Plights of Myanmar immigrant workers

Although Thailand is not a place of greener pasture for Myanmar migrant workers, this year saw the largest number of them there as they could earn more as the demand of workforce is getting high there.

Temporary passports for the migrant workers have been issued under the agreement between the two countries since 27-12-2011, 22 days after the ‘Friendship Bridge’ was reopened. However, more migrant workers are still pouring into Myawady. Like relay runners who carry sticks step by step to the goal, Carries (people who illegally take migrant workers to Thailand for cash) recruit new ones even in small towns and countryside. The recruiters send them to agents in Yangon who send them again to Myawady where they were accommodated in houses, warehouses and hostels by company agents and fed just enough to survive for one to two months. Thousands of them were stranded in Myawady before they could manage to enter Thailand.

A resident from Wande Village said in disappointment, “Agent U Maung Thaung from Pesinan Village in Rakhine State told us that he was asked to look for workers for the workshop in Thailand where his son was working. He also guaranteed that we could get job after staying in Myawady for one week. He asked for K 200,000 for passport from each of us. Now, I have been here for about three months and had to borrow K 300,000 from our friends. I am in debt. It is still uncertain when I can work in Thailand.”

Another youth from Yethataung said bitterly, “Recruiters in small towns send one group of migrant workers after another although the agents here do not do anything to get passports for those who have been in Myawady for two or three months. Like fish in a trap, about 20 of us are forced to sleep in a hostel room which is suitable for only ten people.

Ko Kyaw Kyaw from Kyauktaw Township said, “Some of us could not help crying although they are men when they knew they were naïve enough to trust the agents. People are now saying that those who talk fluently can work as agents. It is easy for migrant workers in Myawady to cry but difficult for them to sob. We cannot ask for the agent fees back although we want to go back to our village because we can’t stand the situation here anymore. We feel as if we were punished to live under restrictions and survive on meager food because we thought highly of other countries.”

Whether they went there legally or illegally, no one has come back from Thailand because they could not find jobs there. Only those who were arrested by Thai authorities came back to their towns. There might be a labor shortage if Myanmar needed labor force as large as Thailand. It is true that migrant workers tend to forget what they have suffered in Myawady when they get passports to work in Thailand. However, they have to work in jobs that are not stated in their job contracts signed with the agents of Thai employers at passport offices.

“I signed a contract at the passport office to work for a construction firm, but I have to fell trees in the forest. It is dangerous and awful. I get 300 baht per day but I cannot enjoy my wage for days I do not need to work. I’m not sure whether I will be able to send K 100,000 to my family as I have to spend my wages on food, shelter and the water and electricity bills,” said Ko Tun Maung Hla from Yathetaung Township on a phone interview.

Myanmar migrant workers have to endure the deceptions of their employers and agents. They are wondering who they can complain with when they are forced to do the work that is not stated in the contracts or when their wages are cut.

“Whether they work legally or illegally in Thailand, Myanmar migrant workers are subject to oppression of Akyes and Wunnas in addition to exploitation of their employers. They will have to endure the hardship as long as they can earn here as much as they are now doing in neighboring countries. Workers in Myanmar do no earn enough to pay for their food, shelter, clothing and education expenses of their children in Myanmar. That is why thousands of Myanmar workers are migrating to Thailand every day. They will still be going there in the future,” said Ko Than Aye who is working in Maha Chiang.

Hundreds of Myanmar workers go to Thailand illegally while others go there by managing to get passports. Agents from Myawady transfer immigrant workers to guides who know the jungle tracks to Bangkok well. However, only a few of them reach Bangkok while most of them are arrested by Thai military and police forces and robbers. They have to pay a deposit of baht 6,000 in advance to the guides whether they reach their destination or they are arrested. When they can manage to get to their work sites, they have to pay up to 12,000 baht.

Another illegal to route to Bangkok is to go there in vehicles of the authorities. Although it costs a migrant worker 10,000 baht for ordinary service and 14,000 baht for special service to get to Thailand, those who can afford prefer the special service.

“I worked in the paddy fields in my village. I came here as a youth offered to send me here for 1,000 baht. It took us 12 days to set out from Yelekyun. Food was very bad and living conditions were terrible. At night, we travelled and hid in the forest during the daytime. Let alone meals, we did not even have snacks to eat. We had to climb one mountain after another with only a little drinking water. We were very tired. Our limbs were ached. Some of us fell down again and again. One rainy night, a Thai army force arrested us while we were taking shelter in a hut. We were detained for 15 days in Mae Sot. The youth who sent us there got the deposit of 6,000 baht for sixty of us. He never turned up again. We were sent from Mae Sot to Luthon border gate in Myawady on 2.6.2012. There was no one to pay cash for our release. We did not have any money with us and sought help from a motorist to find money for us. We had to ask for money from our relatives in our native village for our release. We had only one meal during the two days, and a woman fainted during the custody there,” said Ko Sein No Aung who trusted agents and went to work in Thailand.

The border gate in Myawady has been a place where we were exploited by our own fellow citizens. The in-charge of the gate said, “We always collect gate fees for illegal migrant workers sent back from Thailand. You must pay for your release. As I am in-charge here, you must pay me.”

We are wondering who has assigned him at the border gate to blackmail illegal migrant workers sent back from Thailand. It is also known to all that the gate in-charge is blackmailing and exploiting migrant workers in the absence of supervision form district authorities.

However, a lot of migrant workers are still going to work in Thailand and a lot more of them are preparing to go to Thailand.

From Eleven News Agency

Migrant mum plan a killer

If Labour Minister Padermchai Sasomsop's plan to send pregnant migrant workers home becomes a reality, he simply cannot escape being condemned for having blood on his hands.

He may argue until his face turns blue about his intention to bring down the use of child migrant workers by reducing the number of births of migrant children in the country, but he cannot expect anyone with a heart to buy this inhumane idea which is equivalent to forced abortion.

Mr Padermchai's plan has already created panic among pregnant migrant workers. They have their families here. They have other children to take care of here. They have work here. They are worried they will be unable to bring their newborns back with them. They also fear being cut off from their families due to the Immigration Department's red tape and simply because they don't have money to pay the traffickers to bring them back.
For them, there is only one choice: abortion.

It is inevitable these women will have to go quacks for such procedures. It is not because many underground workers are plagued by fear of arrest and deportation. Thai women are in the same shoes as them. Abortion is still illegal here, except in cases of rape or when the pregnancy is endangering a mother's health.

With quacks, the botched attempts to end pregnancies often cause the mothers not only injuries and physical handicaps, but also death.

According to the Public Health Ministry, nearly 10,000 women die each year from fatal infections caused by incomplete abortions. Yet every policy attempt to offer safe, inexpensive and legal services to end unplanned pregnancies and save women's lives is crushed fiercely.

Indeed, if Thai society does not care about its own women's deaths from unsafe abortions, why should it care about the ordeals and deaths of migrant women?

It is absurd, isn't it? Mr Padermchai's plan, which will harm Thailand's already grim reputation for treating migrant workers inhumanely, is actually designed to improve Thailand's poor record in tackling trafficking.

Last week, the US State Department placed Thailand in the Tier 2 Watch List for the country's consistently poor efforts to eliminate human trafficking. The message is clear. To avoid being placed in the bottom Tier 3 which would subject the country to a number of boycotts from the United States, the government needs to work harder to prosecute traffickers and corrupt officials as well as to end slave-like work conditions and start respecting migrant workers' rights.

To show Thailand is listening, Labour Minister Padermchai promptly announced his plan to improve the country's record by sending pregnant migrant workers back home.
Dumbfounded? You're not alone.

This is not the first time the Labour Ministry has proposed this idea. It keeps cropping up every few years. The last time was two years ago when the Democrat Party was in power.
Ironically, this goes to show that our politicians do have something in common regardless of their political differences. It's their total complete of human rights awareness and their total lack of heart, which is why the use of migrant workers in modern slavery conditions here remains so widespread.

If the government really wants to eliminate human trafficking, it must prosecute traffickers and corrupt officials. The judicial process must be revamped to speed up prosecutions. Numerous laws and regulations must be revised to decriminalise illegal workers in order to free them from labour exploitation and police extortion.

If the government wants to reduce the births of migrant children, it should provide women migrant workers with family planning services. If it wants to stop migrant child labour, provide the children with educational support. It's their right. And it's the country's gain. As Thailand ages, every child born here needs quality care in order to be part of a quality workforce.

In short, help is the answer. Not control. Not punishment.
The plan to send pregnant migrants home spells death for many mothers and unborn babies. Go ahead if the Labour Ministry wants to make Thailand appear a murderer on the world stage. If not, simply shelve it.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/300019/migrant-mum-plan-will-spell-many-a-death

Staff Retreat Days

A staff retreat day scheduled into the regular work life of an organization can be a source of great unity and inspiration. As we learn to be with each other in different ways, we develop deeper understandings of who we are as individuals and as a group. Spending time with coworkers in a way that is fun, relaxed, and reflective can be nourishing as well as productive. Rarely in this culture do we take the time to simply pause from the frantic pace of our actions. A commitment to pausing on an organizational level can lead to the manifestation of an entirely different and powerful orientation toward work, vision, community, and self.

Creating a pause within a regular workday can help to create a healthy pace for our work lives. And the commitment to taking an entire day for staff contemplation and rejuvenation can make those changes more profound, especially if repeated at regular intervals throughout the year. It may require a leap of faith to take a precious eight hours out of the month [or even the year], but that kind of commitment signifies an understanding of the importance of the dynamic relationship between process and product and a willingness to invest in the long-term sustainability of your workplace.

Migrant passport applications surge

By Kyaw Hsu Mon
August 22 - 28, 2011

THE number of temporary passports issued to illegal migrant workers in Thailand has more than quadrupled in the past 12 months, largely because of the opening of a registration office in Thailand, a senior Special Branch official said last week.

More than 530,000 passports had been issued to August 15 since the program was launched in July 2009, up from just 118,000 in July last year, the official said, citing Ministry of Home Affairs statistics.

Of the total, 341,596 were issued through an office at Ranong in Thailand, which opened on June 30, 2010. The Tachileik office had issued 94,062 passports to August 15.

When the program was launched, migrant workers could apply for the passports at offices in Myawaddy, Kayin State, Tachileik, Shan State and Kawthoung in Tanintharyi Region. However, the Myawaddy office has been closed since July 2010, while the Kawthoung office was shifted to Ranong the following month.

“The Ranong office has issued the highest numbers of passports even though it’s only been open about a year because it’s more convenient for Myanmar workers in Thailand,” the official said. “However, at this stage we don’t plan to open any more offices in Thailand.”

In July 2011, the validity of the temporary passports was extended from three to six years.

Ko Phone Myint, a 34-year-old postgraduate student at Chiang Mai University said the temporary passport system had been beneficial for both migrant workers and the Thai government.

He said it would be more convenient for workers if offices were opened in Bangkok and Chiang Mai.

“Before the temporary passports were introduced, the Thai government was always concerned about its national security, while Myanmar workers didn’t dare go anywhere except their workplace because they only had a labour card. Now the Thai government can monitor the workers and they can also travel around the country with this passport –they can even fly back to Myanmar,” he said.

Thai PM prepares minimum wage overhaul

The administration of new Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has said that its campaign promise to raise the country’s minimum wage could be realised by October, but any hope for an improvement to salaries for migrant workers remains tentative.

Yingluck, who was officially named premier on Friday last week and who is expected to announce her cabinet within days, said that the country’s minimum wage will rise to 300 Thai baht, almost doubling the current average of 160 baht.

Jarupong Ruangsuwan, secretary-general of Yingluck’s Puea Thai Party, told NNT news recently that the first stage of the policy to raise salaries for public sector workers will be carried out within three months, and the remaining by early next year.

Opposition politicians attacked the policy with claims that it would create a pull factor for more migrants to choose Thailand as their destination for work. More than four million migrants are believed to be working in Thailand, around 80 percent of which are Burmese.

The Thai Chamber of Commerce has also said that it will put pressure on the country’s garment industry, which relies heavily on cheap migrant labour, while denting the prospects for future foreign investment in the country.

Despite existing legislation, however, migrant workers regularly report that they are paid less than the minimum wage, begging the question of whether any improvement to salaries will reach them.

Ko Aye, a Burmese community worker who assists migrants in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, said that while the policy “sounds very delightful for migrant workers”, they are rarely paid the current minimum wage.
He added that more companies may look to exploit the lax enforcement of labour laws surrounded migrants, the majority of whom work in low-skilled industries and often do not enjoy the same workplace conditions as their Thai counterparts.

In April this year a police raid on a garment factory in Bangkok discovered 60 Burmese migrants who had been locked inside, some for up to eight months, and forced to work.

The majority of these had been forced to work on average 16 hours a day and were paid only 200 Thai baht ($US7) a month, something not uncommon in reports given by migrant workers.

A survey carried out recently by the International Labour Organisation exposed high levels of animosity among Thais of migrants. Of 1000 people questioned, 84 percent believed that unauthorised migrants have broken the law, while the majority also say that even authorised migrants “cannot expect the same working conditions as nationals when carrying out the same job”.

In another report last year, the ILO accused the Thai government of breaching international law in its denial of work accident compensation for migrants, despite high rates of workplace injury.

Activists Fear Abuse in Malaysian Labor Amnesty

Malaysian labor activists urged the government Thursday to halt an amnesty program for illegal workers until clear guidelines are drawn to ensure migrants are not victimized or cheated.

The amnesty, due to start Monday, will be Malaysia's biggest effort to manage its population of some 4 million foreign workers, half of whom are illegal and most of whom are from neighboring Indonesia.
Those without documents will be fingerprinted for a biometrics database and allowed to stay in Malaysia if they have a job or will be deported without penalty.

Workers' rights group Tenaganita said some 330 companies appointed by the government to facilitate the registration process are charging exorbitant fees. One quoted up to 1,000 ringgit ($334) per person just to take fingerprints, director Irene Fernandez said.

The amnesty will hurt workers who entered the country legally but overstayed because their work permits were not renewed by their employers, she said. Some were also brought in by dishonest agents, who made them work in sectors not specified in their work visas, Fernandez said.

"Unscrupulous agents and employers are not made accountable, and corruption is rampant in the approval of work permits," she said. "This amnesty program, even with the use of biometrics system, will fail if the root causes of workers being made undocumented are not addressed."

Fernandez said the home ministry must ensure it has the capacity to monitor the registration to ward off cheating.

The Malaysian Trade Union Congress urged the government to investigate breaches committed by agents and employers, and put in place a monitoring mechanism to curb such malpractices.

"The program overall should benefit the migrant workers and not the employer, or the companies and agents who collect money under this program," it said in a statement.

Immigration officials couldn't be immediately reached for comments.

This relatively wealthy Southeast Asian nation attracts people from impoverished or war-torn places either looking for work locally or trying to enter other nations, such as Australia. It is dependent on foreign labor for tens of thousands of low-paying menial jobs at palm oil plantations, factories, construction sites and restaurants.

The Malaysian Employers Federation director Shamsuddin Bardan said there was a lot of confusion over the amnesty process and many were unhappy with the involvement of agents in the registration process.
"Everything is in the grapevine. It's not in clear terms. All this is giving the country a bad image, as if we are trying to make money or to profit from this program," he said.

Thais, Malaysians reject migrant rights

The vast majority of Thais and Malaysians surveyed recently by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) say that illegal migrants in their country should not be entitled to any rights at work.

The poll found that 80 percent of Malaysians and 84 percent of Thais, out of the 1000 surveyed in each country, believe that unauthorised migrants have broken the law. The majority also say that even authorised migrants “cannot expect the same working conditions as nationals when carrying out the same job”.
Levels of disquiet over the presence of migrants were slightly lower in Singapore, and markedly so in South Korea, the two other countries surveyed by the ILO.

The disparity may be explained in part by the varying policies each government has adopted towards handling the influx of alien workers. Korea and Singapore have “more effective policies and systems for the admission and protection of migrant workers’ rights”, the ILO said, and more than three quarters of the public in both countries “were of the view that migrants make a positive net contribution to the economy”.

That is not so in Malaysia and Thailand, despite both economies being heavily reliant on the cheap labour provided by foreign workers, many of whom are illegal and who have escaped poor job prospects in their home countries. In Thailand, around 80 percent of the migrant population is Burmese, the majority of whom worked in low-skilled industries where legal protection is scant.

In a report last year, the ILO accused the Thai government of breaching international law in its denial of work accident compensation, despite high rates of workplace injury.

From time to time horrific accounts emerge of migrants being forced to live and work in squalid conditions: in April a police raid on a garment factory in Bangkok discovered 60 Burmese migrants who had been locked inside, some for up to eight months, and forced to work.

The majority of these had been forced to work on average 16 hours a day and were paid only 200 Thai baht ($US7) a month, something not uncommon in reports given by migrant workers.

Jackie Pollock, who runs the Migrant Assistance Programme (MAP) Foundation in Thailand, said that an archaic construction of migrants as “the other” permeated Thai society, and may account for such high levels of disquiet about their presence in the country.

“Policies in Thailand reinforce the view of migrants as ‘different’; that they should be segregated and controlled,” she told DVB. “They’re only allowed to be in Thailand as workers, not people.”

She said the temporary and transient nature of their lives in Thailand meant also that the government could avoid awarding them the rights that Thai nationals have.

“There’s an unwritten government policy to segregate them – employers are encouraged to house them on the worksite, and in a sense this makes them scary to the public.”

Trafficking of Burmese migrants to Thailand is also rife: many are approached by rackets in Burma with promises of higher wages in Thailand, but poor anti-trafficking enforcement and state corruption mean that the majority are forced into exploitative labour.

Importantly, Pollock said, there has never been any discussion of the integration of migrant workers in Thailand. A scheme is underway to verify illegal migrants, although this is a far cry from actual citizenship and offers no protection against the entrenched discrimination experienced in the workplace.

Indeed the ILO study found that “a key factor in influencing public attitudes to migrant workers in all the countries studied was personal experience of migrant workers”, something that is being tackled through various initiative run by NGOs.

Migrants saved from Thai ransom round-about

Three Burmese migrant workers who were held for ransom by human traffickers after being sold on to them by two Thai policemen were rescued by police from the same station in Thailand’s capital, Bangkok yesterday afternoon.

The three; Byauk Owe, 18, Ko Kyaw, 30 and Maung Owe, 19, who worked at a canned fish factory in Bang Bon district, were arrested by two policemen while having stroll on Sunday evening. They were taken to the police station where they were asked to show identification.

May Thazin Oo, elder sister of Byauk Owe said they were sold by the police to two human traffickers for 8000 Baht [US $260] each after they failed to show legal documents.

“The two policemen came on a bike – one of them was in uniform and the other in civilian clothing. They asked them to show their work permits but [the three] could only show them receipts for a medical check-up [part of the procedure in acquiring the legal migrant work permits] but the police tore them up and took them to Tha Kham police station,” May Thazin Oo told DVB.

“When they arrived at the station, the policemen told them to contact their relatives but the three didn’t have any phone numbers with them. The police then called two Burmese nationals they had connections with, who came and ‘bailed’ them out,”

The two Burmese who turned up were believed to have done police translating work before and have a broad local knowledge and had allegedly acted as middle men or informants for the police. As a result they were able to contact a family member.

Thazin Oo continues; “Then the two Burmese called us and told us to give ransom of 5000 Baht [US $162] for each of them. We went and waited at the place they indicated but they didn’t show up.”

Meanwhile the three detainees were sold again to a Burmese national from the Mon ethnic group, a human trafficker who again contacted the family and asked again for ransom, this time of 16,000 Baht [US $520] for each person. The traffickers threatened to sell them to sea fishing boats if the family failed to give the ransom.
The family then contacted the police who followed with them to the appointment with the Mon traffickers and then arrested them and rescued the three detainees.

It turned out that the policemen who initially handed the three Burmese migrants to the two Burmese nationals were from the same police station who rescued them. May Thazin Oo said the police are showing photos of officials in the station to the three to identify the two policemen.

Such cases are believed to be widespread with the New York based Human Rights Watch recently telling the UN that; “Thai government officials and police, and private employers, enjoy widespread impunity in abusing the rights of Burmese.”

Migrant workers are estimated to make up 5% of the Thai workforce whilst accounting for some 7% of GDP, taking as they do some of the toughest and least desirable jobs. Their subjugation is a boon for employers but the Thai government has been attempting to put in place legislation to regularise migrant labour. 

This resulted in a proposed plan to force employers to buy private health insurance for migrants whilst Thai nationals enjoy the far superior government care. Rights groups were keen to point out that such discrimination in the work place is illegal under Thailand’s treaty obligations.

Unloved and unwelcome: Myanmar migrants in Thailand

away from the oppressive military rule at home.
Ranong's official population is a little over 90,000, but aid workers and locals estimate there are around 200,000 Myanmar migrants, excluding those working in plantations across the province, that have settled here.
Checkpoints have been set up in the lush town to ensure that Myanmar migrants -- most of whom are not allowed to leave Ranong -- remain within it.
The imprint of the migrants is clearly visible with signs in Myanmar plastering everything from gold shops and stores selling electronics to beauty parlours and advertisements for phone cards. Passengers on the bus converse in Myanmar. Women in traditional Myanmar attire walk on the street and the hectic daily fish market is full of Myanmar workers buying, selling and processing all manner of seafood.
"If you see people walking or on a bicycle, most likely they are Burmese because they can't afford to go by any other means," a Myanmar aid worker told me, calling the people by its former name.
Almost all of them have come by illegal routes, usually on a cargo boat, running away from a harsh regime that has discriminated, abused and exploited them. What was once a rich country has now become one of the poorest in Southeast Asia.

TENSION RISING
As with any place that has a large migrant population, there is a palpable sense of tension between the hosts and the guests.

A few weeks ago, the government scrapped plans to grant driving licenses to migrants when some 200 motorcyclists protested. They were worried migrant workers would steal their jobs and smuggle drugs or more illegal workers if allowed to drive, local reports said, even though the licenses were for private use.
A foreign aid worker who has lived in Ranong for a few years recounted a recent incident in which a Myanmar migrant was beaten to death after a motorcycle accident involving a Thai resident.
Migrant workers are also vulnerable to police extortion and arrest and the tension translates into the workplace as well.
Most migrants in Ranong are ethnic minorities from southern Myanmar with little or no education and they end up doing low-paid, menial jobs in the fishing and seafood processing industries where the demand for cheap labour is high.
Many earn between 100 and 200 baht ($3 to $6) a day. The lucky ones receive work permits applied for them by their owners -- although they have to pay for it themselves -- but rarely get to see the documentation.
Some like construction worker Aung are more philosophical.
"We can't blame the owners for being tough because there are many bad migrants as well," he told me. "We know people who would get their work permit and borrow money from owners and then run away to Bangkok or central Thailand."

STATELESS AND IN DEBT

Some are also stateless, which means they are not registered as citizens of Myanmar. Often this is because they live in remote areas or they belong to an ethnic minority that has angered the military junta.

Then there are kids who were born in Ranong to migrant parents, but have no birth certificate or documentation to show they are Myanmar nationals.

I met one, a playful four-year-old, in a crumbling building some 30 Myanmar families call home. His mother, Myat, comes from an island in Mon state and gave birth to her three children in Ranong. While her husband works on a fishing boat, she makes ends meet collecting mussels. Their combined income is around $150 per month.

"There's never enough money to spend, let alone save," she said. "I have a debt of about 6,000 baht ($150) at 20 percent interest."

They live on the ground floor of a dilapidated three-storey building patched together with corrugated iron sheets and bits of wood, for which she has to pay $30 a month. The wooden beams in their old bedroom had become so worn out it's a safety hazard, so the whole family live, cook, eat and sleep in a five-metre-square room.

I asked her why she hasn't moved out to a better place.

"I've been staying here for 14 years and the owner is good and flexible," she said. "I owe eight months' rent but he hasn't thrown us out yet. Other places won't tolerate this."

For Myat and her stateless children, this squalor is better than being in Myanmar where the living is even harder.

"It's actually easier to make money here. I have to live where it's suitable for the family even if I'm not happy," she said.

Guideline for Registration of Migrant Worker, 2011

Target group of registrants

Migrant workers from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia who are working without authorization for identifiable employers and have children not exceeding 15 years of age as dependents.
Period of authorization to stay and work in Thailand Less than 1 year

Registration steps (Preliminary)

1. Employers request quota to employ migrant workers and Tor Thor 1 form at the Department of Employment (Tentatively from 15 June to 14 July)

2, Submit quota document and Tor Thor 1 at Amphoe, Sub-Amphoe, Municipality or District office. These authorized offices then will return Section 3 of Tor Thor 1 and set up an appointment for migrant workers to take photos for registration (Fee of 80 Baht). The period of this process is tentatively from 15 June to 14 July.

3. Bring a copy of Tor Thor 1 and a section of document provided by Amphoe to make appointment at the hospital and apply for health insurance card. Fees for health check-up and insurance will be charged during this stage (Health check-up costs 600 Baht and health insurance costs 1,300 Baht). The period of this process is tentatively from 15 June to 14 July.

4. Apply for work permit by bringing section 3 of Tor Thor 1, health check-up appointment paper and other relevant documents to the area’s Employment Office. The work permit fee will be charged at this stage. (The fee is between 900-1,800 Baht depending on the industry type and working area. Additionally, the form costs 100 Baht. Altogether the work permit request will cost 1,000-1,900 Baht per person.) The Employment Office then issues a proof of registration request and make appointment for the migrant workers to scan facial and fingerprint identification. This process is tentatively from 15 June to 12 October)
During the entire process, employers do not need to bring along the workers (The expense for the overall process is 2,980-3,880 Baht)

5. The migrant workers proceed for Tor Ror 38/1 at Amphoe/ District and follow the appointments as stated above including health check-up at the hospital and facial and fingerprint identification scanning at Employment Office.

6. Bring Tor Ror 38/1 and doctor certificate to be granted the work permit.
For migrant workers in open sea fishery, a special process is applied including the period of registration, employment conditions and employment area.

The Post-Registration Administration

1.Once a worker is granted with the work permit, the authority will be in accordance with provincial administration. Travelling outside of the province must be permitted by the
Governor except for open sea fishery, sea freight transportation and domestic work. (waiting to be affirmed by the Notifications of the Ministry of Interior)

2.Transferring the workers to other areas must be permitted by Employment Office and travelling outside of the province must be permitted by the Governor.

3.Employers must report the employment of migrant workers every 3 months to monitor the movement of migrant workers. In case that the workers run away, employers must notify the police within 7 days. If the employers do not comply, the employment quota will be revoked and the Department of Provincial Administration will remove the employers from database.

4.Employer names can be changed but only among those in the same industry and under specific circumstances which are;
-The employer is deceased;
-The employer lays off employees or goes out of business;
-The employee is abused by employer;
-The employer does not comply with labor protection laws or;
-The employer approves of the change.

5.Local Administration Offices, Municipalities, Tambon Administration Office, Kamnan, Village Head and local people take part in monitoring and notifying any lead to possible fleeing and movements of illegal migrant workers in the area.

Protection and Benefits
1.To provide protection to the workers according to the laws, Department of Labor Welfare and concerned agencies verify the company sites and ensure that the benefits in health insurance and other welfares according to the laws are granted to the migrant workers.
2.Employment offices hold meetings to keep all stakeholders informed about the rights and responsibilities of employers and migrant workers along with other relevant regulations.
Administration and Restructuring of The Illegal Migrant Workers’ Administration Committee (Kor Bor Ror)

1.The central Kor Bor Ror is restructured into 5 sub-committees as follows:
-Prevention and Interception Sub-Committee (Army as the main responsible agency)
-Suppression, Arrest and Prosecution Sub-Committee (Police as the main responsible agency)
-Deprotation Sub-Committee (Immigration Department as the main responsible agency)
-Employment System Management Sub-Committee (Ministry of Labor as the main responsible agency)
-Social and Quality of Lives Sub-Committee (Ministry of Health as the main responsible agency caring for health check-up, health insurance, medical care benefits and quality of lives)

6.Additional Sub-Committee in the provincial level is chaired by the Governor and the Provincial Employment Office acts as the secretary. The Sub-Committee defines administration, suppression, interception, social welfare and quality of lives measures, etc. in the provincial level under the authorization of sub-committees and reports to the main committee.

7.Leverage the level of Alien Workers’ Administration Office into a department under the Ministry of Labor with central and provincial offices. The department will have the authority in administering the illegal and legal migrant workers. Consideration in setting up the department will be given to the Ministry of Labor and the Kor Por Ror Committee.

Child Workers in Thailand: A Major Concern in Years to Come

By Patcharawalai Wongboonsin, Ph.D

Human Development & Migration Studies Centre
College of Population Studies
Chulalongkorn University
 

Child workers in Thailand include migrant and non-migrant children.  The former prevail in number.  They are mostly migrant children both from within and outside the country.  Those from within the country include those running away from home traveling across provinces to earn a living in towns of all regions, and those accompanying their parents to engage in economic activities elsewhere away from their area of origin. 

Studies on child workers in Thailand during the past few years were partly the response to the national and international agenda against the worst forms of child workers such as commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking.  There is also a growing concern with children engaged in illegal activities related to the trade in narcotics.       

Studies on child workers in Thailand cover both domestic and foreign-born children.  They were based mainly on two approaches: (1) child workers as a product of market forces together with household factors, while identifying poverty and economic drawbacks as an important if not a key role in determining the market for child workers; (2) a human-rights perspective, focusing on discrimination and exclusion as contributing factors, and trying to understand children’s work.  The studies on child workers have so far contributed to a better understanding of (1) the causes and consequences, magnitude and characteristics of child labor; and (2) child trafficking, particularly, the magnitude, the process of transportation and recruitment of children and the working environment experienced by children in the worst forms of child workers.  They have also helped raise awareness and responses to the multidimensional reality of child workers.

Nevertheless, the number of child workers is still unknown.  Estimates on the number of child workers in Thailand vary greatly.  A 1986 government survey on the labor force found that 1.05 million children aged 11 to 14 years were employed, out of which 124,000 were between 11 and 12 years old.1 By the mid-1990s, the International Labor Organization put the number at four million, with 600,000 between the ages of 13 and 14. 2  Non-governmental organizations put the number higher. By 2000, the participation rates of children under 15 years of age fell to around 1 per cent3 from around 5 per cent in 1989. 4 Up to the early 2000s, about 230,000 Thai minors between the ages of 13 to 17 were said to be working.  Child workers among ethnic Thai children have also been decreasing over the past few decades. 5

Factors accounting for the decline in child workers include the government policy and measures since 1992 to end child workers and sexual exploitation such as the adoption of coherent policies in the areas of poverty reduction, basic education and human rights as well as the important legislative development.  The latter includes the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act (1996), the Labour Protection Act (1998), which increased the minimum age for work from 13 to 15 years, and the National Education Act (1999).  Thailand is in the process of working towards the ultimate goal of 12 years of compulsory education to increase enrolments in both primary and lower secondary education.

By mid-2000s, an NGO, the Labour Rights Promotion Network, estimated that there were at least 20,000 Thai and foreign child workers in Samutsakorn province alone.  A survey then identified 643 child workers from the age of 9 to 18 years old, mainly of Mon ethnicity, followed by Thais, Burmese, and Thai highlanders from Chiang Rai province in the northern part of Thailand, respectively.  The largest proportion of children aged 9-12 worked in agriculture and as domestic household labour.  The largest proportion of those 15-17 years of age worked in fisheries and related jobs.  Most of them were working there for about two years; and it was their own decision to get into such economic activities so as to earn income and to fulfill their family obligations.6

Another study in Udon Thani province in the Northeast of Thailand identified 600 children working in the agricultural and service sectors.  It is not mentioned in the research report if there was any foreign child worker there.  Most children identified were mainly domestic migrants from other provinces in the same northeastern region. 7

There is scattered evidence suggesting a significant number of foreign-born children working in Thailand and that the foreign-born children are more likely to be found in more exploitative and dangerous work situations when compared to Thai children.8 Based on the data base of the Immigration Detention Centre, Immigration Bureau, Ministry of Interior, there were 14,525 foreign children, 71 per cent or 10,303 were boys and 29 per cent or 4,222 were girls during mid-1990s.  Fifty-eight per cent of them were children from Myanmar, followed by 27 per cent from Cambodia, and 13 per cent from Laos.  The rest were from China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. The majority (60.5 per cent) of them were 15-18 years old, followed by those between 10-14 years old (27.5 per cent).  Twelve percent were those between 0-9 years old.  It was estimated that 194,180 child workers entered Thailand illegally from neighbouring countries.  Seventy per cent of them were boys and the rest were girls. 9

In 1996, the total number of foreign child workers was estimated at 194,180 in Thailand, mostly from Myanmar, followed by Laos and Cambodia. 10  By the mid-2000s, Samutsakhon, a province nearby Bangkok, is said to host the largest number of foreign child workers among the provinces in central Thailand. 11  

A study by Save the Children UK prior to 2000 indicated that children from Myanmar as young as 13 years old migrated either independently or alongside relatives to neighbouring countries, including Thailand, in search of employment.12   In 2003, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions suggested that there were children from Myanmar as young as 8 years old had undocumented status and were clandestinely working in textiles, garments, bottle making, tinning, construction, agriculture, fisheries and other related industries, as well as snack bars, dish washing, and sexual services.13   According to the IOM, 93,000 children below the age of 15 accompanied the 1.3 million adult migrants from Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia who registered as workers in Thailand in 2004.  Sixty-three thousand were those below 12 years old from Myanmar.14   This is despite the fact that Thai law stipulates the minimum age of employment to be 15 years old.

Minors from Laos are known to work in Bangkok and its vicinity and in pockets all over the country.  A study in 1997 found them working in significant numbers around Pak Kret (Nonthaburi) and parts of Samut Sakorn and Samut Prakan.15 In all age group (including adults) of Lao migrants from Champasak, Savannakhet and Khammuan, 75 percent of total migration have occurred within the last three years compared to less than 5 percent prior to 1989.  This includes Lao migrants under the age of 18, with girls accounting for more than two-thirds of the migrants.

Those from Cambodia include short-term and long-term migration.  The former occurs mostly along the Cambodia-Thai border.  The latter is from central Cambodia to several destinations beyond the Cambodia-Thai border.  The main routes of irregular migration to Thailand cover those along the Southern coastal areas of Cambodia, particularly from Koh Kong to Klong Yai district in Trad in Thailand, and from Poipet to Aranyaprathet in Thailand. 16 Irregular migrants are facilitated by network of recruiters (neak noams) to work in 4D jobs, which allow them to maintain the status quo rather than improving their living standard.   Some migrant children from Cambodia came with friends.  Others have accompanied their parents and/or relatives, registered and undocumented, to work in fisheries and the construction and agricultural sectors in Thailand.  Youth and adult female migrant workers are also found in commercial sex work, begging, and domestic services.17 They were pushed by chronic and extreme poverty, lack of access to education and training, landlessness, lack of employment, lack of access to markets, materialism, debt and natural disasters (droughts, floods).  The presence of landmines has reduced the usability of land for agriculture, further reducing economic opportunities in rural areas. 18         

On July 5, 2005, the Thai cabinet passed a resolution granting non-Thai and undocumented children access to the Thai education system from kindergarten through university.  They are entitled to receive a 13-digit registration number allowing them to attend school.  They are also permitted to travel within Thailand for approved education-related purposes.  Before then, a study in 1998 identified these two problems encountered by children of undocumented migrant workers:19

(1) No or limited opportunity for education;

(2) Limited access to health care services existing in the destination country.

As a result, many migrant children had to work at a very young age. Some started with helping their parents at approximately 4-5 years of age. The older ones turned into very low-wage workers in places notorious for their poor health and safety conditions. Children of illegal migrants were expected to largely end up as their parents did; that is, as illegal migrant labour. They were easily coerced and trafficked to work in extreme forms of child labour due to the lack of stability. 20

Lao girls are particularly vulnerable to cross-border traffickers. They often ended up as forced labourers, domestic servants, or sex slaves.  About 17 percent of the victims of trafficking cases were reported to be missing. 21

According to a study by Archavanitkul et al. (1998), the traveling of child migrants to a destination can be usually divided into two groups: traveling with family or family members, and with friends or acquaintances. Some children may travel by themselves because they live close to the border. But the majority who do not come with their family members have to come with brokers, because traveling in the countries of origin is inconvenient, and public transportation systems are inadequate. Family migration crossing the border is often the chosen form for people moving from Myanmar to Thailand, but not for migration from other countries to Thailand as well as migration between two other countries in the sub-region. The children trafficking process in countries other than Thailand thus is mainly the transportation of children from the sending country to the destination country. This is particularly true for the case of trafficking from Vietnam to China and to Cambodia. While in Thailand, children may arrive with parents and later on are abducted by the agents or the whole family of migrants may be trafficked together to Thailand from their community of origin. Generally speaking, children traveling alone have more chance of being lured into the sex industry whether voluntarily or not. But those traveling with family members might also face separation later because of working conditions, the trafficker’s intention, or police arrest. However, there is an exceptional case where a Shan mother and a daughter were sent to work together in a Thai traditional massage establishment. 22

Khmer children, Vietnamese children from Cambodia, and Indian Muslim children from Myanmar traveling with family members are the major groups lured into begging and soliciting businesses in big cities in Thailand, either with or without adults accompanying the children and the adults may or may not panhandle. Khmer children are smuggled across the Thai-Cambodia border, but not children from Myanmar because of the cost of doing so. Also this business has not been widely practiced, and it has yet to generate large profits. Thus far there is also no evidence of Lao children being smuggled across the border to Thailand for the begging business. 23

Approximately 15,000 child labour were employed in abusive conditions, according to the Labour Studies and Planning Division, Ministry of Labour.  However, the actual number of children working in exploitative conditions was expected to be much higher if migrant children in Thailand were also counted. 24

A study in 1997 identified three main forms of exploitative working conditions:25

(1) Low remuneration and excessive hours of work;

(2) Hazardous work and unsafe working conditions;

(3) Physical and mental abuses

Another study in 1998 identified a considerable number of enterprises and employers in small-scale factories, the service sector and the informal sector shifting strategy to hire migrant children from neighbouring countries. This was particularly true in such sectors as fisheries and related industries, small factories, and service businesses. 26   Later on, a survey under the ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour27 in various geographical sites in and around Bangkok and its vicinities maintains that a significant number of young migrants in agriculture, fishing and manufacturing sectors in Thailand in 2005 were facing exploitation ranging from non-payment or underpayment of wages, and a requirement to work excessive hours, sometimes involving the use of hazardous equipment.  Or, they were prohibited from leaving the workplace.  Most of the migrants surveyed were from Myanmar, with a small number of Lao and Cambodian migrants.  Of those born in Myanmar, the main ethnic groups identified were Burman, Mon, Karen, and Shan. Five percent of the migrants were below 15 years old, 20 percent were 15-17 years of age, and 75 percent were between 18-25 years old.  The majority of them were registered across all sectors.

According to a UNICEF's report, some homeless girls around 13-14 years of age became child prostitutes (UNICEF 1995). A study in 1998 reported that migrant children trafficked into prostitution worked in a wide range of conditions from expensive hotel rooms to tiny, dirty rooms in brothels. They became call girls, freelance sex workers, and rented wives who worked in better conditions and had fewer customers. Some worked in indirect sex establishments such as restaurants, karaoke clubs, bars, cafes, and traditional massage places. They faced a number of physical, mental, psychological, and developmental problems: 28

(1) Giving up any available opportunities for education and losing the chance to develop mentally and socially as other children do.

(2) A wide range of health risks, including physical harm, malnutrition, lack of health care, exposure to hazardous substances, exposure to accidents, exposure to STDs and HIV/AIDS, risks associated with unwanted pregnancy and abortion;

(3) A wide range of other problems, including being cheated.

A study in 1997 pointed out that the trafficking of Lao women and girls into prostitution in Thailand has a long history. For instance, some of them have been forced into prostitution in Nongkai and Mukdaharn provinces along the Thai-Laotian border for 20 years.  During the 1990s, the majority of foreign child prostitutes in Thailand was said to be from Myanmar with an estimated 10,000 women and children being taken from there on a yearly basis.29 A sizeable number also came from Yunnan. The trafficked girls from both Myanmar and Yunnan were brought into the sex establishments almost throughout Thailand while trafficked girls from Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia were largely brought into brothels or indirect commercial sex business in bordering provinces. 30 By the late 1990s, the number of northern Thai young girls trafficked into sex establishments were decreasing with a corresponding increase in the supply of girls from neighbouring countries since the early 1990s.31

Based on the data from the Department of Labour, an estimated number of 17,978 children were working in the sex industry in Thailand during the 1990s.  About 30 per cent of them were foreigners—the majority of them being female. 32

Beggars and street children from neighbouring countries constitute another major concern in Thailand.  In 1997, 530 migrant beggar children from neighbouring countries were identified in unpublished reports of the Department of Social Welfare, Ministry of Labour.  The majority (93 per cent) of them were from Cambodia, the rest were from Myanmar.  However, a study in 1998 maintained that the number of beggars discussed above was somewhat lower than in reality.  Beggars from neighbouring countries were estimated to be 1,060 in total with 827 boys and 233 girls. 33

Generally, the street kids have to endure destructive, exploitative and abusive working conditions. Life on the street is very risky, polluted, and vulnerable to sexual abuse, violence and drug addiction. They are the ones most likely to be trafficked across borders. 34  

Street children from Cambodia were found to be trafficked to Thailand by begging gangs. Some were likely to be trafficked for criminal purposes by organised crime syndicates in Thailand.35

A study in 1998 maintained that the trafficked migrant children who worked for begging gangs could suffer extreme exploitation and abuse because they were often forced to work for long hours, and then had most of their incomes taken by the gang leaders. They were sometimes beaten if they did not make enough money and they risked severe beatings if they tried to leave the gangs. They frequently fought with other children and usually developed an anti-social personality. 36

The Thai government has adopted various policy measures to eliminate child labour by setting up a mass media campaign on child labor, registering child labourers, cooperating with hospitals to report cases of tortured child workers, establishing 36 sub-local offices of labour protection and welfare, increasing the number of labour inspectors, and organizing training courses for labour inspectors.  Aside from the establishment of operation centers in 76 provinces to address unfair labour practices against children, disseminate relevant literature, and organize meetings, the Ministry of the Interior has instructed officials to take employers accused of violating child labour laws to the court immediately without prior warning. The Administration Committee of the Thai Parliament has also passed an amendment to the Penal Code which increases the penalties for acts which harm or endanger child labourers or causing their death. Penalties include a prison term of 15 to 20 years, life imprisonment, or capital punishment

Thailand is in need of identifying a more proactive approach to deal with child workers, not only domestic, but also foreign and stateless children.  The number of the latter is expected to rise in the few years to come.  A more in-depth investigation of the problems of child workers should be prioritized so as to be able to develop work plans and action programs involving various activities for working children, such as mobile libraries, vocational training, and medical examinations.

--------------------------------------------------------

Note:

1 UNICEF (1989). "Thai Children at Work," The Situation Analysis for Women and Children. New York: UNICEF.

2 ILO (1994). Report of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations: General Report and Observations Concerning Particular Countries. Geneva: International Labor Organization, 81st session, 1994.

3 ILO. The End of Child Labour: Within Reach.  Global Report under the follow-up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, Report of the Director-General, International Labour Conference 95th Session 2006, Report I (B), Geneva, ILO, 2006, para. 45.

4 S. Ptanawanit et al. A Review of IPEC’s Contribution to National Efforts to Combat Child Labour in Thailand: 1992-2002. Bangkok, ILO, 2005, p. 32.

5 Simon Baker.  Working Children and the Thai Economic Crisis, Child Workers in Asia. Available in http://www.cwa.tnet.co.th/booklet/thailand.htm. Cited in Christina Wille.  Trafficking in Children into the Worst Forms of Child Labour: A Rapid Assessment.  International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, Investigating the Worst Forms of Child Labour no. 1. Geneva, ILO, 2004, p. 9.

6 Supang Chantavanich et al. (2006).  Assessing the Situation of Child Labour in Samutsakhon.  Bangkok:  Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University and International Labour Organization.

7 Jaranya Wongprom et al. (2006) Selling Labouring Services to Help Mothers or Because of a Worsening Society: Status and Life of Child Workers from A Research Study in the Northeast.  A study supported by ILO/IPEC. Khonkaen: Khonkaen University

8 Christina Wille.  Trafficking in Children into the Worst Forms of Child Labour: A Rapid Assessment.  International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, Investigating the Worst Forms of Child Labour no. 1. Geneva, ILO, 2004, p. 1.

9 Archavanitkul, K. et al. (1998), p. 22-23.

10 Wille (2004), p. 1

11 Supang Chantavanich et al. (2006).  Ibid. 

12 Therese Caoutte (2001). Small Dreams Out of Reach, The Lives of Migrant Children and Youth along the Borders of China, Myanmar, and Thailand.  Bangkok: Save the Children UK.

13 ICFTU (2003).  Growing Up Under the Burmese Dictatorship.  August.

14 “Thailand Risks Creating ‘Lost Generation’ of 100,000 Child Migrants: IOM,” AFP 23 August 2005.

15 Wiroonrapun, Khemporn and Yuphawadi Patano. A Report on Cross-border Child Labour: A Case Study of Laotian Child Migrants in Bangkok and the Vicinity.  Foundation for Child Development (FCD), December. 1997

16 Sidedine (1998); www.migrationinformation.org. 

17 Wongboonsin (2002), (2005).

18 Bruno Maltoni (2006a). Review of Labor Migration Dynamics in Cambodia.  IOM Phnom Pehn, International Organization for Migration, September; R. Biddulph (2004).  Poverty and Social Impact Assessment of Social Land Concessions in Cambodia: Landlessness Assessment. Oxfam, Great Britain; Lim Sidedine (1998).  ‘Migration from and to Cambodia.” Paper presented at the Regional Workshop on Transnational Migration and Development in ASEAN Countries organized by Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University, Bangkok, May 25-27.; IOM (2000).  Combating Trafficking in South-East Asia:  A Review of Policy and Programme Responses.  Geneva:  International Organization for Migration, p. 37.; College of Population Studies and Institute of Asian Studies (1999). Ibid; Scalabrini (n.d.) “Lao PDR.” In

19 Archavanitkul, K. et al. (1998), p. 16.

20 Archavanitkul, K. (1998), “Transnational Population and Policy Options forImportation of foreign Labour into Thailand.”   Paper presented in the Regional Workshop on "Transnational Migration and Development in ASEAN Countries' organized by Institute for Population and Social research, Mahidol University and IOM, May 25-27.

21 “Lao government steps up effort to combat human trafficking,” Vientiane Times, 22 August 2006.

22 Archavanitkul, K. et al. (1998). Ibid.

23 Op Cit.

24 Op Cit.

25 Kanchanachitra, C. (1997). “Thailand Situation Analysis: Child Labour.”  Paper submitted to UNICEF Thailand.

26 Archavanitkul, K. et al. (1998).

27 Elaine Pearson et al. (2006) The Mekong Challenge, Underpaid, Overworked and Overlooked:  The Realities of Young Migrant Workers in Thailand. Volume One.  International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour.  Bangkok: International Labour Organization.

28 Archavanitkul, K. et al. (1998).

29 Asia Watch (1994) A Modern Form of Slavery.  New York: Human Right Watch; Archavanitkul and Koetsawang (1997). A Passage of Women from Neighbouring Countries to Sex Trade in Thailand.  Nakhonpathom:  Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University

30 Archavanitkul, K. et al. (1998).

31 Archavanitkul, K. (1994). 'Situation Analysis of Trafficking of girls and Child Prostitution Policy in thailand'. in ECPAT, Stop Trafficking Children for Sexual Purposes.  Report of an International Consultation, June 1-3, Taiwan, Taipei.

32 Archavanitkul, K. et al. (1998).

33 Archavanitkul, K. (1994).

34 Archavanitkul, K. et al. (1998).

35 Derks, Annuska. (1997).  Trafficking of Cambodian Women and Children to Thailand.  Pnom Penh: IOM and Center for Advanced Study, p. 24-28.

36 Archavanitkul, K. et al. (1998).

Mekong Migration Network (MMN) & Action Network for Migrants in Thailand (ANM)
JOINT STATEMENT
Workers at Risk.
Greed, Overcrowding, lack of public transport

On Monday 4th April 2011, Thailand witnessed another terrible road accident. 16
Burmesemigrant workers were killed and nearly 50 injured when the truck that they
were packed ontocollided with another truck in Samut Sakorn Province, near
Bangkok, Thailand. The workerswere on their way to work at a food processing
factory in Mahachai. Many of these workers hadfollowed the new rules and regulations
to have their nationality verified and held temporary passports.

Every morning and evening all over Thailand there are trucks overcrowded with workers,
Thai, Burmese, Cambodian, Laotian, men and women heading to and from work. In
some cases, these trucks are organized by brokers who arrive at a designated spot
every day, pick up workers and drop them off at different work sites. In others, the
trucks are organized by the factories to bring in the workers. They are not hidden.
The workers are in full view of everyone. The trucks often speed through towns
throwing the workers who are hanging on for dear life half way out of the truck.
At the end of a tiring day on the construction site, theworkers can barely stand up,
but in many cases, they don’t have to make much effort, because the trucks are so
tightly packed that it would be impossible to fall over, but unfortunately not impossible
to be thrown out. Laws which enforce seat belts and crash helmets seem to be of no
use when it is possible to pack workers into the back of a truck with no safety
protection whatsoever. All vehicles in Thailand must be insured, and all insurances
will specify how many people can be carried in a vehicle. But these trucks are
rarely stopped by the police. Maybe because the police/immigration also have the
same practice and overcrowd their own trucks when deporting migrant workers.

Transporting workers in this manner had become the norm because:

a) Any migrant worker without a temporary passport (more than a million) cannot
travel freely, and therefore have to rely on brokers to transport them from place
to place, including from their living quarters to their work places.

b) Without other systems in place, the brokers running the trucks provide the only
link that migrants have with the work available for that day. The brokers make their
money by being the middle men between the contractor and the migrants and aim
to make as much profit as possible. They cram as many migrant workers as they
can into their truck and then deliver them to different work sites, collecting a fee at each

c) In most towns in Thailand, apart from Bangkok, there are very limited, if any public
transport systems. The alternative systems, the songteow (red bus), are too expensive
for workers on minimum wage.

d) Migrant workers have faced restrictions on getting driving licences and thus cannot
ride motorbikes as other workers do.

The MMN and ANM are deeply upset by this further loss of lives of young migrants.
This dangerous practice must be stopped before more workers lose their lives or are
permanently disabled. We call on the Royal Thai Government to ensure that:

 The families of all workers killed are fully compensated
The injured workers receive full free hospital care and are compensated for loss of
work time

 Safety regulations for all forms of transportation are strictly enforced, with careful
attention to the safety of the workers in the process of enforcing the law

 Public transport systems are improved, especially in towns which have grown
dramatically due to increased investment, economic growth and increased population
of migrant workers

 To decrease the dependency on brokers, job placement services should be
available for migrants to find employment by themselves

 That restrictions on travel are lifted for all registered migrants

 That all registered migrants are allowed to take driving tests and own their
own motorbikes

Registration for illegal migrant workers starts June 15

The final chance for illegal migrant workers in Thailand to begin legal registration will start on June 15. Registration will last about one month.

Thailand’s Department of Employment (DoE) has announced that registration forms are available at all regional DoE offices, The Nation newspaper reported. 

Employers must pay 1,300 baht (US$ 40) per worker for a health-insurance deposit, 600 baht per worker for a medical examination, 100 baht for an application fee and an annual permit fee of 900 to 1,800 baht depending on the type of work and location, according to the newspaper.

‘When all workers are entered into the system, they can be protected and paid more fairly, while being monitored and controlled more effectively. This will lead to better proficiency in terms of social and economic concerns’, The Nation quoted official Suthassanee Suebwongphaet as saying.

After the deadline, employers who hire illegal workers could be fined 10,000 to 100,000 baht per worker, while illegal migrant workers could face a maximum five-year jail term or a fine of 2,000 to 100,000 baht.

During an earlier registration period for illegal migrant workers in August 2009, about 1.3 million migrant workers from Burma, Laos and Cambodia registered. But in 2011, after the February deadline, just 845,139 workers renewed their registration, according to the Ministry of Labour.

There are a total of 550,003 migrant workers from Burma, Laos and Cambodia who hold temporary passports in Thailand. A total of 352,748 are from Burma. Workers support groups estimate that there are about two million Burmese migrant workers, both legal and illegal, in Thailand.
 

ထိုင္းရွိ ေ႐ႊ႕ေျပာင္းလုပ္သား မွတ္ပံုတင္ခြင့္ ဇြန္ ၁၅ ရက္စတင္

ထိုင္းႏိုင္ငံရွိ တရားမဝင္ေ႐ႊ႕ေျပာင္းလုပ္သားမ်ား မွတ္ပံုတင္ခြင့္ကို လာမည့္ဇြန္လ ၁၅ရက္ေန႔မွ စတင္ေပးမည္ဟု အလုပ္အကိုင္ခန္႔ထားေရးညႊန္ခ်ဳပ္  ဆူသာစာနီ ဆေဝါင္ဖတ္က ေျပာေၾကာင္း
 ေနရွင္းသတင္းစာက ေရးသားသည္။  
မွတ္ပံုတင္ပံုစံမ်ားကုိ ေဒသဆိုင္ရာ အလုပ္သမား႐ုံးအသီးသီးတြင္ ေတာင္းခံႏိုင္ၿပီး  ေဆးစစ္ခ ဘတ္၆ဝဝ၊ က်န္းမာေရးအာမခံ ဘတ္ ၁၃ဝဝ၊ အလုပ္လုပ္ခြင့္ လက္မွတ္ေလွ်ာက္ထားခ ဘတ္၁ဝဝႏွင့္ အလုပ္လုပ္ခြင့္ ပါမစ္ေၾကး တႏွစ္အတြက္ ဘတ္ ၁၈ဝဝ အသီးသီး ကုန္က်မည္ျဖစ္သည္။  အကယ္၍ တရားမဝင္ အလုပ္သမားေတြအကုန္လံုးဒီမွတ္ပံုတင္ခြင့္ေပးတဲ့ စနစ္ထဲဝင္လာမယ္ဆိုရင္ သူတို႔အတြက္ ပိုၿပီး အကာအကြယ္ေပးႏိုင္မွာျဖစ္ၿပီး သင့္ေတာ္တဲ့ လုပ္အားခေတြလည္း ရရွိမွာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္” ဟု ညႊန္ခ်ဳပ္ ဆေဝါင္ဖတ္ ေျပာစကားကို သတင္းစာက ကိုးကားထားသည္။ 

မွတ္ပံုတင္ခြင့္ျပဳသည့္ ကာလသည္ တလၾကာျမင့္မည္ျဖစ္ၿပီး ထိုကာလေနာက္ပိုင္း တရားမဝင္ အလုပ္သမား လက္ဝယ္ေတြ႔ရွိေသာ လုပ္ငန္းရွင္မ်ားအား အလုပ္သမားတဦးအတြက္ ဘတ္ေငြ ၁ဝ,ဝဝဝ မွ ၁ဝဝ,ဝဝဝ အထိလည္းေကာင္း၊ အလုပ္သမားအား ဘတ္ေငြ ၂,ဝဝဝမွ ၁ဝဝ,ဝဝဝ ထက္မပိုေသာ ဒဏ္ေငြ သို႔မဟုတ္ ၅ႏွစ္ထက္မပိုေသာ ေထာင္ဒဏ္ သို႔မဟုတ္ ဒဏ္ႏွစ္ရပ္ေပါင္း ျပစ္ဒဏ္ခ်မွတ္မည္ျဖစ္သည္။
ေဖေဖာ္ဝါရီလကုန္ သက္တမ္းဆက္ခြင့္ ကုန္ဆံုးခ်ိန္ ထိုင္းႏိုင္ငံတြင္ မွတ္ပံုတင္ထားေသာေရႊ႕ေျပာင္း
လုပ္သားဦးေရ ၈၄၅,၁၃၉ ဦးရွိသည္ဟု ထိုင္းအလုပ္သမားဝန္ၾကီးဌာန ထုတ္ျပန္ေသာ စာရင္းဇယားကို ကိုးကား၍ ႏိုင္ငံတကာေရႊ႕ေျပာင္းေနထိုင္သူမ်ားေရးရာ IOM အဖြဲ႔၏ ဧၿပီလ ၁၁ ရက္ေန႔ ထုတ္ျပန္ခ်က္တြင္ ပါရွိသည္။
ျမန္မာ၊ လာအို၊ ကေမၻာဒီးယား ၃ ႏိုင္ငံမွ ယာယီႏိုင္ငံကူးလက္မွတ္ ကိုင္ေဆာင္ အလုပ္လုပ္ေနသူ ၅၅ဝ,ဝဝ၃ ဦး႐ွိၿပီး ထိုအထဲတြင္ ျမန္မာ ၃၅၂,၇၄၈ ဦး ပါဝင္သည္ဟု ဆုိသည္။
အလုပ္သမားေရးအဖြဲ႔မ်ားက တရားဝင္ႏွင့္ တရားမဝင္ ျမန္မာေရႊ႕ေျပာင္းအလုပ္သမား ၂ သန္းခန္႔ ထိုင္းႏိုင္ငံအတြင္း အလုပ္လုပ္ကိုင္ေနသည္ဟု ခန္႔မွန္းထားၾကသည္။

More than 400 Burmese migrant workers arrested in Thailand

Thai police rounded up more than 400 Burmese migrant workers at the V&K Pineapple Canning Company Factory in Ratchaburi on Friday morning.

Khaing Zaw Naing, who has legally worked at the factory for three years, told Mizzima that four hundred, ‘maybe 500 workers’ were arrested.

Most of the workers who were arrested did not have work permits or residence permits. Some had temporary passports. Thai authorities said that although some of workers had temporary passports, they had changed jobs without permission and were therefore arrested.

About 1,000 Burmese workers are employed in the factory.

About 812,000 workers out of 2 million Burmese migrant workers in Thailand are legal, according to the Thai Labour Ministry.

From Mizzama News

Archive for the ‘Migration Policy in Thailand’ Category

Human trafficking rackets in Thailand will becoming the target of a crackdown by authorities as Bangkok looks to rein in the flow of illegal workers into the country.
Employers who hire illegal migrants will also face arrest, the Thai labour ministry’s Permanent Secretary Somkiat Chayasriwong told a press conference on 3 May. He added that anti-immigration officials would also pressure “all illegal migrants… through arrests”.
It comes as Thailand prepares to issue a new round of work permits to migrants in the country, the majority of whom come from Burma. The process will begin between June and September this year, Somkiat said.
Yet the government has approached with caution the victims of human trafficking, many of which are tricked into leaving neighbouring countries for Thailand with promises of appetising salaries, only to be forced into almost slave-like conditions.
A decision was reportedly reached by the labour ministry yesterday to allow such victims who are unable to return to their home countries to work in Thailand.
Anurak Tossarat, director of Thai labour ministry’s Office of Foreign Workers’ Administration, said: “A decision has been approved today to grant one-year temporary work permits for migrants under protection in Thai welfare centres undergoing trial after being trafficked into Thailand.
“So the trafficking victims will be able to find jobs and make income before they can return to their home countries.”
The announcement has been welcomed by migrant rights groups, including the Burmese Association in Thailand. Its foreign relations coordinator, Myo Naing, said however that Burmese migrants, who are thought to number up to three million in Thailand, should act with caution until they receive their permits.
Of the millions of Burmese in Thailand, only around 350,000 have legal work permits. Many work in low-skilled industries such as fishing and garments manufacturing, and because of their status are not protected under Thai labour laws.