Labor advocates fear workers could encounter rights violations in the unstable country.
By RFA Burmese
Myanmar’s junta is preparing to send migrant workers to Russia, following a request from the country as it faces shortages of foreign workers in agriculture and manufacturing amid its war with Ukraine, a Myanmar employment official said.
The first group likely will be sent in 2025, said Charles Myo Thant, chairman of the Myanmar Overseas Employment Agencies Association, or MOEAA. They will take up jobs in agriculture, livestock, construction and factories, and they will need to learn Russian, he said.
“Myanmar and Russia are preparing to sign a memorandum of understanding, but the preparation process has not yet been completed,” he said.
“Russia has made the offer through a demand letter,” he said. “Once the process is complete, the first batch of migrant workers is expected to be sent in 2025.”
The request comes as Russia, which has waged war in Ukraine since February 2022, faces an acute labor shortage of nearly 5 million workers, along with a need for additional soldiers, as hundreds of thousands of adult males have been conscripted into the army.
Russia also tightened labor restrictions amid a crackdown following a deadly terrorist attack on a concert venue in Moscow in March — a move that has repelled migrant workers from neighboring Central Asia nations such as Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and pushed them to seek work in Europe — according to an August report by Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin.
The Carnegie report notes that migrant workers who are detained by law enforcement officials may be subjected to torture or given a choice between conscription and deportation.
Need to learn Russian
Most of Myanmar’s migrant workers usually go to Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Singapore, South Korea and Japan. Russia would be their first destination outside East Asia and Southeast Asia.
The Russians have suggested that the junta send workers who have completed a Russian-language course, Charles Myo Thant said.
Of Myanmar’s nearly 600 overseas employment agencies, only two have secured licenses to send migrant workers to Russia, said a Yangon-based overseas employment agency owner, who spoke on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.
Kyaw Ni, deputy minister of labor for the shadow civilian-led National Unity Government, or NUG, told RFA that one of the companies is owned by the son of a deputy minister of the Ministry of Labor under the junta, and the other one is owned by an executive member of the MOEAA.
“These two companies are reportedly preparing to send Myanmar migrant workers to Russia,” he said.
The MOEAA was first established as the Myanmar Overseas Employment Agencies Federation under the supervision of the Labor Ministry in 2012, but changed its name from “federation” to “association” in January.
But in February, the NUG’s Labor Ministry dissolved the MOEAA, saying it collaborated with the ruling military regime and failed to protect the rights of Myanmar migrant workers, the online news journal The Irrawaddy reported.
Concerns about rights violations
Kyaw Ni went on to say that migrant workers sent to Russia may have their rights violated, and so accused the junta of engaging in human trafficking and modern slavery.
The junta’s “only concern is collecting income taxes from these workers to generate foreign currency, with no regard for their lives or livelihoods,” he told Radio Free Asia. “That’s why I strongly advise people against going to Russia as migrant workers.”
RFA could not reach Nyunt Win, permanent secretary of the junta’s Ministry of Labor, for comment.
The junta now imposes a 2% income tax on overseas workers and has instructed authorities to deny passport renewals for migrant workers who can’t provide proof that 25% of their income has been remitted to Myanmar, as required by law. Additionally, the junta has taken action against employment agencies.
Some Myanmar migrant workers who were sent to China under a similar memorandum of understanding this year were returned home because of labor rights violations.
But migrant workers sent to Russia could face even worse violations than did the ones sent to China, said Tin Tin Wai, co-chairwoman of the New Light Federation of Labor Unions Myanmar.
“Myanmar migrant workers face severe human rights violations in China, with no accountability from the authorities,” she said. “In a war-torn country like Russia, the situation will likely be even worse than in China.”
Migrant workers are at risk of being sent to countries that do not guarantee their safety or uphold labor and human rights, Tin Tin Wai added.
“Russia and China are both working closely with the Myanmar junta,” she said.
Translated by Aung Naing for RFA Burmese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.
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