Burma to open private schools and hospitals

Private schools and hospitals abolished under the former Ne Win regime in Burma are to reopen in an attempt to generate more revenue in the country and improve the struggling sectors.

The government’s health ministry announced a 21-point criteria list for the opening of private hospitals starting from early next year.
Dr Kyee Myint, deputy director of the ministry’s health department, said that candidate health centers who meet the 21 conditions will be granted permission to run as hospitals.
“We have already announced this in the news,” he said. “This is a programme intended to bring profit to the nation by assisting in the development of private businesses.”
Private schools will be allowed to open at the start of the 2010 academic year, the education ministry has announced.
Guidance was recently given to private boarding tuition centres to prepare for the transition, with statistics delivered on school size, location, number of buildings and teachers, planned budget and school administration structures.
“This is only to test the capability of the candidates,” said Major Maung Latt, owner of Soe San boarding tuition in the capital, Naypyidaw, which has been flagged for consideration.
“Maybe in about one year, some government schools will be opened for auction [to replace with private schools]. Nothing is definite at the moment.
“It would be better for the education,” he added. “Why should the private boarding tuition centers be in existence now if the government schools were good enough?”
Well-known private tuition centres in Burma charge between 1.5 million and two million kyat ($US1,500 to $US2,000) per student each year.
People working in the education sector in Burma have said the move could lead to the development of more education-based businesses in the country.
Private schools once existed in Burma, but were abolished by former military leader Ne Win’s Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) government when it came to power in 1964.

Deadline to apply for junta issued passports set

Thai employers of Burmese migrants working in Thailand have been informed again by Thai authorities to finish submitting the completed new nationality identification forms by November, according to a copy of an official document received by SHAN.

On 4 September, the provincial employment office of Chiangmai informed employers to urge their workers to apply for passport documents under the national verification process.
The deadline is by 30 November for people from Burma and 30 December for people from Cambodia.
However, most migrants were in fear to give the factual biographical information to the Burmese government because of reports of some of their families left behind being forced to pay extra taxes to the junta on monthly or yearly basic, said an employer who wishes not to be named.
Rights groups also share the same concern with the migrants.

On 16 September, rights groups: the State Enterprise Workers Relations Confederation (SERC), the Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF) and the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee (TLSC) submitted a petition to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants to make an urgent inquiry into the commencement of a nationality verification process for Burmese migrants in Thailand because both the Thai and Burmese government have disseminated little information which is likely to be ineffective and places 2 million migrants at high risk.
“We hope the UN will actively take attention to this case and will try to discuss with Thai authorities to work together as we have requested,” Sein Htay from Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF).
The national verification process began at the end of July. Passport issuing offices are being opened along the Thai/Burma border at Myawaddy, Tachilek and Kawthaung (Victoria Point).
The only information publically disseminated is from the Burmese government about processes on its side of the border.
However, private brokers are springing up and providing answers and services at unreasonably high costs, according to their joint submission.
“Tour buses carrying migrants to border processing centres are leaving main migrant population centers in Thailand and migrants are then crossing borders to Burma and returning at varying costs with temporary Burmese passports and visas,” reads the letter.
The letter stated that the nationality verification process is two-track. Migrants can either submit their biographical information to brokers to get nationality verified and obtain a passport within months, or submit this information formally to employment offices and receive a slow response. The formal government costs are low (approx. 600 to 2, 100 baht/US$17- 60) but broker fees are unregulated and getting higher (starting costs approx. 7, 500 baht/US$200).
The groups said they fear for their safety and are disturbed at what appears to be another wave of exploitation.
According to the Royal Thai Government announcement that no migrants would remain illegally in Thailand after 28 February 2010, as all registered Burmese migrants must undertake nationality verification before this time by means of a 13-stage process involving both governments or face deportation.



The letter urges the Burmese government to conduct the verification process in Thailand and not in Burma.

Migrant workers: No meddling in Thai politics

In response to widespread reports saying that Burmese migrants may join the anti-government rally in Thailand, Chiangmai based Shan workers organizations said that they have a strict policy not to intervene in their host country’s internal affairs because they are only “guest residents”.

On Wednesday, Thai officials imposed restrictions along the northern Thai-Burma border due to a report that migrant workers might join the red-shirt demonstrations against Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajiva during his scheduled (now cancelled) visit to Chiangmai on Saturday to attend the annual Thailand Chamber of Commerce meeting.
The Worker Solidarity Association (WSA) said that the group’s stand is non-interference. “We have warned our members to stay neutral and not to get involved with either red or yellow shirts because it is our Thailand’s domestic affair,” said Sai John, Chairman of the WSA.
Likewise, Migrant Workers Federation (MWF) says one of its policies is not to engage in the political affairs of their host country. Its members have never taken part in any political activities in the past and will remain so in the future as well, according to its chairman Sai Aung Htay.

“We are only people fleeing from the heat of our country to seek sanctuary. We are not associated with any political group. If there are members who do not follow this policy, he/she should withdraw from membership,” he said. “As workers, our rights are to only ask for equal treatment from our employers and the government if we are not treated equally and get equal pay.”
According to Jeerasak Sukonthachart, Director of Thailand’s Department of Employment, if migrants are found among the protestors they would be repatriated to their homeland and their employers will also face trial.
He said that, according to Thai law, migrant workers are not allowed to join political demonstrations because it is illegal.
To this, a Shan elder responded, “Workers are hired employees. They can only do what their employers tell them to. They are not in a position to lead their employers. It is unfair to blame them for what is happening between the red and yellow shirts.”
Some Shan workers admit they were given red shirts by their employers for what purpose they were not told.
There are more than 2 million migrant workers in Thailand, at least one-third of whom are Shans, according to one estimate.

Migrants granted access to legally owned vehicles

An announcement of the Department of Transport (DoT) of Thailand on 13 October said registered migrants from Burma, Laos and Cambodia and other minority people in the country have been granted a right to buy motor vehicles.
According to the announcement, a person who is holding Taw Raw 14 (Thai citizens), Taw Raw 13(displaced person holding a pink card or a highlander holding a blue card) and Taw Raw 38/1 (migrant worker’s card).
Although they are allowed ownership of vehicles, the authorities has yet to issue driving license for them. Nevertheless, the authorities are still discussing driving licenses how migrants could be issued, said the announcement.

A Thai source commented that, “Driving license for migrants will not be the same as those for Thai citizens because migrants cannot travel anywhere in Thailand without official permission.”
According to Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF) press release on 30 October, the DoT was able to grant migrants the right to own and drive motor vehicles due to the National Security Council (NSC)’s new policy.
The statement said this announcement will be a positive impact to over 1 million registered migrants and other minority persons in the country.
The number of migrants working in the country are estimated around 3 million.
At the same time, migrants from Burma are required to complete application forms for the passport document under the national verification process by 28 February 2010.

No Country to Call Their Own

Stateless Burmese children in Thailand are still being denied basic rights such as access to education and health services, and they are vulnerable to many kinds of exploitation and abuse, according to migrant rights advocates.



It’s estimated that there are about 1 million stateless children in Thailand, with about two-thirds thought to be children of Burmese migrant workers who come in search of a better life.


In 2008, the Thai government amended the country’s law on civil registration to allow all children born in Thailand, regardless of the legal status of their parents, to receive birth certificates. The change has been greeted by many in the international aid community as an important step forward.


“Efforts are underway to ensure that the system is accessible and well known to parents, including stateless parents, local officials and communities,” said Amanda Bissex, chief of the Child Protection Section of UNICEF Thailand.


Under the revised law, the Thai government, which ratified the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), has instructed all state hospitals to issue birth registration documents to any baby born to any parents, regardless of their background.


However, rights advocates say that in practice, hospitals often fail to issue birth certificates to the children of migrants. This is partly due to the fact that many parents simply don’t ask for these documents because they don’t realize how important they are for their children’s futures.


Another problem is that many unregistered Burmese migrant women are afraid to go to state hospitals to give birth, as they fear arrest and deportation. As a result, they deliver their children at their homes or worksites with the help of local midwives.


Unregistered migrants’ constant fear of arbitrary arrest and deportation also discourages them from taking their children to local health-care facilities, causing them to miss basic inoculations against crippling diseases such as polio.


Pockets of the education system also remain largely inaccessible to many stateless children, say advocates. According to the Peace Way Foundation in Thailand, in some areas a migrant child can only be educated if a teacher is willing to accept the child and the family can afford it. Some children can attend classes, but with little hope of obtaining a Thai certificate of education, which is essential for further study.


In 2005, the government adopted a policy called “Education for All,” which was intended to give all children in Thailand equal access to schooling. However, even Thailand’s deputy education minister, Chaiwut Bannawat, has admitted that a large number of children still fail to receive an education.


While a language barrier prevents many children from entering Thai schools, poverty forces many others to forego study so they can work to support their families. The inability to get Thai certificates of education is another reason that few Burmese children continue their education when they migrate to Thailand with their families.


A very small percentage of stateless children are able to further their studies in Thai schools and go on to foreign countries on scholarship programs. For the rest, any hope of achieving a better education is soon abandoned.


“If children see no prospect for their future, they just take any job available in their community, which does not help them towards establishing better livelihoods,” said Aye Aye Mar, the founder of Social Action for Women (SAW), an NGO that provides shelter, training, and learning centers for Burmese women and children.


Aye Aye Mar noted that many teenagers turn to employment agents to help them find better jobs in cities, which sometimes makes them vulnerable to human trafficking, exploitation and abuse.


According to Tattiya Likitwong, a project coordinator for the Child Development Foundation, the child labor situation in Thailand has not improved because many children, including stateless children from Burma, Laos and Cambodia, can still be seen working in low-paying jobs, particularly in large cities.


More than 200,000 migrant children between the ages of 15 and 18 have been registered by employers, while many more are not registered, said Tattiya. Many of the children work in the fishing industry, while others sell flowers by the roadside or beg on the streets.


Unlike refugees, stateless children get neither recognition nor aid from regional or international agencies.


“Shockingly little is being done to protect the basic rights of millions of stateless children around the world,” said Maureen Lynch, the research director of Refugees International and author of the report “Futures Denied: Statelessness among Children, Infants and Youth.”


“These children are stigmatized and blocked from such basic services as health care and education because a government won’t recognize them as citizens,” she said.


“Although the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to a nationality, these children are forced into an underclass with little hope for the future through no fault of their own,” she said.


Lynch said that reducing statelessness is achievable. “Ensuring that every child is registered at birth, granting citizenship in cases of disputed nationality, and strengthening the UN Refugee Agency so it can do more to resolve this problem are just a few of the simple steps that can help millions of children access a brighter future,” she said.


The Asean Human Rights Body (AHRB), mandated by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (Asean) recently ratified charter, can help to resolve some of the problems facing stateless children and others who are particularly vulnerable to human rights abuses, say advocates.


While some human rights specialists expect the AHRB to address the cross-border issue of registration and improve information sharing among Asean countries, there are still serious doubts about the effectiveness of the AHRB.


“The AHRB will be nothing more than a paper tiger if regional governments, most of which have records of violation of human rights in their countries, fail to respect it,” said Aung Myo Min, the director of the Human Rights Education Institute of Burma.