TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 2016 INTERNATIONAL Myanmar women defy ban on working as foreign maids FALAM, CHIN STATE, Myanmar: Van Biak had only all parents whose daughters are now working abroad Men, 26, said she was enslaved by her agent who locked and Kayin state because their church is often involved,” been away from her family in Leilet in north west illegally. For the ban has not only failed to stop women a number of Myanmar girls in separate houses and rotat- said Win Tun, vice chairman of MOEAF. Myanmar for two weeks, but her mother was in tears as from Myanmar going abroad to work, but it has led to a ed them through different jobs, holding their wages and There were 130 official cases of trafficking in they embraced on the veranda. Biak and her older sister black market that puts the women at greater risk of never letting them pay off their debts. “We didn’t know Myanmar last year, with a total of 641 victims. Chin State Van Hnem left to find work as maids in Singapore with exploitation and slavery, according to the Humanitarian the agent would exploit another human being like that,” was the only region of Myanmar not to have recorded few job opportunities in their remote village in Chin Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME), set up to Sian Men said from her mother’s home in the Chin vil- any official cases. The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Police State, the poorest region of Myanmar where 73 percent protect migrant workers’ rights in Singapore. lage of Zawgnte. Division does not have a branch in Chin State. The of the population lives below the poverty line. Sian Men managed to escape and returned to Thomson Reuters Foundation contacted the nearest Biak and Hnem were aware of the risks. Another maid In Debt for the Job Myanmar by bus, evading the police who manned office on Kalaymyo, Sagaing Region, but they were from Leilet has been working in Saudi Arabia for six Since the ban was implemented, the fee paid by checkpoints along the route. “We get into difficulty unable to comment on the presence of trafficking in years without pay or hope of return - and this was not workers to secure a job abroad has increased in order to because of the agents but we can’t do anything about it their neighboring state. isolated case. A number of high profile cases of worker facilitate the bribes required to circumvent the ban. because we don’t have legal passports or work permits. In 2015, MOEAF signed a memorandum of under- abuse prompted the government in Sept 2014 to put a Workers do not start to see any money themselves until We have to do what the agency says,” she said. standing (MOU) with 12 employment agencies in Hong temporary ban on women going abroad to find work as this debt is paid off. Moreover, since these workers often The Thomson Reuters Foundation managed to get Kong who agreed to treat Myanmar staff according to maids. But with few economic opportunities at home, leave their country as a tourist, they are not protected by hold of Melody, Sian Men’s agent in Guangzhou, who the federation’s employment standards and it wants to the number of women leaving to get jobs abroad as labor or migration laws. Jolovan Wham, executive direc- admitted to enforcing a six month debt bondage period see similar deals in other countries. “These agreements domestic workers has not abated and more do so illegal- tor of HOME, said the number of Myanmar maids in but denied exploiting her employees. “If their employer would make it less dangerous for girls because we can ly, prompting calls for the newly appointed government Singapore grew 50 percent between 2013 and 2015 is unhappy then I have to replace them [before they pay ensure their labor rights are protected in their host of Aung San Suu Kyi to lift the ban. with over 30,000 there now which was evidence that the off their bondage debts],” she said repeatedly, without countries, hold information about who is abroad and “I’m ready to work hard and face difficulties abroad in ban was not effective. giving her full name. offer assistance to anyone that gets into trouble,” said order to help my family,” said Biak, who, at age 15, was “Unfortunately, a lot of Singaporean employers The Myanmar Overseas Employment Agencies Win Tun. “But the last government didn’t want to know too young to get a passport and so returned home. request Myanmar maids because they are more afford- Federation (MOEAF) said it has become harder for the anything about them.” Hnem, who is 18, made it to Singapore with six other able and generally more compliant,” Wham told the authorities to police the movement of domestic workers MOEAF have met with members of the new govern- girls from Leilet, lured by the chance to make up to Thomson Reuters Foundation. Sian Men Mawi legally across Myanmar’s borders because large employment ment twice since it took over in April. The Department US$370 (S500) a month compared to Myanmar’s min- worked as a maid in Singapore before moving to China, agencies have been replaced by individual traffickers, for Labour declined to comment to the Thomson inum wage of about US$67. “I am so scared they will be lured by the promise of a lucrative employment con- often from within the victim’s social circles. “It is particu- Reuters Foundation but a parliamentary committee is used as slave labour,” said her mother, a fear echoed by tract. She arrived in Guangzhou on a tourist visa. Sian larly difficult to track the trafficking of girls from Chin now considering whether to lift the ban. — Reuters Five guilty of Danish tourist’s gang-rape NEW DELHI: A court convicted five men ing procedures in the wake of the gang- yesterday of the gang-rape of a Danish rape of a Delhi student on a moving bus in tourist in New Delhi in 2014, a crime which December 2012. She later died in a put India’s record on sexual violence back Singapore hospital. in the spotlight. The five were found guilty of the rape and robbery of the 52-year-old Identified by Victim woman, who was attacked at knifepoint That attack sparked furious mass street after losing her way as she returned to her protests about high levels of violence hotel in central Delhi in 2014. “I pronounce against women, as well as global headlines all the accused guilty. Arguments (on sen- about the treatment of women in India. tencing) to be held on June 9,” Additional Yesterday, the five accused showed little Sessions Judge Ramesh Kumar told the emotion as the verdicts were read out. court in the capital where media and rela- Neither the victim nor members of her fam- tives of the accused had gathered. ily were in court. Immediately after the inci- Three others charged over the attack are dent, the victim had given a detailed state- being tried separately in the juvenile justice ment to police at the Danish embassy in system. A ninth accused, an adult, died the capital before leaving for home. before the end of the trial. Under new She returned to India in July the follow- tougher laws the minimum punishment for ing year to record her in-camera testimony gang rape is imprisonment for 20 years before the trial court judge, and identify along with a fine while the maximum is life. the accused. The prosecution submitted The Danish woman, travelling alone and in that the evidence irrefutably proved the Delhi after visiting the Taj Mahal, had case against the accused but the suspects approached a group of men for directions pleaded not guilty, claiming that they had as she returned to an area popular with been framed by police. Defense counsel backpackers, reports at the time said. Dinesh Sharma told AFP that yesterday’s SALAWA, Sri Lanka: Destruction caused by a mortar bomb which hit a home on the edge of the Sri Lankan capital Colombo is seen yesterday, The assault in Jan 2014 was the latest in verdicts were handed down even though hours after an explosion of an ammunition depot at the neighboring military complex. — AFP a series of sex attacks on foreigners in India he was still awaiting the outcome of a which reignited concerns about women’s request before a more senior judge to safety in the country. A Polish woman had reopen the trial. “We had filed a revision been drugged and raped as she travelled plea in the High Court seeking recall of to Delhi with her young daughter in a car, some of the witnesses,” Sharma said. “The Sri Lanka races to defuse just before the attack on the Danish matter is listed in the High Court... but even woman. India’s government toughened jail before this matter could be taken up, the sentences for rapists and overhauled polic- verdict has been announced.” — AFP bombs after depot blast Thousands of villagers flee their homes COLOMBO: Sri Lankan police were yesterday the main roads of all unexploded ordnance,” a place was covered in ash,” he said, adding that his racing to defuse unexploded bombs that senior police official told AFP. Nearly 50 people walls had cracked and the house was unstable. It rained down on villages near the capital were treated for injuries or smoke inhalation was the second time in three weeks that residents overnight, destroying homes and killing a sol- after the fire, which forced the evacuation of the of Colombo were forced to leave their homes.