CNI News
8 Sept 2022
Human trafficking victims comprising about 50 women from Myanmar have been stranded in Dubai, the UAE, after being sold to Oman although they were told to work as housemaids in Dubai by overseas employment agencies, Ko Sai Yu Maung, an activist who has been offering assistance to the victims, told the CNI.
Most of the victims are from Karen State in Myanmar and all of them want to go home but are liable to compenations ranging from MMK 5 million to MMK 12 million to do so, according to a victim, who returned from Oman because she could no longer work as a housemaid there.
Ko Sai Yu Maung told the CNI, “It can be said that they were sold or trafficked because their wages were exploited. They went to Dubai with tourist visas and when they arrived there, their visas and passports were taken from them and they were forced to sign contracts. They could not run away from their employers because they didn’t have their passports and visas. Their visas expired after three months there but their employers did not extend their visas. They were told that they would have to pay fines for overstaying, air tickets and compensations if they wanted to go home without working for them for six months.
They said they were sent to Omen despite coming to work in Dubai. They had to work the entire day and were allowed to sleep from 3 am to 5 am every day. Some victims were forced to give their employers a massage and some of them were subjected to sexual harrassment and physical violence.”
Meals for Myanmar house workers in Dubai.
Some overseas employment agencies and agents lured them with high wages and weekly holidays in Dubai.
However, they were sent from Dubai to Oman, where they were forced to overwork, eat only one meal a day and work every day even if they were ill without being paid, Ma Soe Soe (Changed name), who returned from Oman because she could no longer work there as a housemaid, told the CNI.
She said, “The employer had a big family including his wife, their three children and relatives. Their house was spacious. The couple and children lived on the upper floor and the mother- and father-in-law and his younger brothers lived on the ground floor. I had to work for all of them. I had to work from 6 am to 3 pm before I was allowed to have a meal. After the meal, I had to work again until 2 to 3 am. There was no day off. I was not allowed to take a day off even when I was ill. Once one of my legs was twisted and I fell off the ladder but I didn’t get a day off and had to work with a limp. There was no other housemaid other than me. I had to do everything. I was very tired and my wages were not paid. So, I no longer wanted to work there.”
As many Myanmar women went to Dubai to work as house workers but a large number of them ended up in Oman, she advised others not to go to Dubai to work as house workers.
She said, “Most women who went to Dubai got into trouble. If you have educational qualifications, it is convenient for you to work in Dubai. You will get days off. You will have work within the office hours. Then, you have your own free time. You can do anything you like. However, you should not go to Dubai as a house worker.
The actual wages of Myanmar house workers, who were sold to Oman, were much lower than the minimum wage of the country.
The minimum wage of a worker in Oman is set at about 300 Omani Rial (about MMK 1.6) million a month but Myanmar housemaids there get only 120 to 150 Omani Rial (from MMK 650,000 to over 800,000) a month.
