avatar image
Advertisement

Myanmar 'vigilant' over maids, says man who plans to bring them to Hong Kong

Businessman who plans to export workers to HK praises country's thoroughness as he prepares to review proposals with authorities

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
Gold Mine Manpower's Yangon training centre.

The businessman behind a groundbreaking plan to introduce workers from Myanmar to Hong Kong's scandal-hit domestic helper sector says the country's government is being "vigilant" about protecting their rights.

As controversy continues over the treatment of domestic helpers in the SAR, Oake Khaung, the founder of Yangon recruitment company Gold Mine Manpower, said the official paperwork for the first group of 19 workers - who are due to arrive next week - had still not been completed, signalling that Myanmar's Ministry of Labour wanted to ensure their rights would be protected.

In an interview with the Sunday Morning Post yesterday Khaung said the fact that the workers had not been issued with the "Smart" identity cards they needed to allow them to work overseas was evidence that the labour ministry was being "vigilant" about their rights.

Migrant workers from Myanmar - a country still opening up after decades of military dictatorship - were considered to be among the most vulnerable in the region, according to Andy Hall, a researcher on migrant workers in Southeast Asia.

They were "uneducated and desperate, and trapped in an environment where there is a high level of corruption and low level of regulation", said Hall, adding that "the capacity of the government to manage [the migration of its workers] is very low".

Khaung, who is partnering a Hong Kong domestic helper agency to make the migration possible, will meet senior officials at Myanmar's Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security tomorrow to review his plans for ensuring the protection of its workers in Hong Kong.

Advertisement