A plea from SRP MP Mu Sochua:
Cambodian political asylum seekers are among migrant workers who have been sent to the Thai/Burmese border to escape floods.
Phone calls I have been receiving from Cambodian families tell story of hunger and total fear of being sent back to Cambodia.
UNHCR needs to take immediate measures to prevent further victimization of refugees stranded in Thailand.
Eight months after being interviewed, the asylum seekers are still waiting in limbo.
Mu Sochua Justice Fund will ensure that your generous contribution will get to those in need. among them and pregnant women, children and infants.
Migrant Workers Left Behind in Thai Floods
November11, 2011
By Shibani Mahtani
Reuters |
| Migrant workers from Myanmar who, affected by the floods, floods, have been out of work for weeks line up for a food aid delivery in Thailand’s Ayutthaya province on November 1. |
Critics of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s fledgling government say authorities have not worked quickly or effectively enough to mitigate the worst of the country’s latest floods crisis.Unsurprisingly, perhaps, a small but vociferous group of critics is also challenging the Thai government’s response to the tens of thousands of migrant workers there – particularly from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos – who are facing a particularly dire set of circumstances in the flooding.
Activists say that migrant workers – who often lack strong family and social networks to fall back on or, in some cases,the legal ability to move to other provinces to seek dry land – are finding themselves stranded without help and open to exploitation.
These activists and some other experts say the severity of the flood crisis has forced many Thais to prioritize their own citizens. Many migrant workers have been turned away from evacuation centers,according to activists, sometimes because of a lack of legal documentation lost in the floods or language barriers. The government, for its part, has recently set up a crisis center for migrants in Ratchaburi, but it is overcrowded and already at full capacity, holding 432 migrants when thousands are displaced and in need of shelter. In the shelters, they are provided with meals and drinking water.
Another shelter, run by the Department of Employment and Ministry of Labour, was set up by the government on Nov. 2 and provides basic humanitarian supplies. This, said a spokesperson from the Ministry of Labour, is to protect migrants from illegal brokers who have been taking advantage of the chaos caused by the floods, charging migrant workers high fees for transporting them to borders and getting them across.
Experts say that providing migrants with evacuation centers, though, is insufficient. Migrant workers also face legal restrictions, with more than 500,000 laborers holding work permits that render them illegal once they travel outside the province in which they are registered to work. These limitations may force many migrant workers back to their home countries, an outcome that some experts say could slow down Thailand’s post-flood recovery process by leaving the country short of low-cost workers.
Officials from the Ministry of Labor’s Office of Foreign Workers Administration said that they have engaged non-governmental organizations to help migrant workers return safely to the borders if they wish to return home. Officials also said that they will help migrant workers get back to their factories when the water does recede, though this process might be complicated by the sheer number of migrants and work permit ambiguities.
Either way, the flooding “has revealed Thailand’s big dependence on migrant workers,” said Claudia Natali, a Labor Migration Program Coordinator at the International Organization for Migration.“When you are trying to rebuild the country after the crisis, particularly in construction, that is when you will need a big labor force.”
More than 874,000 migrants have been recorded in flood-affected provinces, the vast majority of them employed in factories and industries which have been hardest hit by the floods.
Migrant worker advocates have been lobbying the government to provide the workers with better legal rights and protections,and even rethink the country’s immigration policies overall – especially rules governing the rights for holders of temporary work permits who may have difficulty returning once the flood waters have subsided.
“At the best of times, the issue of migrant workers is politically contentious, what’s more during a crisis like this one,”said Andy Hall, an expert on migration issues at Mahidol University in Bangkok.Mr. Hall wants the Thai government to do everything possible to keep all its migrant workers – who he says make up 5% to 10% of the workforce – in the country despite the flooding crisis, since some could face harassment or exploitation upon returning home to places like Myanmar.
“The Thai government has been reaping the benefits of these migrants for so long, they have a responsibility to protect them,” said Mr. Hall.
Activists added that since many of the migrants don’t have family or social connections in flood-affected areas, they sometimes seek the help of brokers or middle-men who promise to bring them across the border for a fee of about 2,000 Thai baht (US$65) – a hefty price for low-wage workers that many advocates say is unfair. The need to rely on brokers for help increases the risk of trafficking and debt bondage, activists say.
For migrants, and indeed for many Thais, it is feared that the worst is not over. While some factories in Ayutthaya have been able to get up and running in recent days, floods now threaten key factories in Bangkok, home to 392,859 registered migrants. Samut Sakhorn province, home to almost 200,000 migrants working in factories and the fishing industry, may too be at risk.
“Workers in big companies may not be as affected, because these big corporations are so reliant on them and will try to keep them in the country,” said Sompong Srakaew, executive director of the Labour Rights Promotion Network, a Thailand-based advocacy organization. He said workers for smaller companies are most affected, because these companies are often unable to offer them compensation.
He added that some migrant workers – those with immigration statuses that allow it – are moving to areas in the south which have remained dry to work in fishing industries there.
While Samut Sakhorn remains dry, the Labour Rights Promotion Network is currently working with the provincial governor and other representatives to ensure a clear evacuation plan for the thousands of migrants currently based there.
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