Director General U Win Shein from the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population launched the MRC together with the International Labour Organization (ILO) on 21 December in Taunggyi, Myanmar. More than 70 participants from government, civil society, and media attended the event.

The newly opened MRC is located in the Shan State Government Labour Exchange Office with labour officers running the centre. The MRC will provide safe migration information, counselling, and training, via mobile networks, social media, outreach activities, and at the MRC to migrant workers and their families. It will also be a place to lodge labour migration related complaints.

Taunggyi is a hub for migrants heading to and from China and Thailand, making it strategically apt as a location to reach migrant workers with information before they depart, or just when they arrive back home. It is estimated that as much as 10 per cent of the Myanmar labour force is working abroad, with over 3 million Myanmar migrants employed in Thailand and Malaysia alone. Although Shan State, the third most populated state in Myanmar, is rich in natural resources and has fertile land, its socio-economic development has been restricted by decades of armed conflicts, large-scale illegal production of opium and heroin, increased unemployment among young men, and reported high levels of domestic violence. As a result, many women and men decide to look for employment abroad and it is estimated that 4 per cent of the Shan State population is living abroad.

TRIANGLE in ASEAN currently supports seven MRCs in Myanmar. In 2018, these MRCs assisted a total of 13,647 potential and returning migrant workers (women 7970, and men 5677).

To find out more about TRIANGLE in ASEAN supported MRCs in Myanmar and across ASEAN, click here.

For more information

Ms Wai Hnin Po
National Project Coordinator (NPC) for Myanmar
pow@ilo.org