CNI News
14 Sept 2022
Only those who can endure problems and hardship should go to work as domestic workers in Dubai in the UAE, labour activists told the CNI.
As 99 percent of Myanmar domestic workers get into trouble in Dubai, no one should to Dubai as a domestic worker but it is impossible to prevent them from working there, Ma Myo Myo Aye, a labour activist from STUM, which has been helping Myanmar workers in Dubai, told the CNI.
She said, “I they have decided to work as housemaids in Dubai, they are required to possess endurance of hard work. Employers there do not understand labour rights and force housemaids to work until they get their money’s worth. So, domestic workers should consider the situation and housework cannot be limited to eight hours a day. They will ask housemaid to work as necessary. And employers there are not responsible for food of domestic workers. Even if they provide food, their rice is very rough because it is not their staple food. They may provide bread to workers instead. Domestic workers need to understand all these.”
Life of Myanmar domestic workers in Dubai.
Moreover, there is no Myanmar embassy in the UAE nor an officially recognized overseas employment agency to send workers there, domestic workers have to go there under the arrangements of illegal agencies. Therefore, domestic workers who can speak a little English are able to overcome problems.
The illegal agencies lure domestic workers with light work and weekly days-off and send them to Dubai.
However, when domestic workers arrive in Dubai, they have to work very hard without days-off and they should check thoroughly before signing contracts with agencies, Ko Sai Yu Maung, who is helping Myanmar workers in Dubai told the CNI.
He said, “When workers face problems, no one takes accountability. So, anyone who decides to work in Dubai as a domestic worker should check whether his or her agency takes accountability because every international standard is violated in that country. Domestic workers lose their labour rights. Everything the agency guarantees should be clearly expressed in the contract so that they can be sued if the contract is violated.”
Seven Myanmar women rescued by the police of the UAE and Myanmar.
Despite facing so many problems in working in Dubai, there are still many Myanmar domestic workers who are trying to go there.
If Myanmar domestic workers want to work abroad, they should choose other countries except the UAE, Ma Myo Myo Aung told the CNI.
She said, “It is difficult to prevent them from working in Dubai because they don’t have access to information about the real situation in Dubai. They are lured to work as domestic workers in Dubai because they lack knowledge. Frankly speaking, I don’t want anyone of them to work in Dubai, especially as domestic workers and want them to choose other countries.”
As seven Myanmar women were trafficked into Dubai, the police there had to rescue them with the help of the Interpol and the Myanmar police and they arrived back in their own country on 9th September.
Three women who were involved in trafficking Myanmar women were detained by authorities, according to the True News Information Team of the SAC.
