In order to ensure the protection of the rights of Myanmar migrant workers abroad and to maximize the benefits of organized labour migration by enhancing migrant workers’ well-being as well as contribution to the national development, the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security and IOM Mission in Myanmar jointly conducted the training for the officials of those who are going to be assigned as Labour Attaché and those who can potentially take similar roles, as well as the officials of those who are part of the team with different roles and responsibilities in labour migration management and protection of the rights of migrant workers abroad. There were altogether 37 participants and it was a two days training.

The training was launched with the opening ceremony in the Ministry and there were about 250 ministry and departmental officials and staff attended the opening ceremony. The Union Minister and IOM Chief of Mission delivered opening speeches.

In his opening speech, the Minister’s expressed his appreciation to be able to organize the first training ever conducted in Myanmar for Labour Attachés and expressed his hope to have similar trainings in the future. The Minister also expressed his appreciation for IOM’s technical and financial support to be able to organize and attend the meetings, workshops, forum as well as bilateral meeting related to migration. The Minister also emphasized the necessity for deployment of Labour Attaché to protect of the rights of Myanmar migrant workers abroad and to promote their well-being to be able to address the human rights abuses, torture and labour exploitation .

In his opening speech, IOM Chief of Mission, Mr Kieran Gorman-Best reflected the spirit of strong cooperation between IOM and the Ministry on shared objectives on migrant protection. He also highlighted the key and important roles of Labour Attaché and how the training has been designed  to offer practical tools to fulfill your new and important roles.

In his opening comments, he also identified three key points:

Firstly, important to balance the multifaceted role of labour attaché’s work: 1) as protecting the rights of workers; 2) identifying decent jobs; and, 3) promoting cordial relationships between both countries by ensuring the systems and policies in place are genuinely ‘win-win’.

Secondly, the importance of the protection function you have, especially for the three ‘U’s’- the undocumented, under-age, and unskilled.  

Thirdly, how to build a strong and functioning network to best serve migrants.

He also outlined the role of labour attachés and the effective means they should pursue, by concluding with his following remark;

“A key lesson learned from other countries where IOM has supported labour attaché work is ensuring that there are strong linkages with diaspora and the migrant communities. This is not just having the labour attaché will frequently visit work sites to look into the workers’ problems, but also to proactively engage with these workers to inform them of policy changes, remind them of the benefits of remitting money through official channels, and helping migrants prepare and think about eventual return. A wide alliance of NGOs, migrant worker unions, and engagement with legal advocates allows the Embassy to have an ‘early warning’ system on difficulties or challenges that the migrants might be finding. A strong and effective referral mechanism with clearly identified points of contact with publicly available standard operating procedures will build trust in the services offered by the labour attaché.

The key is for the Embassy to find some creative means to facilitate greater engagement between the Embassy and migrants. They are not only the beneficiaries of your services and support, but can also be a fantastic tool to support you to support you in communicating with a wide group of  It is not surprising that migrants tend to work, live and support each together once abroad. Attachés nowadays need to use formal and informal channels disseminate the information within these groups on safe channel of migration amongst migrant workers in the destination countries to benefit both the individual as well as the country.”

For further information, please contact

Maciej Pieczkowski,
Programme Manager,
IOM Myanmar,
Email: mpieczkowski@iom.int