[Cambodia's "wild east" border town] Poipet: Where Cambodians Are Trafficked into Thailand

June 12, 2009
Huffington Post (USA)

I had traveled to Cambodia's "wild west" border town of Poipet, in search of a story about human trafficking.

It was certainly the edgiest assignment I'd ever undertaken with World Vision. Everyone knew that trafficking was rife, yet nobody wanted to talk to us about it.

"There are no illegal crossings on our border," said an officer with the Cambodian border police. "Trafficking happens through the immigration post."

"There is no way people can pass through immigration illegally," said a Cambodian immigration officer. "That would require a high level of corruption from both Thai and Cambodian officials. They cross the border instead."

In fact, we were told in an anonymous interview, people go willingly and illegally across borders, across rivers, in casino cars straight through immigration. Hundreds of them every month. As many as half of them under-age.

Our source refused to be named because he said that would endanger his family. He said he was telling us because he was tired of it all, he wanted it to stop. He had children of his own.

The immigration officer told us that one of his duties was to bring back the bodies of Cambodians killed in Thailand. According to him, there were several each month, sometimes shot in bungled drug deals or arrests, sometimes beaten and left to die, or drowned in the river that forms the border.

Most of them had crossed illegally; without paperwork, it was difficult, upsetting, and sometimes impossible, to identify them.

"Why do people go with traffickers?" I asked everyone I met.

"Because they are poor. Because here they earn $3 a day; there they earn $8."

"Are children trafficked?" I asked.

"Yes," they answered. "But not on our watch."

Grasping at Poipet's slippery underbelly felt more like investigation than reporting. I will admit to suffering a twinge of regret that I could not push harder, break the crime rings with an exclusive "hidden camera" expose and the masked evidence of my anonymous source.

But in fact, what World Vision is already doing is probably more important than that. One major solution to the problem lies in advocacy, in working with governments across borders on their will to change, working with communities to teach them how to protect themselves and understand their rights.

World Vision has formed and joined coalitions that push governments to ratify and uphold legislation, including last year's groundbreaking Thailand law that finally recognized that boys and men could be considered victims of trafficking.

Last year World Vision also hosted a workshop for border authorities in Poipet, with both Thai and Cambodian officials in attendance to learn about the causes, effects and legalities of human trafficking.

Many of the police we met told us with pride that they had been in attendance.

"The situation is definitely improving," our source told us.

It's not time to rest just yet, though. Poipet is still a transient, dirty, lawless little town. Poverty still pushes people to take risks that will cost them dearly.

We met Phu Pean, a grandmother at home with her two grandchildren; her daughter travels across the border to Thailand each day to make shoes at 2 baht a pair.

"When should children work?" I asked her.

"Oh, once they can talk," she said. "Then they are able to look after themselves."

"Your grandchildren are talking now," I told her. "Would you ever send them to live and work in Thailand?"

She thought. "I would," she said, "but I don't know how to find the people that would take them."

At least -- unlike most of the other people I met in Poipet -- she was telling the truth.

-- Katie Chalk

World Vision released a report today called "Ten Things You Need to Know About Human Trafficking" [PDF]. Video of the interview with Phu Pean, as well as other people living and working in Poipet, is available online at World Vision.

Katie Chalk is a writer and researcher who has been working for World Vision in the Asia-Pacific for the last four years.

More Cambodian workers are sent home by Thai authority

Cambodian migrant workers deported back to Cambodia (Photo: Koh Santepheap)

12 Oct 2008
By Sophal Mony
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

One Cambodian official indicated that the Thai authority has repatriated almost 2,000 illegal Cambodian migrant workers in past few days, following the upheaval in Bangkok and the armed confrontations between Khmer and Thai troops along the border.

Som Sam An, the border liaison official at Poipet, told RFA on Sunday 12 October that, since Monday to this Sunday, the number of Cambodian migrant workers sent back by the Thai authority has increased to 1,992 workers, as opposed to about 200 of them daily in the past.

Som Am An said: “This week, from Monday until today, there were 1,992 [who were repatriated].”

Another official working in Poipet office said that in the past 5 days, Thai trucks have brought back Cambodian migrant workers and dumped them at the Poipet International gate, from early morning until 8:00 PM: “This week, the number [of repatriations] has increased, they dumped until 8:00 PM at the border gate closing time.”

Other officials from Poipet indicated that among the Cambodian migrant workers dumped by Thailand, about 20% are Cambodian Muslims (Chams) who were repatriated from the southern border area of Thailand close to Malaysia, the others are Cambodians working all over Thai provinces.

An anonymous Cambodian police working at the Poipet International gate said that the number of Cambodians, Thais and foreign visitors crossing the Poipet gate is much lower than usual.

Cambodian workers repatriated by the Thai authority are illegal migrant workers looking for jobs in Thailand.

Cambodian immigration officer and Cambodian officials in Poipet said that following a short education class, Cambodian workers are allowed to leave to return back home.

Human trafficking: migrate to die [in Thailand]

ILLEGAL LABOUR

Saturday April 19, 2008
By SUPANG CHANTAVANICH
Bangkok Post

Apart from the unusually high number, the tragic death of 54 migrants from Burma due to suffocation in an enclosed cold storage delivery truck heading for Phuket on Thursday April 10, was not new. Such incidents have happened in Thailand repeatedly.

Migrant workers from Laos, Cambodia and Burma have had to take the risk of being smuggled and trafficked into Thailand.

A 2004 study of cross-border migration and human trafficking along the Thai-Burmese border - conducted by the Asian Research Centre for Migration, Institute of Asian Studies at Chulalongkorn University, in collaboration with World Vision Thailand - indicated that approximately 12% of all cross-border migration cases were victims of human trafficking. The study made an estimation based on the level of exploitation migrants faced once they worked in Thailand. Ranong and Mae Sai (in Chiang Rai) crossing points were hot spots for such racketeers.

The fact that the incident happened in Thailand and was done by Thai human smuggling networks brings shame to all of us. By now, the various offices responsible for the dead migrants and survivors must be deeply involved in an investigation into the incident. It should be noticed, however, that this newly-appointed cabinet has not declared any policy on labour migration. Still, we must push hard for further actions regarding those unfortunate people - actions which are based on good governance and humanitarian principles.

The magnitude of human trafficking in our country has been recognised by the officials, civil society groups and academia, but is not fully known to the public. It is like an iceberg, of which only the tip can be seen.

During the past 4-5 years, Thailand has tried to prevent and tackle the problems of massive flows of immigrant workers and the rising number of human trafficking cases. Three significant measures worth mentioning are the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Cooperation for the Employment of Workers signed between Thailand and Cambodia in 2002, signed with Laos in 2003 and with Burma in the same year; the enactment of the new Law to Prevent and Suppress Human Trafficking early this year, and the Draft Guideline on the Prevention and Protection of Victims of Human Trafficking, who are labourers.

The MoU is a platform for governments to regulate and make a more orderly departure of their people to come to work in Thailand. It specifies that all undocumented workers have to go through a process of nationality proof, operated by the government representative from the country of origin. They would be given a temporary passport valid for two years and then be eligible to request for a work permit and work legally in Thailand.

Up until now, 32,612 Laotian and 47,982 Cambodian undocumented workers have gone through this nationality proof and become documented. Only Burmese workers are not in such a process because the Burmese government wants to conduct the nationality proof in Burma instead of Thailand.

Another element of the MoU is the implementation of a formal recruitment of migrant workers through the official channels of the ministries of labour in each country. This formal recruitment is a direct intervention into the human smuggling and trafficking for work. It is also aimed at protecting workers from exploitation by employers. More than 10,000 migrant workers from Laos and Cambodia have been recruited formally and many more are following this route.

Unfortunately, formal recruitment for workers from Burma has not materialised yet. But it is obvious that the MoU can reduce the possibilities of human trafficking among migrant workers.

The second measure is the Law on Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking, launched in February 2008. Articles 37 and 38 under Section 4 of the law states that due to humanitarian reasons, officials can allow victims of human trafficking to stay temporarily in Thailand - to be rehabilitated and to claim compensation according to their rights. They can also work temporarily.

Article 38 indicates that in case the victims possess some official identity documents issued by the Thai government, or if they could procure permission to stay from the Minister of Home Affairs, they are allowed to stay legally in Thailand. Without such authorisation, however, they must be deported immediately, but under conditions of safety and well-being.

The anti-human trafficking law states clearly that migrants who have been cheated to come to work in Thailand and are being exploited, are victims of trafficking. The 67 survivors who paid 5,000 baht to brokers to come to Thailand are clearly those who have been exploited by illegal recruiters. Even though they have not started working yet, they must be considered victims and placed under custody at shelter homes, not in prisons.

They must not be deported according to the Immigration law. Instead, they should become witnesses, not wrongdoers, while the investigation into the incident is under way.

A multi-disciplinary team, including a psychologist or a social worker, should join the investigation and the screening of human trafficking cases. Above all, they must be allowed to stay temporarily in Thailand.

The third measure is the Draft Guideline on the Prevention and Protection of Victims of Human Trafficking Who are Workers. This guideline was developed mutually by the Ministry of Social Welfare and Human Security and the Ministry of Labour, with support from the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Section 4 Points (8), (9), (10) and Section 6 Points 6.3.3, 6.3.4 of the guideline indicate that if the victims are documented workers, the Ministry of Labour will find a new jobs for them and the Immigration Office will authorise them to stay in Thailand until the case in the court terminates.

The 67 job seekers who survived the ordeal of suffocation should be considered as victims of human trafficking. Due to the fact that they have no official documents issued by the Thai state and that they have not started working yet, they are not entitled to work, according to point (10) of the guideline. But they should be permitted to stay in Thailand while the trial is ongoing.

It is possible that some of the survivors may not want to stay longer in Thailand if they cannot work and earn some income. The Thai government, on the other hand, may not want to shoulder the burden of cost in feeding them, either. This has already happened: in the case of Burmese workers at a knitting factory in Mae Sot, who had a labour dispute with their employer; and another group of Burmese workers who were locked in hellish conditions in a shrimp peeling factory in Samut Sakhon.

When faced with the prospect of a trial that would last many months, they preferred to go home or to find new jobs. In the end, the court failed to get any witnesses to track down the "Big Brother" of the trafficking rings.

What the Thai government can, and should, do for the survivors of the current incident include:

1. Bring in the Department of Special Investigation police to process the case and apply the new human trafficking laws against the culprits, especially those who masterminded the trafficking process.

2. Assist the victims to stay in Thailand and protect them from possible threats to their lives from the culprits. Some kind of sub-contract work in the shelter home should be offered to the victims, most of whom have come from Rakhine state (formerly Arakan) in Burma.

It would be too difficult for them to go all the way back home and then to return again to testify in the Thai court. No deportation should be considered.

3. Open a new round of consultative meetings with the government of Burma to implement the MoU.

The process of nationality proof and formal recruitment from Burma must be accelerated. As for those minorities who are not recognised by the Burmese government, Thailand should register them as stateless persons.

Detailed information about the tragedy should be reported to Burma and it should be disseminated to other job seekers to warn them about the possible risk of human trafficking in job recruitment.

Thailand must not wait for external pressure before taking action. We owe it to the victims.

Supang Chantavanich is a professor in the Department of Sociology, Chulalongkorn University. She also runs the Asian Research Centre for Migration at Chula.
http://www.arcm.ias.chula.ac.th

Thai NGO activist calls on Thailand to open borders to migrant workers to avoid further tragedy

Let's open our borders to migrant workers

Friday April 18, 2008
JON UNGPHAKORN
Bangkok Post

The tragic deaths last week of 54 Burmese workers who suffocated in a cold storage container packed with 121 victims of human trafficking would most likely have been avoided if Thailand had a more lenient and practical policy towards registration of migrant workers from Laos, Cambodia and Burma.

Even though there are at present nearly one million registered migrant workers from these three countries, they are vastly outnumbered by undocumented (i.e. "illegal") workers.

High work permit fees combined with limited time periods for registration discourage employers from legally registering their employees.

Migrant workers are very badly regarded and very badly treated by Thai society; yet it is hard to imagine how our economy would survive without them. Major industries like fishing, agriculture, construction and even manufacturing and services are heavily dependent on their labour.

Upper and middle-class families frantically seek migrant workers as household employees.

There really doesn't seem to be any reliable published research data on the true contribution of migrant labour to the Thai economy.

Is this because such information might be too unacceptable for us to want to find out?

What would be wrong if we opened up our borders to migrant workers from neighbouring countries with very few restrictions? I wish this question were given fair consideration.

Already we are not doing a very good job at preventing unregistered migrant workers without work permits from entering Thailand and getting employment. As long as jobs are available, why don't we allow them to come?

So far there seems to be no indication that migrant workers are causing unemployment among Thai workers, as they are not generally competing for the same jobs. Maybe they are even helping to prevent unemployment among Thais by contributing to the expansion of the economy.

In my view, all potential migrant workers crossing into Thailand should be allowed to register and be given identity cards as long as they pass health checks. Registration would be year-round (unlike at present) and not dependent upon employment. The registration fee should be affordable and paid for by the workers themselves, not their employers.

Registered workers would then be required to report to authorities at certain intervals so that records on their whereabouts and their employment could be maintained. They would be free to change employment and their employers would be strictly prohibited from taking possession of their registration papers or identity cards.

Migrant workers and their employers should be required to join the social insurance programme like their Thai counterparts. Their contributions would then cover health insurance and other benefits. The workers should also be allowed to establish their own trade unions or to join existing Thai trade unions.

To prevent competition for jobs with Thai workers, upgrading of skills among Thai workers should be maintained as a priority national policy for the development of the Thai economy.

I believe that everyone would gain from a more enlightened policy on migrant workers. The workers themselves would have better working conditions and be less liable to exploitation as they would have legal status and be free to change employment. Employers would no longer face the risks and penalties of employing undocumented workers. The authorities would have much better records on the numbers, whereabouts and employment of migrant workers.

The only real losers would seem to be the human-trafficking mafia and the officials who at present benefit financially from blackmailing illegal migrant workers.

Unfortunately, within Thai society there are some widespread prejudices against migrant workers that make it difficult to reform our policies towards them. One common prejudice is the belief that migrant workers are more liable to resort to crime, such as killing or robbing their employers. Some prominent news stories have fuelled this prejudice.

As long as migrant workers are documented, treated with dignity and allowed reasonable wages and working conditions, there would seem to be no reason why they should be any more prone to crime than their Thai counterparts.

The other main objection to an open border policy towards migrant workers is the catch-all excuse about "national security", which can generally be used to oppose many different kinds of proposed reforms.

Those who raise this objection should explain how it is better for national security for around two million migrant workers to be undocumented rather than legally registered and accounted for?

An open border policy towards migrant workers would mainly be beneficial to all concerned, don't you agree?

Jon Ungphakorn is a former elected senator for Bangkok and a Thai NGO activist.