Today, Myanmar is the main labour migration source country in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. It has been estimated that one in four people are migrants, both nationally and internationally. Although migrating helps many improve their living standards, migrants are often faced with poor working and housing conditions, debt bondage, exploitation, forced labour and trafficking. Such issues highlight Myanmar’s need to reform its migration governance.
To discuss Myanmar’s current migration challenges, LIFT spoke with Mr. Akio Nakayama, Chief of Mission at the International Organization for Migration (IOM)’s Mission in Myanmar; Ms. Jackie Pollock, Chief Technical Advisor for Migration Projects at the International Labour Organization (ILO); and Ms. Reiko Harima, Regional Coordinator of the Mekong Migration Network.
Migration helps increase living standards of migrants and their families
Labour migration is a traditionally important livelihood strategy for people in Myanmar. According to the 2014 Population and Housing Census, there are more than 9 million internal migrants. The Ministry of Immigration and Population also estimates that there are some 4.25 million migrants abroad with more than 3 million employed in Thailand alone.
Most migrants send back remittances to their relatives. The World Bank has assessed that approximately USD 2.7 billion was remitted in 2018, accounting for as much as 3.9 per cent of GDP. This figure does not include remittances sent through informal channels, which are often preferred. In fact, due to a general distrust in banking systems, migrants typically choose to remit informally through relatives, friends or brokers.
Overall, remittances have a significant impact on reducing poverty, and provide financial safety nets to both migrants and their dependents. “For migrants and their families, there are positive sides to migration” says Mr Nakayama, “it clearly provides them with a better and steady income source, particularly international migrants”.
Many migrants suffer from exploitation, poor health care access and debt bondage
A large majority of migrants from Myanmar go through irregular channels, which makes them particularly vulnerable to labour exploitation and abuse. According to UNESCO, almost 60 per cent of internal migrants work seven days a week, 33 per cent work 11 to 15 hours a day, and only 60 per cent get some time off per month. Living and working conditions are also frequently unhealthy and unsafe due to unsanitary surroundings, extreme temperatures or fumes; not to mention limited health care access.
Mr Nakayama specifies that “unfortunately some [migrants] suffer from accidents, diseases and injuries, and if they have to finish their employment early, they are not able to gain net income, and sometimes end up indebted or in a worse situation than when they left”. Health problems can be financially catastrophic for migrants who are not entitled to benefits: they are often forced to pay out-of-pocket when they are already indebted to recruitment agencies, brokers or money lenders.
Migration can indeed be expensive. For example, although migrants should not legally have to pay agencies more than MMK 150,000 (USD 100) to migrate to Thailand, many report paying much more. Fees are typically deducted from workers’ salaries, and some describe employers confiscating documents until debts are fully repaid, leading to debt bondage.
Irregular migrants in particular risk trafficking and forced labour
In 2005, Myanmar enacted the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Law, outlining penalties between five years and life in prison for human trafficking. Both the governments of Myanmar and Thailand also agreed on Bilateral Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on the Management of Cases and the Repatrition and Reintegration of VoTs between Myanmar and Thailand. Problems however persist: in Thailand, some migrants are still trafficked into industries poorly protected by labour laws, such as the sex industry, domestic work, construction, factory work, agriculture and fishing.
Furthermore, as stated by Mr Nakayama, “continuous risky migration from conflict-afflicted areas such as Kachin and Shan state [is worrying because] many end up in exploitative and trafficking situations”. In fact, according to UN Women, trafficking is prevalent between Kachin State and China. Although there are no official numbers for how many people get trafficked into China; it has been estimated for every ten trafficked women, eight are forced to marry, and two to birth children (sometimes through forced insemination).
Countries of origin and destination play the blame game
When dealing with issues relating to migration, both origin and destination countries have crucial parts to play to ensure migrants’ safety and wellbeing. However, in countries of origin and destination around the world, there exists a pattern of pointing fingers at each other when things go wrong. Anurak Tossarat from the Ministry of Labour has indeed said to Agence France Presse (AFP) that if problems occur, “they may be on the side of the Burmese recruiters”. On the other hand, Myanmar agents blame Thai agents for encouraging illegal trade and demanding extra payment in exchange for jobs.
Ms Harima recommends that while destination countries have a responsibility to ensure foreign workers are well-treated, “countries of origin have an important role to play in setting up safe migration channels, providing accurate information to migrants before they leave, as well as providing overseas assistance through for example embassies and assistance if migrants need to return”.
A large majority migrates through irregular means because regular channels remain impractical
According to Ms Pollock, from the 1980s to 2010, there were no legal channels to migrate from Myanmar to Thailand even though people at the time desperately needed refuge and livelihoods. The legacy of this period continues, and Thailand and Myanmar are now trying to find ways to fully document all migrants. It is however challenging, as temporary documents provided to migrants often expire before all migrants are documented when a new round of documentation begins.
As listed in the Myanmar Overseas Employment Agency Federation, there are currently more than 250 government-approved overseas employment agencies. They are however all located in Yangon, and as Mr Nakayama explains, “the pre-departure orientation service for regular migrants is currently conducted in Yangon for three-day sessions, and for many aspiring migrants it can be a very long way to travel." For many migrants, the culture and languages just across the border are also sometimes more familiar than those in Yangon. In fact, migrating through regular channels can be complicated, time-consuming and may result in additional costs for the migrant.
Streamlining the migration process by decentralising the location of employment agencies
Numbers demonstrate that current regular migration processes are still too complicated, time-consuming, and may result in additional costs for the migrant. To incentivise legal migration therefore, Ms Pollock asserts that we need to develop efficient channels based first and foremost on the needs of migrants.
Mr Nakayama, Ms Pollock and Ms Harima all agree that one of the next steps to take in order to promote regular migration is to decentralise the location of pre-departure orientation and employment agencies. Having employment agencies in the areas where migrants come from, such as Mon and Shan state, will make it safer, easier and cheaper for migrants to leave the country through regular means. Such initiatives will also make migrants less vulnerable and might help reduce risks such as exploitation, forced labour and trafficking.
WRITER: Sandra Vedeld
