Prayuth warns of Cambodian Muslim threat [-Bangkok Post's article is in contradiction to the Nation's report]

22/08/2012
Bangkok Post

Some Cambodian Muslims have joined violent insurgent networks in Thailand in the far South, said army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha yesterday.

The army chief has asked authorities to closely monitor Cambodian Muslim immigrants to ensure they return to their country when their one-month entry permits expire.

According to Gen Prayuth, not all have returned to Cambodia.

The army is asking the Immigration Bureau and the Customs Department about the whereabouts of Cambodian Muslims, he said.

The army chief said most Cambodian Muslims who entered Thailand are travelling through to neighbouring countries, particularly Malaysia, to find work.

Cambodian Muslims not involved in South violence: [Thai] Army chief

Prayuth Chan-ocha

August 22, 2012
THE NATION

Most Cambodian Muslims living in the deep South of Thailand have no connection with insurgents in the predominantly Muslim region, and are simply job-seekers who have fled poverty in search of better lives, Army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha said yesterday.

Prayuth's statement contradicted Deputy Prime Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapha's earlier comment that many Muslims from Cambodia did not return home after travelling to the deep South, suggesting that they might be involved in the ongoing violence there.

Prayuth said only some 30-100 Muslims from Cambodia entered Thailand monthly. The figure varied according to the season, he said. Larger numbers entered during months when religious activities took place, such as Dahwah missionary work, he said. Some Muslims from Cambodia entered Thailand during other periods in search of work, he said.

Thai border on alert on Cambodian child death

16 July 2012
BERNAMA

BANGKOK: Quarantine experts are taking stern measures against Cambodian immigrants following the death of a Cambodian child from a deadly strain of hand, foot and mouth disease, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.

The lethal ‘Entero-virus Type 71’ strain has been confirmed in Cambodia’s Battambang Province – about 70 kilometres from the Thai-Cambodian border -- where the child has reportedly died. Cambodian officials say they are still trying to verify the case.

Meanwhile, thousands of Cambodian families are crossing into Thailand through the Thai border district of Aranyaprathet on fears that their children will catch the disease.

Cambodian worker alleges Thai police of humiliating treatment, abuse

Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Chhay Channyda and David Boyle
The Phnom Penh Post

A Cambodian migrant worker has alleged that he and dozens of fellow migrants were arrested, beaten, stripped naked and shaved bald by Thai police, who then extorted money from them just because they did not have the correct location on their working visas.

The allegation is the latest in a spate of exploitation scandals this year involving migrant workers in Thailand and came a day before the release of the US State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report, in which the country is at threat of being downgraded.

Construction worker Lim Srun, 50, said yesterday he and 39 others had been arrested on June 14 in Songkhla province’s Hat Yai district by Thai police who demanded 3,000 baht (US$95) from each worker for their release because their work visas were for Bangkok.

“I had no money to give them up to 3,000 Thai baht, but I took 2,600 baht along with me. Now, they took it all; I have no money to buy rice to eat. How much I left, I would eat that only,” he said.

Confined To A Thai Fishing Boat, For Three Years

Vannak Prum of Cambodia was sold onto a Thai fishing boat where he was forced to work in miserable conditions for three years before escaping. Thailand's huge fishing industry is coming under increasing criticism for using trafficked workers who have been sold to unscrupulous ship captains.

Prum drew this picture of the Thai boat on which he was held and forced to work as a fisherman. (Becky Palmstrom and Shannon Service for NPR)

June 19, 2012
Shannon Service and Becky Palmstrom
NPR (National Public Radio, USA)

Thailand supplies a large portion of America's seafood. But Thailand's giant fishing fleet is chronically short of up to 60,000 fishermen per year, leaving captains scrambling to find crew. Human traffickers have stepped in, selling captives from Cambodia and Myanmar to the captains for a few hundred dollars each. Once at sea, the men often go months, or even years, without setting foot on land.

First of two parts

Cambodian Vannak Prum's destiny changed in a dirt-road town called Malai. It's a Cambodian outpost on the border with Thailand that is known for its involvement in the trafficking of human beings.

Prum arrived in Malai seven years ago searching for work. His wife was pregnant, and he needed money for the hospital bill. He intended to work for two months, but ended up meeting a human trafficker.

A few days later, Prum was sold onto a Thai fishing boat the length of a basketball court, where he worked in tight conditions with 10 men. He says he didn't reach land again for three years.

"I didn't get paid," he says. "I remained in the middle of the sea and worked day and night."

MP Son Chhay’s Meeting with governor of Bangkok

MP Son Chhay and Governor of Bangkok M.R. Patribatra (Photo: Bangkok governor office)

On June 5, 2012, MP Son Chhay met with Governor of Bangkok M.R. Sukhumbhand Patribatra to discuss on the situation of Cambodian workers in this city.

At the meeting MP Son Chhay requested for protection of Khmer workers whose are currently working in Bangkok. It approximates that at least 50,000 Cambodian are working in various jobs in Bangkok and around 200,000 are in various provinces of Thailand. There are only about 50,000 workers who have registered to legally working in Thailand and the rest took their own risk in crossing the border and many have encountered all kind of abuses.

Chronic poverty, landlessness are compelling many rural Cambodians to the urban areas or neighbouring countries to seek work. The high demand for less skilled labourers in 3D jobs (dangerous, demanding and dirty) in countries such as Thailand and Malaysia has provided the opportunity for many young Cambodians to find employment there but with lacking of care and protection from current government in Phnom Penh, these workers are left in the cold.

Governor of Bangkok, M.R. Sukhumbhand Patrbatra kindly promised that he would treat Cambodian workers fairly and would provide them the right access to health care and other services in the same way as of Thai citizen.

Did these ex-slaves catch your lunch?

For Americans, the calculation is worrisome. Thailand is the United States’ second-largest supplier of foreign seafood. Of America's total seafood imports, one out of every six pounds comes from the Southeast Asian nation. The accounts of ex-slaves, Thai fishing syndicates, officials, exporters and anti-trafficking case workers, gathered by GlobalPost in a three-month investigation, illuminate an opaque offshore supply chain enmeshed in slavery.

A migrant laborer at work on a Thai fishing boat in Sattahip, Thailand's Rayong province, Sept. 1, 2011. (Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images)

Thailand, a major source of fish imported to the US, depends on slave labor.

May 21, 2012

Patrick Winn

Global Post

PREY VENG, Cambodia, and SAMUT SAKHON, Thailand — In the sun-baked flatlands of Cambodia, where dust stings the eyes and chokes the pores, there is a tiny clapboard house on cement stilts. It is home to three generations of runaway slaves.

The man of the house, Sokha, recently returned after nearly two years in captivity. His home is just as he left it: barren with a few dirty pillows passing for furniture. Slivers of daylight glow through cracks in the walls. The family’s most valuable possession, a sow, waddles and snorts beneath the elevated floorboards.

Before his December escape, Sokha (a pseudonym) was the property of a deep-sea trawler captain. The 39-year-old Cambodian, his teenage son and two young nephews were purchased for roughly $650, he said, each through brokers promising under-the-table jobs in a fish cannery.

Settlement reached between [Thai seafood] factory and Cambodian workers

Thursday, May 17, 2012
FIS.com

A conclusive settlement was finally reached this week between a Thai seafood factory and its Cambodian employees, Cambodian Ambassador You Ay celebrated.

The company has been accused of various abuses against its workers -- including breach of wage obligations and withholding migrant workers' passports -- by rights groups and employees at the Phatthana Seafood factory in Songkhla province. Phatthana Seafood is owned by PTN Group, which supplies retail juggernaut Wal-Mart.

Through ongoing protests by hundreds of workers last April, the workers have obtained concessions from the factory on wages, possession of passports and a food allowance. Now they want free housing, which they say was promised to them by Cambodian labour firm CDM Trading Manpower in the contracts they signed to send them to work in Thailand, Phnom Penh Post reports.

[Thai] Authorities arrest illegal migrant labourers; 35 Laos, 39 Cambodians detained

BANGKOK, May 7 (MCOT online news) - Thirty-five Laotian workers and a Thai national were arrested in Nakhon Nayok Monday while the workers hid in two pickup trucks trying to return to their home country, and 39 Cambodian workers were intercepted at Aranyaprathet while trying to enter Thailand under false pretenses.

In Nakhon Nayok, Uthai Saengchompou was apprehended with 15 Lao men and 20 Lao women -- including four under 18 years old, according to the Thai Police Department’s Anti-Human Trafficking Division (AHTD).

The Thai man is suspected of involvement with an organised human trafficking ring.

Investigators said Mr Uthai confessed that the vehicles, stopped by police in the central province of Nakhon Nayok, were carrying the foreign workers to a Mekong River port in the northeast's Ubon Ratchathani province. The labourers had entered Thailand illegally, Mr Uthai said, and some had worked here for more than three years in factories, construction sites and restaurants.

Meanwhile, in Sa Kaeo province, 39 Cambodians were arrested at the Poi Pet-Aranyaprathet checkpoint for entering Thailand illegally to find jobs.

Cambodian migrants in Thailand most affected by HIV

Fri May 4, 2012
PressTV

Thailand is home to more than 5 million migrants from Cambodia, Lao and Myanmar, who play a fundamental role in the country’s economic development.

The United Nations program on HIV/AIDS in its latest study has shown that in the six provinces most affected by HIV in Thailand, Cambodian migrants are the most vulnerable; the total number of HIV cases has spread to 2.5% of its population.

Many of them have difficulty to access key treatments such as antiretroviral therapy (ART).

The Ministry of Health has adopted a new national strategy for 2012-2016 to make certain that migrants and any person living with HIV in Thailand, regardless of their nationality, have access to HIV treatments.

ពលករខ្មែរ នៅតែសម្រុក ទៅធ្វើការ​ ខុសច្បាប់ ក្នុងប្រទេសថៃ

Thursday, 03 May 2012
ដោយ៖ ស៊ន សុភក្រ្ត
DAP-News

តើអន្ទឹតគោធាក់ ស៊យ-អសុភាព ល្មមជួយ ប្រាប់អា សាដាត់ ដែកចោរ ឲ្យពិចារណា ខ្លះទេ បើស្រុក សាម៉ែខ្វះ កម្លាំង ពលកម្ម ហេតុអ្វី ក៏ពលរដ្ឋ ខ្មែរ ជា ច្រើន នាក់ បាន និង កំពុង សម្រុក ទៅ ធ្វើការ នៅប្រទេស ថៃអញ្ចឹង

បន្ទាយមានជ័យ៖ បើទោះបីជាប្រមុខរាជរដ្ឋាភិបាលកម្ពុជា សម្តេចតេជោ ហ៊ុន សែន បានអំពាវនាវកុំឲ្យមានការ ចំណាកស្រុក ខុសច្បាប់ទៅធ្វើការនៅប្រទេសថៃនោះ ប៉ុន្តែជាក់ស្តែង មានប្រជាពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរ ជា ច្រើននាក់ បាន និងកំពុងសម្រុក ទៅធ្វើការនៅប្រទេសថៃ ដោយខុសច្បាប់ តាម ការឆ្លងកាត់ច្រកព្រំដែន កម្ពុជា និងថៃ ក្នុងខេត្ត បន្ទាយមានជ័យ រាប់ទាំងច្រកស្របច្បាប់ និងច្រកមិនស្របច្បាប់ ដែលមានប្រវែង១៥៣គីឡូម៉ែត្រ។

Ten Cambodians killed during police chases in Thailand

Tuesday, 01 May 2012
Mom Kunthear and Shane Worrell
The Phnom Penh Post

Ten Cambodians were killed and 20 injured in two high-speed police chases in Thailand over the weekend, officials said yesterday.

Pich Vanna, deputy chief of the Cambodian-Thai border relations office, said the victims had crossed the border illegally for work.

During the first accident in Chonburi province on Saturday night, an exhausted driver sped from police, he said.

“The driver was sleepy and [his van] smashed into a tree, killing four people – two men and two women,” Pich Vanna said.

Myanmar, Cambodia probe labour abuse claims [in Thai factory]

Migrant workers' protests misguided, say bosses (sic!)

23/04/2012
Achara Ashayagachat
Bangkok Post

Myanmar and Cambodian officials have been monitoring the working conditions of migrant workers from their countries following pre-Songkran protests at seafood processing factories in Kanchanaburi and Songkhla.

While information from various sources indicated the protest at Vita Food Factory (1989) Co Ltd in Kanchanaburi might have stemmed from poor working conditions, the company's management insisted it was caused by workers' misunderstanding of the new minimum wage.

Patcharawadee Tangcharoenchaichana, co-owner of the factory, denied workers had been mistreated or that their wages were sub-par.

Vita Food's human resources manager Somphop Thirasas said the pre-Songkran protest stemmed from misunderstandings by some migrant workers.

Walmart intervention sought at Thai factory

Wednesday, 18 April 2012David Boyle and Sen David
The Phnom Penh Post

A large North American union has called on US retail giant Walmart to take immediate action against one of its seafood suppliers in Thailand accused of holding Cambodian workers in debt bondage while barely providing them with enough money to eat.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union has waded into the ugly dispute between the Phatthana Seafood factory, its migrant work force and the Cambodian recruitment firm that sent many of them there.

Since a strike broke out at the firm’s Songkhla province factory just over a week ago, the situation has deteriorated to the point where some workers are reportedly so poor, they cannot afford food, while rights groups allege the company is engaged in direct human trafficking.

Cambodian worker representative Sor Sorng said yesterday an NGO donated food to some 300 migrant workers who could no longer afford to eat.

Workers protest exploitation at seafood company

Thursday, April 12, 2012
FIS.com
THAILAND

More than half of 800 Cambodian workers at a protest at Phatthana Seafood Co this week accused police of threatening them with guns and firing into the air. Workers are claiming exploitation, including docking pay for so-called "bondage payments" and confiscation of their passports.

The workers were preparing to return home on Monday, according to a strike representative, Sik Sorng.

"The management apparently decided to reduce the benefit for the workers and almost immediately a protest erupted," said Migrant advocate Andy Hall from Thailand's Mahidol University, ABC reports. "Workers were very angry so they gathered outside of the gate, and it started to get a little bit heated and there were police brought in, shots fired and now we just have a situation where we have a lock-out."

Employees were told that factory management would give their passports back to them and release them from their contracts if they wanted to leave following negotiations with CDM Trading Manpower, which is the Cambodian company that sent the workers to the factory. About 500 of the workers have accepted the offer, Sok Sorng said.

Strikers claim shots fired

Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Shane Worrell with additional reporting by Sen David
The Phnom Penh Post

Police threatened workers and fired shots into the air as a dispute involving about 800 Cambodian workers at Phatthana Seafood Co Ltd in Thailand’s Songkhla province escalated yesterday, a workers’ representative said.

Sok Sorng said “many police” had threatened workers with guns as more than 1,000 workers, including some from Myanmar and Thailand, rallied against management locking them out of the factory, which is believed to be a supplier of retail giant Walmart, a day after they went on strike over wages.

“There were so many police deployed in front of the factory,” he said.

Strike at seafood giant

Monday, 09 April 2012
David Boyle and Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

About 800 Cambodian workers in Thailand went on strike yesterday against a major global seafood exporter they accuse of exploiting them.

The factory, which has been identified by workers and rights groups as Phatthana Seafood Co Ltd in Thailand’s Songkhla province, allegedly scrapped a 20 baht (US$0.64) daily food allowance after the provincial minimum wage raised from 176 to 246 baht on April 1.

Strike representative Sok Sorng said yesterday workers were also demanding a 20 baht daily hard-work bonus that the company had withdrawn.

Murderers of [Cambodian] Man Dumped By [Thailand's] Chonburi Motorway Arrested

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxs1d_ulJt0

02 March 2012
Pattaya People

On Wednesday at Chonburi’s Command Center, the Commissioner of Royal Thai Police Bureau Region 2, Pol. Lt. Gen. Dr. Panya Mamen, conducted a press conference was held by in companied by the Chonburi Provincial Commander Pol. Maj. Gen. Jaamnong Rat-ta-na-goon to publicize the arrest of the 2 murderers of a mysterious man. The killers are 2 brothers Mr. Aaraan Sirichai, aged 22 and Mr. Sattawat, aged 20, both from Songkla province.

The deceased was Mr. Jack Jia, aged 20 from Cambodia, whose body was thrown on the side of Chonburi’s Motorway earlier this week. The 2 killers confessed that they had all been friends for many years, and worked together at a steel manufacturing plant in Chonburi. They were all addicted to Yah Bah and always bought the drugs to share with each other.

Migrant workers seek way out of Thailand

Wednesday, 22 February 2012Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

A dispute between more than 1,000 Cambodian migrant workers and a seafood factory in Thailand over pay conditions has escalated, with the majority of them seeking to leave, several of the employees have said.

In late January, the Post reported that workers at the Pathana Frozen Food Factory in Thailand’s Songkla province had reported that hundreds of workers felt they had been cheated by the Cambodian recruitment firm that sent there, CDM Trading Manpower Ltd.

Four employees, all of who wish to remain anonymous, and former employee Keo Ratha have now told the Post that most of the 1,000 workers want to leave but are waiting for the company to answer their requests for their passports back.

Worker ‘threatened’ for speaking to press - ពលករ​ខ្មែរ​នៅ​ថៃ​រង​ការ​គំរាម​ព្រោះ​តែ​និយាយ​នឹង​អ្នក​កាសែត

ច្រក​ទ្វារ​ព្រំ​ដែន​អន្តរ​ជាតិ​ប៉ោយ​ប៉ែត ដែល​ជា​ច្រក​សំខាន់​ជាង​គេ​មួយ​ សម្រាប់​​ពល​ករ​ខ្មែរ​ចេញ​ទៅ​រក​ការ​ងារ​ធ្វើ​នៅ​ថៃ​។ រូបថត BG

Poipet International gate (Photo: BG)

Thursday, 26 January 2012
Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

A Cambodian migrant worker in Thailand has said that a recruitment firm in Phnom Penh that sent him and about 1,000 others to work at an “exploitative” factory is threatening him because he spoke to the press.

Keo Ratha, 37, said yesterday he received a threatening phone call from CDM Trading Manpower after he spoke to the Post early this week about exploitative conditions at Pathana Frozen Food Factory in Thailand’s Songkla province.

“They asked me for what newspaper I am working. Who hired me to twist their company?” he said, adding that he had been threatened with a criminal complaint.

Late yesterday, he told the Post a company employee was escorting him back to Cambodia, a day after he was refused his passport when trying to join 24 other workers returning home.