For migrants, the legal route brings few benefits: report
They are mired in debt bondage, their pay slips are slashed by hidden fees and fabricated taxes, and they’re forced to work excessive hours in slave-like conditions absent of breaks and without the guarantee of overtime pay. This is the lot of migrant workers who took the pains to go abroad legally, according to a new report.
The formal channels funneling Myanmar labourers overseas are often proving just as corrupt, fee-inducing and negligent of the workers’ rights as the illicit smuggling networks. Workers embarking on the government-sanctioned route may even be worse off, according to research and interviews compiled by European non-profits Finnwatch and Swedwatch.
