Black Labor Market Bypasses Ban on Burmese Women Working Abroad

By AUNG THET WINE

A flourishing black labor market is bypassing a new government ban on the migration of women to seek work abroad, business sources in Rangoon report. Burmese authorities are involved in the illegal schemes, they allege.

The government’s Department of Labor cautioned around 110 overseas employment agencies on July 9 not to assist Burmese women to seek jobs abroad. The owner of one agency said they were told that infringements of the edict could result in the cancellation of a company’s license or even imprisonment.

The employment agencies were told the ban had been imposed to protect Burmese women against human rights abuses abroad, the agency owner said.

One agent said the ban could be easily bypassed, however, by bribing the authorities. Visas could be obtained within two weeks at a cost of 260,000 kyat (about US $200), most of which had to be shared with the authorities, he said.

“I get just 40,000 kyat (about $30) after paying off the authorities,” one agent said.

Women who seek work in Indonesia have to pay as much as 1,400,000 kyat ($1,120) to employment agents.

The payments don’t end with the issuance of a visa and the offer of a job abroad. A further bribe of about 60,000 kyat ($48) has to be paid to immigration officials, police and other staff at Rangoon International Airport, agents say.

Around 50,000 Burmese go abroad each year in search of work. Agencies send workers to Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and the Middle East. Japan and South Korea have been popular since the 1990s, but Malaysia is now the most common destination, say the agents.