CNI News
3 Jan 2023
As relevant authorities have failed to take effective action, illegal overseas employment agencies are mushrooming in Myanmar, labour activists in neighbouring countries told the CNI.
Another reason is that those who fell victim to frauds of overseas employment agencies did not know how to file reports against illegal agencies and some of them were discouraged by legal fees and time required.
The main reason is that only a few victims of illegal overseas employment agencies filed reports about the latter, Ko Thar Gyi, a labour activist for Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand told the CNI.
He said, "Even if the victims filed complaints, staff failed to take effective action not only against officially registered agencies but also against illegal ones, who were recruiting migrant workers in samll town without licenses and relevant authorities. Failures to take action against them is also due to the situation in the country. As there is no rule of law in the country, staff do not take action against them and such frauds are mushrooming in Myanmar. I think all staff are involved in the cases. In the social media age, we know everything that is happening in Myanmar from Thailand in real time but it is impossible that authorities do not know the problems. To make the long story short, they are corrupted and unaccountable. Illegal agents took enormous fees from workers and sent them to agencies, which in turn bribe the authorities. So, authorities did not take action against them and crimes were undetected."
Migrants trying to work in Thailand under the MOU between Myanmar and Thailand.
Although agencies and agents have been in Myanmar for a long time, the number of them have significantly increased because a large number of Myanmar nationals are trying to work abroad.
However, the workers were cheated of their money by unlicensed agents who were unaccountable for securing a job when workers were abroad. As a result, workers face extreme hardship abroad.
In taking action against illegal overseas employment agencies, failure to arrest main culprits will not discourage them, U Babu Gyi, who has been helping Myanmar workers in Malaysia told the CNI.
Detained illegal Myanmar migrants.
He said, "Illegal overseas employment agencies are mushrooming because authorities have fail to work effectively and it is difficult to combat such agencies. It is important that workers who intend to go abroad choose among agencies properly. Such agencies would manage to survive even if authorities took effective action. Even relatives like aunts and uncles are cheating workers of their money. They arranged for their nephews to work in Malaysia but when the workers arrived here, they could not find their nephews jobs. Eventually, the workers were detained by immigration authorities. They failed to take accountability for the detained workers. There are no agents who take accountability for workers they sent here. It is difficult to take action against them because they are bribing authorities. So, the main culprits are still at large and they are operating their illegal overseas employment agencies. It is almost impossible to combat them."
As overseas employment agencies do not have their company signboards, it is difficult to know whether they are operating officially or illegally.
As the Ministry of Labour is not responsible for launching operations against illegal overseas employment agencies on the ground, they have to rely on the public to file reports about illegal overseas employment agencies to township labour offices.
As the employment rate is very high in Myanmar, nearly 40,000 Myanmar workers are leaving the country every month, according to statistics released by the International Organization for Migration.
