Authorities block more than 40 workers from leaving Myanmar at Yangon airport

More than 40 people returning to Myanmar after working abroad were prevented from departing the country again at Yangon’s international airport on Thursday, sources familiar with the matter said. The authorities’ decision to hold the workers appeared to be motivated by suspicion that they were attempting to evade the regime’s conscription for mandatory military service. If this was the reason for the authorities’ decision to hold them, it would mean individual travelers are now subject to enforcement that previously applied primarily to employment agencies brokering offers for work abroad. The workers stopped at the airport had applied for jobs abroad through at least five different agencies of this kind, according to an employment agency owner with knowledge of the matter. They also all appeared to have applied for documentation through One Stop Service, an agency that collaborates with junta-controlled ministries and claims to provide a full range of services for finding employment overseas. At the time they were stopped, the workers were in transit to various host countries including Japan, according to another employment agency owner, who said the incident prevented them from taking their prearranged connecting flights. “It seems they suspect some young people of trying to leave to avoid military service,” the agency owner said. “So, they've started blocking everyone who applied through the One Stop Service, affecting workers associated with the agency.” Obtaining a regime-issued Overseas Worker Identification Card is now a requirement for workers leaving the country without going through an employment agency, a rule introduced after the military coup of 2021. The cards are issued through One Stop Service at the labour office in Yangon’s Mayangon Township to applicants able to show proof of tax payment, work permits, and other required documents. Jobseekers using employment agencies’ services must go through a separate One Stop Service procedure—implemented collaboratively by the agency and the junta’s ministry of labour—allowing authorities to scrutinise and approve their stated reasons for going abroad. The workers held at the Yangon airport on Thursday all appeared to have gone through at least one of these two procedures. According to the employment agency owner, the matter of the workers being stopped at the airport is reportedly under discussion between two junta-controlled ministries: the ministry of home affairs and the ministry of labour. “We can't intervene. The ministers need to meet to discuss this. The travel block was imposed by special branch,” the agency owner said, referring to the police intelligence unit commanded by the home affairs ministry. “This is causing serious problems for the workers planning to leave, including those going through official agencies.” Passengers waiting to depart at Yangon International Airport on March 22, 2024. (Photo: Myanmar Now) When Myanmar Now attempted to contact the junta’s labour department director general Maung Maung Than, his office replied that he was unavailable to comment due to ongoing meetings. The military junta, which has faced armed resistance throughout Myanmar since coming to power in the 2021 coup, has revived a law requiring military service for men under 35 and women under 27. Since announcing the policy, the junta has struggled to recruit new soldiers and imposed various new restrictions on travelling and working abroad, especially for people in the eligible age range for military service. On July 30, the junta introduced new regulations applying to Myanmar nationals employed in Thailand in accordance with a memorandum of understanding (MoU) system between the two countries. Under the bilateral MoU system, Myanmar workers typically take jobs in Thailand for a term of four years, then return to Myanmar to apply for a term extension, a process called the “MoU U-turn.” Workers applying for the extension are now required to provide proof that they have been remitting their earnings to their families in Myanmar through approved channels designated by the regime. The new rule typically requires the MoU workers to show documentation proving they have remitted at least 6,000 Thai baht (around 550,000 kyat or US $170)—a fourth of the basic wages expected for three months’ work in Thailand—according to a statement issued by the ministry of labour. Many Myanmar workers in Thailand prefer to use informal transfer mechanisms rather than banks or other channels approved by the junta, as one worker at a tyre factory in Chonburi Province, Thailand told Myanmar Now. “It’s inconvenient to use banks. We don’t speak the language well, and we don't have time to go make transfers,” the worker said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Some workers have chosen to overstay their four-year term illegally rather than return to Myanmar to renew their documentation. Moe Kyaw, joint secretary of the labour advocacy organisation Yaung Chi Oo Workers’ Association, criticised the junta’s restrictive policies for workers abroad. “Present conditions are too restrictive; the system is flawed. Under these conditions, they can't provide any support. Workers are paying high costs in matters concerning their rights, legal status, and pressures from family obligations,” he said, adding that the junta’s policies were likely to leave some MoU workers little choice but to stay in Thailand illegally.

Authorities block more than 40 workers from leaving Myanmar at Yangon airport

The military regime is enforcing tighter restrictions on international travel in an apparent bid to prevent evasion of mandatory military service

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