies must provide training. By doing so, our young girls working as maids will get legal protection. Now, they do not have any legal protection since they went there illegally,” said Daw Mar Mar Oo, Director of Worker Development Organization.
In ASEAN countries, the Philippines has the highest number of maids working overseas, this is followed by Indonesia whose maids have full legal protection because they send them only after training and language classes are finished.
“The Philippines sends maids in accordance with their laws, which in effect allows maids to have legal protection from the government. Our government should do the same,” said Daw Mar Mar Oo.
Overseas employment agencies hope that Myanmar will be able to send maids to Singapore this year because of the government’s efforts. Workers and labor rights activists asked government to disclose the MoU and develop a fair contract between employers and employees.