MAP Foundation Thailand

Migrants's work permits being extended

By Hseng Khio Fah

13 January 2009

Thai authorities have issued the extension of work permits for migrant workers from Burma, Cambodia and Laos to receive one year work-permit to work in Thailand, according to a document received by Chiangmai based Migrant Assistance Program (MAP).

On 7 January, authorities from Department of Employment (DOE) in Thailand announced that there are 88,787 migrant workers whose work permit will expire in 2009. They are requested to prepare the necessary documents such as the old work permit (pink card) or receipt of the work permit registration, medical certificate or receipt of medical checkup and insurance, and application form Tor Thor 13.

The report said that those work-permits must be finished extending by the scheduled date from 5-20 January, 2-28 February, 4 May to 30 June 2009 depending on when their existing work permit expires. In February of 2010 all Burmese migrants will have to return to their home country to apply for a new system of legal work-permit papers from the Burmese authorities.

On 6 January at 20:00, local authorities in Chiangmai called on representatives of the Workers Solidarity Association (WSA) also based in Chiangmai to discuss work permits to be issued by the Burmese junta, according to Sai Hawm Khurh from WSA.

“They [Thai authorities] said there won’t be an extension of work permits again next year. So, they have started to collect names [of current workers] to begin work under this new system. They told us to give our names to apply for it,” said Sai Hawm Khurh.

“We will be in the cross fire, if they [Thai authorities] really do as they say,” he said. If this new system is implemented, migrant workers will be unable to stay or work in Thailand because their old permit has expired. They will also be under threat of persecution by Burmese officials, upon their return to their hometowns.

The passports registration offices have been planned to open along the Thai-Burma border at Myawaddy, Tachilek and Kawthawng.

Thai authorities could also move a work-permit registration office from Tachilek to Chiangmai, in northern Thailand, to accommodate migrants who don’t want to go to the border, said Sai Hawm Khurh.

“However, we would like to stress that we are still afraid to believe this new information due to lessons learnt from the past.”

Thailand and Burma agreed to set up nationality identification centers for Burmese migrant workers in 2006. However, the two countries failed to successfully implement the agreement. Instead when the migrant workers returned to their homes in Burma, junta authorities terrorized their families coercing them to pay bribes, after using their personal information received through the work permit process, to find their relatives.

Thailand had also set up centers with the governments of Laos and Cambodia as well. These centers have so far processed some 70,000 Lao and Cambodia workers and registered them with the Thai Labor Department, according to a report from Irrawaddy in November 2008

news source: www.shanland.org

MAP Marks International Migrant’s Day

By LAWI WENG

Thursday, December 18, 2008

About 50 Shan migrants and NGO workers gathered at the International Center in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand on Thursday to mark International Migrant’s Day and to speak out about the injustices and lack of rights afforded to Burmese migrants in Thailand.

“We want to give Burmese migrants voices and let them tell an audience what they feel,” said one of the event’s organizers, Jackie Pollock, a founding member of the Migrant Assistance Programme (MAP) Foundation in Thailand. “We also want to let them have a day off.”

As part of the International Migrant’s Day event, the organizers released an animated documentary on DVD which illustrated the dangers and discriminatory practices that Burmese workers frequently face working abroad.

The cartoon depicted various scenarios, such as in factories, at construction sites or in agricultural jobs, where migrant workers often find themselves without protective clothes or working in unsafe or unhealthy environments.

Sai Mon, a migrant construction worker from Shan State, addressed the audience prior to the screening of the animation to confirm that such incidents frequently occurred. “I witnessed my Burmese co-worker get killed when a falling brick hit him on the head.

We were never given hard hats or safety equipment,” he said.

Nang Than Swe, a 26-year-old Shan woman said that she had been working in Thailand as a maid since she was nine. “I don’t even have my own room to sleep in,” she said. “I have to sleep in the dining room. I don’t feel that I have any security.”

Nang Than Swe said she earns 3,500 baht (US $100) a month and, after 15 years in Thailand, has almost forgotten how to speak Burmese.

“Working as a maid is so hard,” she said. “You have to keep working until the house owner goes to bed. Sometimes he doesn’t come home til after midnight and I have to cook until 2 am.”

Another Shan woman, Nang Su Line, who works as a maid in Chiang Mai, said she has never had a day off in one year.

“Even just to come to this event today I had to get up very early to do all my work,” she said. “And when I go home after this, I will have to keep working.”

There are estimated to be somewhere in the region of 1—1.5 million Burmese migrants working in Thailand, mainly as maids, construction workers, agricultural laborers or fishermen. Most work for lower wages than locals and receive no benefits.

According to the Thai Ministry of Labor, some 2 million foreign laborers work in Thailand. Although the majority are Burmese, many migrants from Cambodia and Laos are also smuggled into the country to feed local industries with cheap labor.

news source: www.irrawaddy.org

7 Myanmar migrant workers, Thai driver die in road crash

KANCHANABURI, Dec 15 (TNA) - Seven Myanmar illegal migrant workers were killed in a car accident in the Thai-Myanmar border province of Kanchanaburi while being smuggled to Thailand on Monday, police said.

According to the preliminary investigation, a pick-up truck carrying 15 illegal Myanmar workers tried to break
through a police checkpoint at high speed and elude the authorities.

But driver lost control of his vehicle and hit a tree and an electrical power pole on a Sai Yok district road.

The 29-year-old Thai driver, identified as Suthang Dabkaew, and seven Myanmar nationals, all illegal migrant workers, were killed on the spot, while another eight were injured.

In April 2008, 54 illegal migrant workers from Myanmar died of suffocation while crammed in an unventilated container truck in the southern province of Ranong.

Since 2007, it is reported that at least 92 Myanmar migrant workers have died, while an unknown number were injured while illegally entering Thailand. (TNA)

news source: www.enews.mcot.net, december 15, 2008

Migrants Flow out of Burma as Economic Woes Deepen

By LAWI WENG Thursday, August 21, 2008

Burma’s economic troubles have been a boon to human traffickers in recent months, keeping them busy at a time of year when wet conditions traditionally slow the flow of migrants across the border into Thailand.

A source who is involved in smuggling migrant workers from Burma to Thailand estimated that about 300 Burmese migrants are illegally transported to Bangkok each day from border areas such as Mae Sot, Three Pagodas Pass, Mae Sai and Ranong.

In an area called "Kamtieng" of Chiang Mai, Thailand, each morning several hundred labourers, mostly from Burma, gather in the hope of getting a days work. Pick-up trucks stop to recruit the workers they need. Most are employed in construction and gardening. (Photo: John Hulme)
The most popular crossing point is Mae Sot, which is separated from the neighboring Burmese town of Myawaddy by the Moei River. Burmese routinely cross the river, either over the Thai-Burma Friendship Bridge, which links the two towns, or on inflated inner tubes.

According to the source, who is based in Mae Sot, about 150 people are smuggled from Mae Sot to Bangkok every day.

Three Pagodas Pass, near the Thai town of Sangkhlaburi, is another major point of entry, with around 60 Burmese migrants leaving the area for Bangkok daily, according to local businessman Nai Lawi Mon.

Some local observers suggested that the steady influx was due to the impact of Cyclone Nargis, which slammed into Burma’s largely agricultural Irrawaddy delta on May 2-3, destroying cropland and leaving many farmers without any means of making a living.

“Normally, very few people come to Thailand during the rainy season,” said Nai Lawi Mon. “But this year we are seeing more and more people coming.”

Cyclone Nargis hit Burma at a time when inflation and unemployment were already at their highest levels in years, forcing a growing number of Burmese to flee to neighboring countries in search of work.

It is estimated that there are more than a million Burmese migrants living and working in Thailand, of whom around 500,000 are registered with the Thai Ministry of Labor.

The perils of their journey were highlighted in April, when 54 Burmese migrants suffocated to death while being transported in a container truck from Ranong, near the Burmese border town of Kawthaung, to the Thai resort island of Phuket.

Although the tragedy prompted officials to step up efforts to stem the tide of illegal migrants into Thailand, Burmese continue to make the trip in a desperate bid to find jobs to support themselves and their families.

Many end up in Mahachai, home to the highest concentration of Burmese migrant workers in Thailand. Located a short distance from Bangkok, Mahachai attracts thousands of Burmese with low-paying jobs in the fish processing industry that are shunned by most Thais.

Mi Wot arrived in Mahachai a week ago and is still looking for work. She said she paid 460,000 kyat (US $383) for the trip. She made the journey, her first into Thailand, with ten other people, hiding in the back of a truck under a tarpaulin for three nights. The trip took so long, she explained, because of the numerous checkpoints along the way.

While Thai efforts seem to be doing little to prevent illegal migration into the country, the Burmese authorities have been carrying out a crackdown on their side of the border that appears to be having some effect, at least for now.

According to Maung Tu, a local businessman in Kawthaung, the human traffic into the neighboring Thai province of Ranong has slowed perceptibly in recent weeks.

Normally, several hundred people cross into Thailand each day; at the moment, the flow has been reduced to a trickle of around 30-50 people a day, according to sources in the area. Similar numbers have been reported in Mae Sai, near the Burmese town of Tachilek.

Meanwhile, the cost of smuggling migrants from Mae Sot to Bangkok has increased by about 2,000 Baht ($58) recently. It now costs 14,000 Baht ($412) make the trip to the Thai capital, sources said.
Sources: http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=13960

Police arrest 200 illegal Myanmar workers in Mae Sot

TAK, Aug 5 (TNA) – Thai police have arrested about 200 illegal Myanmar workers in this Thai-Myanmar border province ahead of this week's US presidential visit to Thailand.

The illegal workers are mainly young people, thought to be Myanmar students, who have come to Thailand to try to meet President George W. Bush and his wife Mrs. Laura Bush in their move to free Myanmar democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest in her homeland for 12 of the last 18 years, since her party won the country's elections in 1990.

On Thursday Mr. Bush is scheduled to visit the Mae La refugee camp, the largest concentration of refugees in Thailand and the Mae Tao Clinic of Dr. Cynthia Maung, which provides free health care for refugees in Tak.

The United Nations reports Mae La as having a population of somewhat over 35,000 persons, while the Burma Border Consortium, an umbrella-organisation, says there are about 38,000 persons being fed daily.

Mr. Bush headed first to South Korea and then will visit Thailand, before proceeding to the Beijing Olympics' opening ceremony on Friday. The US president has rejected repeated calls by activists to boycott the Games over human rights concerns, but is on record as saying he is attending the Olympics as a sports enthusiast. (TNA)

General News : Last Update : 14:31:46 5 August 2008 (GMT+7:00)

http://enews.mcot.net/type.php?type=4

Malaysian Immigration Giving Refugees to Traffickers, Say Activists

By VIVIAN CHONG:

KUALA LUMPUR—Activists working on migrant issues here claim that corruption is deeply rooted among some Malaysian immigration officers who are handing over Burmese asylum seekers and refugees to human traffickers.

A former Immigration Department director-general was recently detained by the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) for alleged graft in connection with the issuance of visas to foreign workers.

One 55-year-old Burmese migrant, who asked that his name not be used, said that even though he had documentation from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) he was arrested, deported and handed over to traffickers by immigration officials twice.

"The first time I was arrested and deported to Thailand with 105 others. First, the Malaysia immigration officers sold us to the human traffickers. Then, the human traffickers handed us to the brokers."

"They asked for the phone numbers of our families or friends who would send money to them for our release. If the family or friend didn’t send the money, the refugee would be severely beaten like an animal by the brokers," Mehn said, describing his ordeal.

The Migration Working Group, a network of more than 20 nongovernmental organizations, says asylum seekers and refugees from Burma are handed over to traffickers at the Malaysia-Thai border, who then demand payment for their release.

"Those who are unable to pay the money required (typically from RM 1,400 to RM 2,500) are ‘sold’—to fishing boats, brothels or 'private owners'—as bonded laborers or for sex," activists say.

Women refugees or asylum seekers receive the worst treatment by traffickers, according to activists, who said they may be raped, beaten and sold to brothels.

A network of NGOs, Burmese refugee organizations, local television stations and a few members of Parliament have pushed the issue onto the political stage.

In response, Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar recently announced that the Immigration Department has formed a special committee to investigate the charges.

He said the committee has not found any immigration officials to be involved in trafficking of Burmese.

Renuka T. Balasubramaniam, a lawyer who chaired the Migrant and Refugee Working group of the Bar Council's Human Rights Committee, said she was not in favor of letting an ad hoc committee investigate the matter.

She said Malaysia has an Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act 2007 and an Anti-Corruption Act through which persons suspected of human trafficking may be investigated and charged.

"In my view, without further ado, the police or anti-corruption agency, which has all the requisite resources, skills and experience, should commence thorough investigations with a view to determining suspects and charging them before a court. This would also repose greater faith in the independence of the investigation," she said.

The Migration Working Group said the root of the problem stems from the government's position of arresting refugees and asylum seekers.

"The unnecessary arrest, detention, whipping and deportation of asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons perpetuates violence and vulnerability, and it constitutes the abuse of human rights and wastes limited law enforcement resources which are desperately needed for the prevention of real crime," the group said in a statement.

Because Malaysia has not yet enacted domestic laws that recognize the status of asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons, they are treated as non-documented migrants who are subjected to arrest, detention, whipping, imprisonment and deportation to the Malaysia-Thai border.

According to the group, even refugees issued with identity documents by the UNHCR are vulnerable to arrest, because Malaysian enforcement officers do not recognize the validity of the documents.

They said an average of 700 to 800 UNHCR-recognized refugees remain in detention each month, including about 100 children. The UNHCR is not allowed to visit asylum seekers in detention centers and prisons.

"This directly jeopardizes their right to seek asylum, a universal right in international customary law. They are detained indefinitely—sometimes for more than 2 years—suffering violence, poor access to healthcare and poor conditions of detention," the group said in a statement.

The group said that law enforcement agencies should respect UNHCR documents and refrain from arresting holders of these documents.

"The UNHCR should be given free and full access to asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons in all immigration detention depots and prisons so that they can verify if asylum claims are genuine and take measures to assist refugees.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=13626