Myanmar Times: NLD takes first steps on migrant policy

Nyan Lynn Aung and Htoo Thant report:

In its first, tenuous start toward a policy on migrant workers, the National League for Democracy is drawing up a bill to address the millions of citizens outside the country. The Pyithu Hluttaw International Relations Committee has een tasked with drafting the legislation after assessing the needs of the workers. “We are now making observations for the bill. I think it will take three months to complete the observations,” said committee member U Myo Zaw Aung, a lower house representative for Sagaing Region’s Kawlin township. He did not say which aspects of migration the bill would aim to address. But rights groups that have met with the new government have stressed the need for long-term policy planning to replace the current capricious system that relies on temporary and only semi-legal identification documents. U Myo Zaw Aung acknowledged that problems with Myanmar’s economy – particularly the lack of job opportunities in rural areas – need to be addressed so that workers are not compelled to leave in the first place.

"NLD takes first steps on migrant policy," The Myanmar Times, 7 April 2016