By ANDY HALL
The Irrawady
Around 2 million migrant workers from Burma, Cambodia and Laos currently live in Thailand. Many have underground lives. These migrants contribute greatly to the economy and remain an untapped source of cultural and spiritual vitality that can enrich and diversify Thai society. Instead, they are often viewed as commodities or a national security threat.
Many of these workers follow the river of life wherever it takes them. From poorer to richer lands, from less to more developed countries, from war to peace, from dictatorships to democracies, from old to new experiences, and —most importantly—from supply to demand.
Consecutive Thai governments have sought to manage irregular migration flows from neighboring countries into Thailand. Policy makers have considered primarily the short term needs of the economy, relying on yearly Cabinet decisions. So it was that work permits for more than 60,000 migrants, almost all from Burma, were set to expire in January before the Cabinet considered the issue.
On Jan. 19, just a day before the expiration, the Cabinet issued a resolution to allow this group of workers until Feb. 28 to renew their permits for another two years. But for the first time, extended permission to stay and work in Thailand came with two conditions: migrants must enter into a nationality verification process (NV) before Feb. 28; and migrants must complete NV before Feb. 28, 2012. Agreeing to NV means submitting biographical information to their governments via employment offices or, as is more often the case, to brokers.
The Ministry of Labour was ordered to conduct a public awareness campaign for migrants and their employers.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was ordered try to bring Burmese officials to Thailand to conduct the NV process, but Thai officials have returned reportedly with a promise that Burma would provide “fresh” workers to replace those who may be deported.
For migrant workers who fail to sign up by Feb. 28, they are subject to deportation.
The NV process is intended to grant migrant workers a legal status. For Burmese migrants, many of whom are from ethnic minority groups, it means they have to be legally recognized as “Burmese.”
NV means migrants can obtain documents from their country of origin (including a “temporary” passport) to enter Thailand legally. The documents allow them to legally reside and work in Thailand for two years at a time, for a period not exceeding 4 years, at which time they much return to Burma.
Beside the right to work legally, a migrant would be able to do such common things as ride a motorbike, access worker's accident compensation and travel in Thailand without restrictions.
However, many obstacles remain. Besides a lack of reliable information, the NV process is potentially expensive, since most migrant workers will use a broker who charges as much as 6,000 baht. Also, there is a great deal of fear surrounding giving Burmese officials their personal information, which could expose them and their family to unknown consequences.
Explanations abound about why Burma refuses to conduct the NV process in Thailand, as done by Cambodia and Laos..
The cost of migration mismanagement to be paid by an economy, society and the migrants themselves is high. In Thailand, some migrants are already packing up and going home in the face of NV deadlines, threats of deportation and unacceptable broker costs. Many employers are crying foul as workplaces are being depleted of cheap and hard-working labor.
Human rights activists foresee a massive wave of random and needless deportations, adding to worker hardships in both Thailand and Burma.
Thailand has duties according to domestic, Constitutional and international law. But Thailand has moral duties too, and officials should offer a procedure that is fair to migrant workers. The economic imperative alone calls for a careful reconsideration of the existing NV policy so that the Feb. 28 deadline doesn't result in a debacle for all concerned.
The author is the director of the Bangkok-based The Human Rights and Development Foundation’s Migrant Justice Programme.
Many of these workers follow the river of life wherever it takes them. From poorer to richer lands, from less to more developed countries, from war to peace, from dictatorships to democracies, from old to new experiences, and —most importantly—from supply to demand.
Consecutive Thai governments have sought to manage irregular migration flows from neighboring countries into Thailand. Policy makers have considered primarily the short term needs of the economy, relying on yearly Cabinet decisions. So it was that work permits for more than 60,000 migrants, almost all from Burma, were set to expire in January before the Cabinet considered the issue.
On Jan. 19, just a day before the expiration, the Cabinet issued a resolution to allow this group of workers until Feb. 28 to renew their permits for another two years. But for the first time, extended permission to stay and work in Thailand came with two conditions: migrants must enter into a nationality verification process (NV) before Feb. 28; and migrants must complete NV before Feb. 28, 2012. Agreeing to NV means submitting biographical information to their governments via employment offices or, as is more often the case, to brokers.
The Ministry of Labour was ordered to conduct a public awareness campaign for migrants and their employers.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was ordered try to bring Burmese officials to Thailand to conduct the NV process, but Thai officials have returned reportedly with a promise that Burma would provide “fresh” workers to replace those who may be deported.
For migrant workers who fail to sign up by Feb. 28, they are subject to deportation.
The NV process is intended to grant migrant workers a legal status. For Burmese migrants, many of whom are from ethnic minority groups, it means they have to be legally recognized as “Burmese.”
NV means migrants can obtain documents from their country of origin (including a “temporary” passport) to enter Thailand legally. The documents allow them to legally reside and work in Thailand for two years at a time, for a period not exceeding 4 years, at which time they much return to Burma.
Beside the right to work legally, a migrant would be able to do such common things as ride a motorbike, access worker's accident compensation and travel in Thailand without restrictions.
However, many obstacles remain. Besides a lack of reliable information, the NV process is potentially expensive, since most migrant workers will use a broker who charges as much as 6,000 baht. Also, there is a great deal of fear surrounding giving Burmese officials their personal information, which could expose them and their family to unknown consequences.
Explanations abound about why Burma refuses to conduct the NV process in Thailand, as done by Cambodia and Laos..
The cost of migration mismanagement to be paid by an economy, society and the migrants themselves is high. In Thailand, some migrants are already packing up and going home in the face of NV deadlines, threats of deportation and unacceptable broker costs. Many employers are crying foul as workplaces are being depleted of cheap and hard-working labor.
Human rights activists foresee a massive wave of random and needless deportations, adding to worker hardships in both Thailand and Burma.
Thailand has duties according to domestic, Constitutional and international law. But Thailand has moral duties too, and officials should offer a procedure that is fair to migrant workers. The economic imperative alone calls for a careful reconsideration of the existing NV policy so that the Feb. 28 deadline doesn't result in a debacle for all concerned.
The author is the director of the Bangkok-based The Human Rights and Development Foundation’s Migrant Justice Programme.
4 comments:
It is very simple.
There are Economic problems worldwide. The Jobs in Thailand are needed for Thai Workers so the Government will deport all other Citizen as they do not need them.
It has nothing to do with Human Rights. It is about Business.
This is the reason the also many Cambodians are deported from Thailand back to Cambodia.
Cleaning up the country.
This is only the beginning.
I Cambodian government is more competent and less corrupted, Cambodians don't need to move to Thailand to find work.
Cambodians should replace this government by the new good one.
i think siem has some good law when it come to immigration. however, when it comes to steal lands from cambodia thailand is bad!
such the animosity against poor people will make thai people and thailand look little that good
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