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.

8 Cambodians freed from forced slavery in Thailand

Friday, August 24, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

8 Cambodians were freed by the Thai authority from a landfill located in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand. The Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper reported that the release of the 8 Cambodians was done following a request made by the Cambodian embassy in Thailand for the Thai authority to intervene in the case of these victimized workers. These workers were forced to work under slave-like condition, and they were forced to pick up food from the trash to eat daily. The newspaper report indicated that after their release, the workers were found to be very weak because they were forced to work without any rest, and they were not paid either. The workers were threatened by company managers who were armed with guns and knives, forcing them to work. The victims who came to Thailand to work as trash collectors, said that they were duped into coming to work as trash collectors for several months already. They were told that they would earn between 200 to 300 baths (~$6 to $9) each day. When they crossed the border into Thailand, they were immediately brought over to the landfill.