Myanmar junta pauses Thai labor program

Myanmar’s military junta has temporarily halted a key labor agreement that allows its citizens to work in Thailand, suspending a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) system, effective Thursday. The owner of an employment agency in Yangon, who wished to remain anonymous, told Myanmar Now that the junta's Ministry of Labour issued this suspension after issues occurred on February 12. He noted the issue began when four employment agencies failed to submit permits on time at the airport for 140 workers bound for Thailand. "When submitting applications for overseas deployment permits, we have to buy plane tickets. And we need to request permission,” he said. He added that migrant workers are not allowed to leave the country until their permits and smart cards are issued. But the permits were never issued for the group and the laborers couldn’t leave. “Finally, after requesting the permits at various levels, including the director general, they finally allowed them to leave,” the source said. He explained that the junta's sudden suspension has shattered trust with international businesses, undoing years of negotiation, leaving both departing workers and agencies in chaos."Frequent verbal orders to stop, creates difficulties for both sides,” the business owner said. “It also destroys trust.” Singapore's government sent an advisory letter to employment agencies in the city-state on February 4, recommending they prioritise migrants from countries other than Myanmar. They cited travel restrictions under the emergency decree for issuing the guidance letter. In January, the junta banned conscription aged civilians from leaving the country. Experts say the decision was yet another tactic to keep fighting-aged citizens able to join the junta ranks. Yet since the coup, young people have sought ways to flee abroad, driven by political instability, economic collapse, and mandatory conscription. Myanmar has been thrown into economic turmoil since the coup, a country where the minimum wage is already low at just 6,800 kyat per day ($3.50 US dollars). Even in townships untouched by conflict, people are struggling to get by as the kyat has continued to depreciate while commodity prices soar. At the same time, the junta, which is isolated by the international community, is planning to send workers to China and Russia, countries where the junta maintains close relations.

Myanmar junta pauses Thai labor program

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