Mekong Migration Network

19 February 2010

Dr Surin Pitsuwan,

Secretary General of ASEAN,

The ASEAN Secretariat,

70A Jl. Sisingamangaraja,

Jakarta 12110, Indonesia

Tel : (6221) 7262991, 7243372

Fax : (6221) 7398234, 7243504

Heads of Government of

Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia,

Lao PDR, Malaysia, Burma (Myanmar), Philippines,

Singapore, Thailand & Viet Nam,

c/o Secretary General of ASEAN

Dear Sirs/Madam,

Re: Justice for Workers in Burma

3,600 Workers Protest for Worker Rights – February 2010

On 8/2/2010, about 3,600 factory workers, mostly women, from 3 factories in the Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone in Rangoon, Burma, protested against low wages and the substandard working conditions they are forced to endure in the factories.

It was reported that the workers at the Taiyee shoe factory and the Opal 2 garment factory began protests on Monday calling for higher daily wages, overtime payments and several other demands. On Tuesday, workers from the Kya Lay garment factory joined the strike action.

The workers, mostly women, staged protests outside the factories and inside a factory compound, where they sat down and refused to work. The three factories employ a total of about 3,600 workers.

The monthly income of most factory workers in Burma is very low, ranging from 20,000 kyat [USD20] to 40,000 kyat [USD40], thus forcing many workers to work overtime. Most workers work from 7 am to 11 pm daily. Many factory owners employ temporary workers who have no legal recourse if they are fired without compensation, according to former factory workers in Rangoon. More than 80 percent of factory workers in Rangoon work on a day-to-day basis. Most are young women between 15 and 27 years of age who come from the countryside in search of a better living.

[The Irrawaddy, Authorities Threaten Violence at Rangoon Strike – http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=17771]

The workers’ demands in these actions, for example, with regard to wages, as was reported, are for a mere USD10 increase per month.

The Burmese government’s response to this legitimate industrial action by workers was excessive and oppressive It was reported that, the “…Authorities used barbed wire barricades to block roads leading to the factories in the Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone in the city’s north-east, and more than 50 truckloads of riot police carrying batons and shields were deployed and at least six fire engines and five prison vans were parked near the factories…” [AP - Straits Times, 10/2/2010, Myanmar workers on strike]

Today (19/2/2010) although the workers are back in the factories, they continue demanding for their rights. In Burma, they are even more vulnerable and powerless without a change in the existing laws to allow the right to assembly and to allow workers the right to form unions.

Burma is a member of ASEAN, and as such we call upon ASEAN and all ASEAN member countries to do the needful to ensure that workers in Burma, just like other workers in other ASEAN countries, also receive just wages, have a safe and healthy working environment, enjoy the right to form unions and all other universally acknowledged worker and human rights.

We also call on ASEAN, and ASEAN member countries to closely monitor the current situation at the Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone, and ensure that these workers rights are recognized and respected, and that the Burmese government refrains from further interfering in this pursuit of rights by workers in Burma.

Further, on 23 October 2009, the Heads of State/Government of ASEAN presided over the Inaugural Ceremony of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), during which they also announced the “Cha-am Hua Hin Declaration on the Inauguration of the AICHR” to pledge full support to this new ASEAN body and emphasize their commitment to further develop cooperation to promote and protect human rights in the region.

Noting that the primary purpose of the AICHR is to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of the peoples of ASEAN, we hope that the AICHR will begin proving that it is not merely a toothless tiger by ensuring that the human rights of these workers in Burma are promoted and protected.

Many ASEAN member countries, like Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, invest significantly in Burma. We hope that these economic and other self-interest considerations will not affect the way ASEAN, and its member nations, response to human rights violations of the ordinary people and workers in ASEAN.

I look forward to hearing your response,

Yours sincerely,

-sgd-

Pranom Somwong

Charles Hector

3585A Kg Lubuk Layang,

Batu 3, Jalan Mentakab,

28000 Temerloh, Pahang, Malaysia .

Email:- p_somwong@yahoo.com ; chef@tm.net.my

For and on behalf of the 56 Organizations/groups listed below:-

ALTSEAN-BURMA

All Kachin Students and Youth Union

All Burma Federation of Student Unions (Foreign Affairs’ Committee)

Asia Pacific Forum on Women Law and development (APWLD)

Asia Pacific Solidarity Coalition (APSOC)

Asian Migrants Center(AMC)

Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) – Youth and Women

‘Alltogether’, the South Korean left organization

Amnesty International Philippines

Batis Aware, Philippines

Burma Global Action Network

Burmese Women’s Union (BWU)

Burmese Rohingya Association in Japan

Burma Campaign, Malaysia

Canadian Friends of Burma (CFOB)

Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA) Philippines

Center for Overseas Workers (COW)

Coalition against Trafficking in Women – Asia Pacific

Chin Democracy and Human Rights Network (South Korea)

Civil Society Committee of LLG Cultural Development Centre Bhd(LLGCSC), Malaysia

Committee for Asian Women (CAW)

Coordination of Action Research on AIDS and Mobility (CARAM) Asia

Democratic Party for a New Society (DPNS)

Empower Foundation, Thailand

Free Burma Coalition Philippines (FBC-Philippines)

Free Burma Coalition – Philippines (Women’s Committee)

Foundation for Education and Development, Thailand

Human Rights Education Institute of Burma (HREIB)

Human Rights and Development Foundation (Thailand)

Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID)

JERIT (Oppressed People’s Network, Malaysia)

Kachin Development Networking Group

Korean House for International Solidarity, KHIS

Labour Behind the Label, United Kingdom

MAP Foundation, Thailand

Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC)

MSC/NWC- Sri Lanka,

MAKALAYA (Women Workers Network)

Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA)

National League for Democracy [NLD (LA)], Malaysia

Network of Action for Migrants in Malaysia (NAMM)

Network for Democracy and Development

Parti Sosialis Malaysia (Socialist Party of Malaysia, PSM)

Pagkakaisa ng Kababaihan para sa Kalayaan (KAISA-KA)

Piglas Kababaihan

Partido ng Manggagawa (PM - Workers’ Party)

Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon Migrants’ Trade union (MTU), Korea

Studio Xang Art for Migrant Children,Thailand

Thai Labour Campaign (TLC), Thailand

Think Center (Singapore)

The Action Network for Migrants (ANM), Thailand

The Shan Refugee Organization (SRO), Malaysia

Task Force on ASEAN and Burma (TFAB)

Worker Hub for Change (WH4C)

Women Health, Philippines

World March for Women - Philippines

GENEVA (18 February 2010) – The UN human rights expert on the human rights of migrants, Jorge A. Bustamante, today raised serious concerns about the nationality verification process in Thailand and warned that its implementation in its current form may lead to forced deportation of a great number of migrants, in breach of fundamental human rights obligations.

“A potentially large number of documented and undocumented migrant workers from Myanmar, Cambodia, and Lao People’s Democratic Republic face the threat of deportation from Thailand after 28th February 2010,” said the expert, who is mandated by the Human Rights Council to monitor the human rights of migrants.

In January, the Thai Cabinet passed a resolution allowing for a two-year extension of work permits for approximately 1.3 million migrants provided that they were willing to submit biographical information to their home governments prior to 28 February 2010. However, migrants who fail to do so by this deadline risk deportation after the 28 February 2010 deadline.

While welcoming the resolution to extend the period of registration, Mr. Bustamante was concerned that “the scheme is only applicable to regular migrants who submit registration before February 28 and does not include irregular migrants.” Additionally, “this scheme does not offer options for protecting the human rights of migrants who have or will not avail themselves of this process.”
“The precarious situation of migrants in Thailand is further exacerbated by the requirements of the nationality verification process,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on migrants.

“In addition, among the groups who may potentially be deported, there may be some who may be in need of international protection and should not be returned to the country of origin”, warned Mr. Bustamante. “Thailand should respect the principle of ‘non-refoulement’”.

“I am disappointed,” the UN expert added, “that that the Government of Thailand has not responded to my letters expressing calls for restraint; I reiterate my earlier messages to the Government to reconsider its actions and decisions, and to abide by international instruments.”

“If pursued, the threats of mass expulsion will result in unprecedented human suffering and will definitely breach fundamental human rights obligations,” he said.

Learn more about the mandates and activities of the Special Rapporteur Jorge A. Bustamante (Migrants): http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/migration/rapporteur/index.htm

MAE SOT—“I’m so happy that my days of worrying about the police are over. I can now travel freely around Thailand without worrying about being extorted or arrested,” said Ko Thaw Dar, a Burmese migrant worker in Bangkok.

When he was 10 years old, Ko Thaw Dar and his family fled from the hardships of Burma to try to make a living in Thailand. For years, he lived in fear of the Thai police, often having to pay bribes or risk being thrown in a detention centre or worse, forcibly repatriated to Burma.

Seventeen years later, Ko Thaw Dar is a chef at a restaurant in Bangkok and is the proud owner of a short-term Burmese passport.

Eager to escape the uncertainty of illegal migrant life, Ko Thaw Dar jumped at the opportunity when his employer offered to help him by taking him to the Thai-Burmese border to apply for nationality verification papers.

For some, Ko Thaw Dar’s case could be seen to be a success story. He didn’t pay one baht more than he should have and was safely escorted to and from the border by his employer. However, activists argue that the scheme that offers migrant workers the chance to work legally and travel in Thailand is far from perfect.

Ko Thaw Dar is in the minority, one of just 2,000 out of an estimated 2 million Burmese migrants in Thailand, who, according to Thai Labor Minister Phitoon Kaewthong, have registered at a Nationality Verification Centre and obtained short-term (usually one year) passports.

Labor activists blame the low turnout on a lack of public relations and information available to migrants. They say the workers don’t know about the scheme and, for those who have heard of it, the process is shrouded in rumors.

This is certainly true in Mae Sot where most factory owners haven’t uttered a word about the verification process to their Burmese employees.

“The salaries are so low in Mae Sot and the conditions so bad that employers fear the liberty the workers will have if they obtain travel passports,” explained Ko Moe Swe, a representative of the Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association.

“If the workers verify their nationality then they can travel freely in Thailand. The factory owners know they would leave their 50 baht (US $1.50) per day jobs in Mae Sot to go to other areas like Bangkok where they can make 300 baht ($9) per day,” he said.

For most migrant workers working in the Mae Sot area, their salaries are already so low they can’t afford to apply for verification. And the motivation to apply is dampened by stories of corrupt brokers and officials.

One Burmese factory worker in Mae Sot who spoke to The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity expressed her frustration.

She said that she and her fellow workers were originally hopeful when they heard that four Burmese officials and two Thai immigration officers had joined forces and visited the knitting factory where she worked to pressure the owner to tell the workers to apply.

The employer announced to the Burmese workers in the factory that they had each been offered a cheap price of 5,000 baht ($150) and that if they wanted to apply for short-term passports, now was a good time.

Most of the workers started the verification process, but 10 days later the employer announced that the fee had risen to 7,500 baht ($225).

“How can they not know what the price is?” the Burmese employee said with a sigh. “I really don’t understand how the price can increase like that and what they will do with the extra money. I don’t know how suspicious this behavior really is, but they must make the price official and transparent.”

Three broker companies are registered in Thailand to “help” migrant workers complete their forms and transport the workers to the verification centers, which are dotted along the border with Burma.

Labor rights organizations argue that the prices they charge are too high for low-paid migrant workers and are deterring people from applying.

Illegal brokers are also active; reports have surfaced of applicants paying bogus brokers more than 10,000 baht ($300) for a “speedy” process, never to see the broker again.

Sawit Keawan, the general secretary of Thailand’s State Enterprise Workers Relations Confederation, believes the scheme was built with good intentions, but that all parties involved need to accept their faults before it can be a success.

“In order for the scheme to work, the Thai government needs to accept that there is corruption on its side which is making the scheme costly and inefficient,” he said.

“And for the Burmese government, they need to accept that certain ethnicities are still Burmese and have the right to verify their nationality like any other Burmese national.”

Applicants, who are from ethnic groups aside from Burmans, are reported to have had many difficulties applying for short-term passports.

Most notably, according to an official from the Tak- Mae Sot Nationality Verification Centre, every Burmese Muslim who had applied for verification had been rejected.

“We have processed more than 1,000 applicants,” he told The Irrawaddy. “There have been no problems so far apart from for Muslim people, who have all had their applications rejected by the Burmese government.”

For the Rohingya, a group disowned by the Burmese military government and driven into exile, mostly to Thailand and Malaysia or to makeshift camps in Bangladesh, the certainty of rejection makes them even more vulnerable to abuse.

“The Burmese government doesn’t even accept that Rohingya people are Burmese, so there is no hope that they can verify their nationality,” explained Enayet Ullah, a member of the Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand.

“It’s more likely that a Rohingya applicant will be arrested than receive a passport,” he added.

With the February 2010 deadline fast approaching for applications, David Feingold, a UNESCO director, told The Irrawaddy he believes that many could miss out on the opportunity to obtain the short-term passport, thus increasing their susceptibility to human trafficking.

“It seems on the surface that its very unlikely many people will register before 2010, even if everything goes smoothly and there is no corruption,” he said. “If the deadline is not extended then a large number of people will be left in a vulnerable situation because they will not have passports. Anything that increases someone’s vulnerability will increase their vulnerability to trafficking.”

Like the Rohingya, the Shan communities working around Chiang Mai also fear they will be persecuted for their ethnicity. A representative of the MAP foundation, a Thailand-based migrants rights’ group, told The Irrawaddy it had come to their attention that in one group of seven Shan workers, three of them had their applications rejected and papers taken without explanation by the Burmese government when they applied for nationality verification.

The Shan community’s sentiments were echoed at a meeting on Sunday in Chiang Mai, organized by the Workers Solidarity Organization, when it was announced that over 2,000 migrant workers working in the Chiang Mai area rejected the scheme and requested the Thai government to revert back to the previous registration process.

Many are worried about reprisals against their families by the Burmese authorities. Rumors have circulated among migrant communities of mass arrests at the border and soldiers looting money from applicants’ families as penalties for their relatives’ illegal entry into Thailand.

Ko Moe Swe told The Irrawaddy how he had spoken to a Burmese woman who worked in a fisheries factory in the Mahachai area near Bangkok.

She said she received a telephone call from her mother some two months after she had applied for nationality verification. She said that soldiers went to her mother’s home and demanded that she pay $30 per month tax because her daughter had gone to work in Thailand illegally.

The biggest worry for most migrant workers about the scheme is losing money. The possibility that the Burmese government may extort tax from them in the future has deterred many from applying.

Ko Thaw Thar’s happiness was broken by the realization that he could be taxed in the future.

“One thing I’m very worried about is that the Burmese government will tax me in the future,” he said. “Even though we are so poor and making such little money, I am sure they would try to find a way to take our money while we are abroad.”

All the agencies involved appear to agree that there are too many concerns for the migrant workers to make the nationality verification scheme a success.

The process has to be changed, and it is widely accepted that this will require increased cooperation between the Burmese and Thai governments, which must ensure a transparent system exists and that migrant workers feel safe and can afford to apply for short-term passports.

By ALEX ELLGEE

A new website calling for the release of Burma’s democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and all of Burma’s political prisoners, launches today with the backing of major celebrities and a coalition of NGOs and trade unions. The website will become the global hub of the international campaign to release Aung San Suu Kyi.

The launch coincides with the day that, according to the Burmese regime, Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest expires. The UN has already ruled that her detention is illegal. More than 2,100 political prisoners are being held in Burma’s jails.

www.64forSuu.org allows anyone to upload video, text, image or twitter messages of support to Burma’s imprisoned democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

www.64forSuu.org aims to demonstrate the scale of outrage over her continued detention by encouraging high profile individuals and the public around the world to write a 64 word message, a “64”, that will be delivered on Aung San Suu Kyi’s 64th birthday on June 19th.

Organisations supporting the website include; Burma Campaign UK, Amnesty International, the Trades Union Congress, Not On Our Watch, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Open Society Institute and Avaaz. The site will launch with messages from high-profile supporters including George Clooney, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Vaclav Havel, David Beckham, Daniel Craig, and the British Prime Minster, Gordon Brown.

A selection of the 64’s from the site are below:

British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown’s “64”:

“I add my voice to the growing chorus of those demanding your release. For too long the world has failed to act in the face of this intolerable injustice. That is now changing. The clamour for your release is growing across Europe, Asia, and the entire world. We must do all we can to make this Birthday the last you spend without your freedom.”

Not On Our Watch:

“Nineteen years ago, the Burmese people chose Aung San Suu Kyi as their next leader. For most of those 19 years she has been kept under house arrest by the military junta that runs the country. We must not stand by as she is silenced again. Now is the time for the international community to speak with one voice: Free Aung San Suu Kyi.”

Signed by: George Clooney, Sec. Madeleine Albright, Wes Anderson, Drew Barrymore, David Beckham, Bono, Matthew Broderick, Sandra Bullock, James Carville, Michael Chabon, Daniel Craig, John Cusack, Matt Damon, Robert De Niro, Dave Eggers, Jake Gyllenhaal, Václav Havel, Helen Hunt, Anjelica Huston, Scarlett Johansson, Nicole Kidman, Ashton Kutcher, Norman Lear, Madonna, Mary Matalin, Sen. John & Cindy McCain, Rose McGowan, Orhan Pamuk, Sarah Jessica Parker, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Robert Rodriguez, Meg Ryan, Liev Schreiber, George Soros, Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Naomi Watts, Prof. Elie Wiesel, Owen Wilson.

Notes to Editors:

About Aung San Suu Kyi:

Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced Ong San Soo Chee), Burma’s pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate, symbolises the struggle of Burma’s people to be free. She has been detained for over 13 years by the Burmese regime for campaigning for human rights and democracy in Burma.

On May 18th Aung San Suu Kyi was put on trial, charged with breaching the terms of her house arrest after an American man, John Yettaw, swam to her house and refused to leave. The dictatorship are using the visit as an opportunity to extend her detention, which was expected to expire this month. Her trial is ongoing and she could face a further five years in detention.

In 1990 she led her party to win 82% of seats in national elections in Burma, despite being placed under house arrest. She has been in and out of detention ever since. She was held under house arrest from 1989-1995, and again from 2000-2002. She was again arrested in May 2003 after the Depayin massacre, during which up to 100 of her supporters were beaten to death by the regime’s militia. Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest in Rangoon. Her phone line has been cut, her post is intercepted and National League for Democracy volunteers providing security at her compound were removed in December 2004.

She has won numerous international awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize, the Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament and the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom. She has called on people around the world to join the struggle for freedom in Burma, saying “Please use your liberty to promote ours.”