Mekong Migration Network

A new crackdown on immigrant workers is raising concerns among human rights agencies at home and abroad

On May 23, eclipsed by the news of the red shirt crackdown, 13 Chin migrants - three of them children under the age of five - were killed en route to Malaysia when the truck transporting them crashed in a police chase in Cha-am.

The truck they were travelling in.

The truck, carrying 29 Chin and driven by a paid Thai agent, plunged off the road after police shot out the vehicle’s tyres.

Two survivors remain in hospital; the rest were deported after a period of detention in the Immigration Detention Bureau in Bangkok. The dead, who were buried at the hospital in Phetchaburi province, raised the tally of migrants in Thailand who have lost their lives to acts of suppression this year to 27.

Even so, on June 2, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva approved Order No125/2553, which provided for the “Special Centre for the Suppression, Prosecution and Arrest of Migrants Working Underground”.

The centre, which is chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kachornprasart, integrates the efforts of law enforcement, immigration and labour agencies at regional and sub-regional levels.

The centre’s objectives are to suppress the 510,000 migrant workers from Burma, Cambodia and Laos who, this year, failed to apply for work permits, or to extend those they already had, according to the Department of Employment, which hosts the secretariat of the multi-agency centre.

While not explicitly mentioned in the order, the unknown number of migrant workers - estimated to top one million - that have never registered with the government, let alone applied for a work permit, are also likely targets of the order.

Supat Gukun, deputy director-general of the Employment Department and secretary to the centre’s administrative working group, says the suppression is an effort to drive out migrant workers who are here illegally, so that they can return to work in Thailand through legal channels, presumably the Memorandum of Understanding systems that exist between Thailand and neighbouring countries. The MoU with Burma, that will send in “fresh workers”, is in its pilot stage.

Suppression under the order seems to have begun in earnest on June 16 with the arrest of several hundred workers in Samut Sakhon and the start of a spree of mass arrests. According to the centre, 1,587 illegal migrant workers were arrested and 96 employers prosecuted in June.

But the Human Rights Development Foundation (HRDF), which has been monitoring the crackdown through local media reports, has compiled reports that at least 2,971 migrant workers and six employers have been arrested since. The HRDF estimates the figure is actually higher due to recent, less-publicised arrests and the lack of reporting from the Northern, Southern and Eastern regions. Thet Khaing, an official with the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), which has been doing its own monitoring of field reports, puts the number of deported migrants at about 10,000.

The order, and the ensuing migrant crackdown, has been met with concern and criticism from migrant rights groups and international observers, who worry that heavy-handed tactics will threaten the safety and rights of workers.

The Mekong Migration Network (MMN), noting the number of deaths of migrant workers resulting from acts of suppression reported this year, said it was “greatly disturbed by this use of lethal force by the various Thai authorities against undocumented migrants. We fear that these deaths and injuries will multiply if the policy to suppress and arrest migrants is enforced”.

Apart from the cases of the Chin workers, nine Karen workers were shot dead in January, allegedly for being unable to pay a bribe to local police, three children were shot dead by soldiers who fired on the car transporting them, and two young sisters drowned while trying to escape a police raid on their camp.

The HRDF shared similar concerns, and questioned the effectiveness of the suppression strategy at a time when many industries were facing labour shortages.

“Experience shows migrant crackdowns lead to an increase in the arrest, detention and extortion of migrants by corrupt government officials, as well as violence and even death in the ensuing chaos. This particular crackdown policy is premature, makes no sense economically and is unlikely to strengthen Thailand’s national security.”

Cynical observers note that the most obvious benefit of the policy will come in the form of payments to the private brokers who will bring workers in through the new “legal channel”. A demand of 30,000 workers has been set for the new Thai-Burma MoU system, according to Mr Supat.

Others have questioned the motives of the migrant crackdown, in light of recent political rumours about the role of migrants in the red shirt movement and the disproportionate number of arrests of Cambodian migrants this month. While 80% of migrant workers in Thailand are Burmese, according to the HRDF’s statistics, almost half of those arrested in the June crackdown were Cambodian.

In some media interviews with law enforcement officers, the crackdown has also been explained as a response to a dramatic rise in crimes by foreigners, a police assessment that followed the 12 million baht bank robbery by Colombians.

More criticism has swirled around the centre’s seeming singular focus on migrant workers, as opposed to traffickers, smugglers and the employers who hire and recruit illegal workers.

Last week Surapong Kongchantuk. a human rights lawyer, questioned whether Deputy Prime Minister Sanan understood the root causes of the issues, and called on the government to address human trafficking rather than only arresting and deporting illegal immigrants and migrant workers.

Still others worry that under the order, arrested migrants will not be screened for being victims of trafficking or individuals in need of other protections - ie, refugees - particularly given the volume of arrests.

“There are just not enough immigration officers, and they don’t have enough time to properly screen. They just interview for a profile of the migrant worker and then send them back quickly,” said a spokesperson for the MMN.

Perhaps most troubling are allegations, published by Human Rights Watch in its April report on abuses of migrants in Thailand, From the Tiger to the Crocodile, and in recent articles in the Irrawaddy, that Thai officials, brokers and soldiers with the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army are colluding to extort and ransom Burmese migrants who have been sent for deportation at a checkpoint near the Myawaddy friendship bridge on the Thai-Burma border.

Accordingly, the order has also come to the attention of Dr Jorge Bustamante, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, who told Spectrum he was “very concerned about the execution of the new order”, and particularly the fate of workers who are sent back to Burma where militias are extracting bribes and committing abuses of them. He has other concerns about the process of arrests in Thailand, and says his office has received reports of “gross violations of human rights” towards migrants.

Echoing comments he expressed to the Thai government in a report earlier this year regarding the nationality verification process, Dr Bustamante suggests the “urgent suspension of this order in such a way that nationality verification could be re-opened” to continue regularisation of the more than one million migrant workers who remain unregistered in Thailand.

“We are talking about a supply to the labour force that is needed,” he said, noting that the migrant workforce creates about 7% of Thailand’s GDP. “It is on this premise that we recommend the Thai government pursue regularisation and renewal of the NV process for those that remain in need of it.”

He says regularisation has been a humane and successful model in a number of countries.

Many migrant rights groups in Thailand, including both the HRDF and MMN, have also advocated the re-opening of the nationality verification process to migrants in the country and for their ongoing registration. Mr Supat says these criticisms are misplaced, and that the centre and its policies uphold both Thai law and human rights.

He says the Ministry of Labour worked hard to make migrant workers aware of the legalisation process - which ended earlier this year - by liasising with governments of neighbouring countries and employers of migrant workers. Those who did not take the opportunity to become “legal” have no right to stay in the country, he says.

While he was unable to explain the circumstances surrounding the arrests of migrants or their deportations, as these aspects of the process were handled by law enforcement agencies, he assured they would be carried out according to the law.

Mr Supat says that workers are interviewed by authorities and specially screened for being trafficking victims or in need of other protections, according to Thai laws, before being deported on the discretion of authorities.

He adds that the centre’s objective is not limited to the suppression of undocumented migrant workers, but covers all criminal aspects involved in their existence, including the traffickers, transporters and employers of illegal workers.

Mr Supat says the crackdown will not exacerbate labour shortages, because the order targets only the 500,000 workers who do not abide by Thai law, many of which he suspects illegally ran their own business and didn’t have a Thai employer (this disregards the estimated one million who have not registered at all).

He says there are more than 920,000 registered migrant workers.

“The system is fair enough. If we all follow the regulations, there will be no problems.”

Noting that workers who are regularised are entitled to passports, medical care, motorbike licenses and a salaries equal to Thai workers, he says: “If they come legally, we welcome them and protect them the same as local people.”

The aim of the centre, he says, is to better co-ordinate the management of migrants in Thailand and ultimately make them safer.

“If we’re talking about migrant workers, that means they are here working through legal channels. If they cross borders and find themselves a job, they’re illegal.”

A THAI labour ministry official on Tuesday elaborated on new measures for processing illegal migrant workers, saying those sent to a “special centre” mentioned in a June 2 government order signed by the Thai prime minister, including potentially tens of thousands of Cambodians, would be deported if they lacked proper documentation.

The establishment of the facility – described in the order as a “special centre to suppress, arrest and prosecute workers who are working underground” – had prompted criticism from rights groups, who expressed concern that the workers would be punished beyond simply being deported.

Supat Guukhun, deputy director general of the employment office at the Thai ministry of labour, said Sunday that migrants sent to the centre would be prosecuted “if the case is made criminal”.

On Tuesday, however, he said the status of the migrants would be investigated, and that those found to be illegal would be deported to their home countries, where they could enter into a process of nationality verification announced earlier this year. Under that process, workers are to submit documents to their home governments to secure new work permits in Thailand.

“The special centre allows migrants to come to register, and the second step is to apply for nationality verification,” Supat said. “They must have documents to allow them to work in this country; otherwise they will be deported.”

The comments from Supat came as the Mekong Migration Network (MMN), an umbrella organisation for migrant support NGOs that has offices in Hong Kong and Chiang Mai, released a statement calling for the June 2 order, number 125/2553, to be revoked, saying it could expose migrants to violent attacks from authorities.

“During 2010 alone there have already been 23 reported deaths of migrant workers resulting from acts of suppression,” says the statement, which cites a March attack in which nine migrants were killed and 19 seriously injured as police in Petchburi province fired on their truck.

“We fear that these deaths and injuries will multiply if the policy to suppress and arrest migrants [continues].”

The statement also calls for the nationality-verification process – the deadline for which was March 2 – to be reopened, and for the Thai government to assist migrants in complying with it.

In a statement released Monday, the Bangkok-based Human Rights Development Foundation also called for the Thai government to “urgently revoke its crackdown policy on unregistered migrants” and to reopen the nationality-verification process.

Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn referred questions to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Thani Thongpakdi, deputy spokesman for the ministry, declined to answer questions over the phone and had not responded to emailed questions as of press time.

A spate of large-scale raids and arrests of migrants have been reported in the past week.

On Monday, the Thai news service Daily News Online reported that a total of 629 illegal migrant workers – including 165 Cambodians – were detained between last Thursday and Monday in a series of raids on markets and factories in Pathum Thani province.

A report from the Mass Communications Organisation of Thailand on Tuesday said that 60 illegal migrant workers in Songkhla province were detained over the weekend. No breakdown of nationalities was provided, but the report said many were believed to be from Myanmar.

Reports earlier this week said more than 400 Cambodian migrant workers had been detained throughout Thailand as of Sunday, including 307 in Bangkok.

Laddawan Tamafu, advocacy and capacity building officer for MMN, said on Tuesday that all of those detained in Bangkok had since been deported.

“The approximately 300 arrested Cambodian migrants were deported back to their home country on June 18-19 through the Aranyaprathet immigration office in [Sa Kaeo province] and passed to Poipet,” she said via email.

Hun Hean, Banteay Meanchey’s provincial police commissioner, said he did not know about the 307 migrants, but noted that at least 150 deportees are typically received at the Poipet gate each day.

“Actually, Cambodian officials at the Poipet border checkpoint receive between 150 and 200 each day from Thai authorities,” he said.

“When Thai authorities catch them, they only return them through the Poipet gate.”

Wednesday, 23 June 2010 15:03 Cameron Wells and Cheang Sokha

Samut Sakorn, Thailand (Mizzima) – Activists are urging speed and transparency in the investigations into the recent deaths of migrant workers in Thailand.

The Mekong Migration Network (MMN), a sub-regional network of 38 member organizations devoted to protecting migrant rights in the greater Mekong region, on Friday released a statement suspicious of the deaths of migrant workers in Thailand from neighboring countries.

The statement calls attention to a February 25th 2010 case in Thailand’s Pak Nam Sub-district in Ranong Province in which soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division fired on a pick-up truck carrying 13 undocumented migrant workers from Burma, resulting in the deaths of three migrant children. Five others were also injured during the shooting.

In another case on March 9th of this year in Phuket, a major destination of migrant workers from Burma, a 20-year old woman and a young girl, both from Burma, drowned in a river while fleeing police who arrived at the workers quarters overnight. The woman had a work permit and was enrolled in the new nationality verification program, while the girl was holding a temporary identification document. According to a witness, workers nearby were too afraid to rescue the drowning pair as police held them off at gunpoint.

“The Mekong Migration Network is appalled by such tragic deaths of innocent children and women. These deaths would have been avoided if proper procedures had been followed and if the safety and well-being of migrants was respected,” the group noted.

MMN added that in 2006/2007 they conducted collaborative research on the arrest, detention and deportation of migrant workers in the Mekong region and highlighted the resulting serious human rights abuses, as well as a lack of transparency and accountability on the part of authorities.

“While MMN’s core recommendation is that policies be amended so that migrants are not constantly at risk of arrest, detention and deportation, in the event that migrants are arrested, detained or deported, we called for the procedures to be carried out in a humane, safe and transparent manner and only by authorized, trained authorities,” argues the statement.

In response to these latest tragedies the MMN in calling for the Thai government to conduct full and impartial investigations into the events in question, ensure involved authorities are held liable for their actions, facilitate access to justice for victims and take immediate steps to ensure that relevant authorities enforce safe and humane procedures during the arrest and deportation of migrant workers according to both Thai and international law.

The group further contends that the Thai government should address the level of fear and insecurity that has been created in the broader migrant community, which is said leads to even fully documented migrants being terrified of uniformed officers.

A worker from Burma in Thailand’s Mahachai District in Samut Sakorn Province, where numerous migrants are working, told Mizzima they have experienced people posing as officials for the purpose of extorting money from the migrant community.

“Fake officials that we believe are local mafia come to our houses and charge us money. But we’re too scared to tell the police because some of us don’t have work permits,” the source explained.

Monday, 22 March 2010 09:57 Usa Pichai

Last Updated ( Monday, 22 March 2010 10:19 )

Deaths of Migrants Must be Investigated
By prachatai
Created 2010-03-19 15:50
Mekong Migration Network (MMN)

On February 25th 2010, in Pak Nam sub-district, Ranong province, soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division fired on a pickup truck carrying 13 undocumented migrant workers from Burma, resulting in the deaths of three migrant children. Those killed were a three or four year old, six or seven year old girl, and a 16-year-old boy. Five others were also injured during the shooting .

On March 9th 2010, in Phuket, a 20-year-old woman and a young girl, both from Burma, drowned in a river while fleeing from the police who arrived at the worker’s quarters at night. The woman had a work permit and was enrolled in the new nationality verification program and the girl was holding the temporary identification document (Tor Ror 38/1). According to a witness, workers nearby were too afraid to go and rescue the drowning pair, as the police held them off at gun point.

The Mekong Migration Network (MMN), a sub-regional network of 38 member organisations working together to protect migrants’ rights in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), is appalled by such tragic deaths of innocent children and women. These deaths would have been avoided if proper procedures had been followed and if the safety and well-being of migrants was respected.

In 2006-2007, the MMN conducted collaborative research on the arrest, detention and deportation (“ADD”) of migrant workers in the GMS and highlighted serious human rights abuses, as well as a lack of transparency and accountability during processes that involved ADD. While MMN’s core recommendation is that policies be amended so that migrants are not constantly at risk of arrest, detention and deportation, in the event that migrants are arrested, detained or deported, we called for the procedures to be carried out in a humane, safe and transparent manner and only by authorized, trained authorities. .

In response to these latest tragedies, The Mekong Migration Network urgently calls for the Royal Thai Government to:

1. Conduct full and impartial investigations into these events to ensure that the authorities involved are held liable for their actions.

2. Facilitate access to justice for the victims and their families and ensure that they receive adequate redress.

3. Take immediate steps to ensure that the relevant authorities enforce safe and humane procedures during the arrest and deportation of migrant workers according to the Thai Criminal Procedure Code; the 1997 Measures in Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking in Women and Children Act (Section 9); and Article 22 of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant workers and their Families (1999).

4. Address the level of fear and insecurity that has been created in the migrant community which leads to even fully documented migrants being terrified of uniformed officers.

ON January 11, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Major General Sanan Kachornprasart, in a suit, tie and face mask, gave a press conference at the National Immigration Bureau. He was joined by Immigration Bureau Commander Police Lieutenant General Wuthi Liptapallop, also in a face mask; Social Development and Human Security (MSDHS) Minister Issara Somchai; and 557 Cambodians, some who had lost their legs and were the apparent cause for face masks.

The officials, standing before the cameras and a table piled high with crutches and prosthetic limbs, said the day kicked off their campaign against human trafficking and smuggling gangs.

The 557 Cambodians – a group of 220 men and 337 women, many elderly or severely disabled – were deported as illegal migrants and dumped unceremoniously at the border the next day.

The Cambodians were said to be beggars. They had been rounded up in a sweep of Bangkok streets in the four days before the press conference.

According to subsequent news reports, the operation was spearheaded by the Immigration Bureau and the National Operation Centre on Human Trafficking, which are targeting the traffickers and smugglers that bring beggars to Thailand.

“Beggars disturb foreign tourists and damage the tourism image of Thailand,” Wuthi said at the time.

Although an anti-trafficking effort provided the pretext for the crackdown, Thailand’s anti-trafficking policy, which has taken many agencies, many years and many baht to craft, seemed to have been summarily dismissed.

Though no one disputes Thailand’s right to follow its own immigration laws – indeed, hundreds of illegal Cambodian migrants are deported each day – the action troubled a number of observers and organisations that say the Cambodian beggars were deported in violation of Thailand’s own Anti-trafficking in Persons Act, without the screening to identify trafficking victims or individuals entitled to protection.

Cambodian beggars are often vulnerable to trafficking, and Thailand has a well-established policy to deal with the population more discriminately.
In the days following the deportation, the Mekong Migration Network, an affiliation of 35 civil organisations in the region, issued a statement protesting against the “deportation of Cambodian beggars without due process”, and called for appropriate screening mechanisms and respect for the rights of migrants, saying they should not be treated as criminals.

Weeks after the much-publicised roundup, questions remain regarding the handling of the group. Neither the Foundation for Women nor Friends International, NGOs with Khmer speakers that usually assist the Immigration Bureau in the screening process, interviewed members in the group of 557. The groups didn’t know whether anyone had. Several UN outfits and a handful of anti-trafficking organisations in Cambodia are also curious, but unaware of the circumstances or whereabouts of the deported group.

The Immigration bureau declined to comment or even provide basic statistics regarding the deportation, saying that responding would threaten the integrity of the deported beggars and its own reputation.

The MSDHS deferred comment to the immigration authorities, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed concern but said it was “still in the dark” about the situation.

The unusual, high-profile handling of the group, at a time when Thai-Cambodian relations are particularly heated, has led to speculation that the deportation was political theatre.

Regardless of the government’s motives, NGO workers who interact with those begging on the streets have noted fears and increasing movement underground among Cambodian beggars, who worry they will be mistreated because of the political situation between the two countries.

In the days since the mass deportation, the police have continued their sweeps. Following the scrutiny of human rights groups, however, they have been holding the rounded-up beggars – a group of 70 individuals ranging in age from less than 1 to 77 – at the immigration detention centre.

The Foundation for Women has been given access to the group and conducted screening interviews with select women and children among the beggars. Their testimony suggested the beggars had come to Thailand voluntarily, and it’s impossible to reach a firm conclusion regarding the involvement of traffickers. At the same time, they cautioned that children signalled to each other and gave rehearsed answers during questioning, making it difficult to ascertain whether their answers were accurate. Some in the group were unwilling to give testimony, and others were evasive and pretended to not understand, despite the presence of a Khmer speaking translator.

It was also noted that although these vulnerable groups may qualify for social services and a spot in Thailand’s government shelters, they may not understand or want them. They often want only a steady income and to return to work, the foundation noted.

For these reasons, and many others, it is difficult to identify trafficking victims.

Handling beggars

To resolve Thailand’s issue with Cambodian beggars, the foundation has suggested DNA tests for parentage, better cooperation between Thai and Cambodian authorities, and more channels to access and assist vulnerable populations.

Under the present system, when beggars are apprehended, they are interviewed by Khmer-speaking staff members of the MSDHS or affiliated NGOs who have been trained to identify victims of trafficking.

Those who are identified are sent to either Ban Kred Trakarn, the women’s shelter, or Ban Phumvet, the men’s, where they are provided with various forms of assistance, compensation and support in prosecuting their traffickers.

Those not identified as trafficking victims, but who have been rounded up by the police for the first or sometimes second time, will be sent to the Nonthaburi Reception Home for Destitutes, a shelter where they are interviewed about their migration and provided shelter and vocational training for the several months it takes to ready them for repatriation. In these first instances of begging, Thailand’s Bureau of Social Welfare and Cambodia’s Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation work together to gather information about the migrants, locating family members and home villages, and creating a repatriation plan.

Beggars who have been rounded up by the police multiple times will be sent to the Immigration Detention Centre and deported. Many social workers and NGO staff members comment that this is the preferred fate for most of the beggars, as they waste no time or money cooped up in shelters. They often return to Thailand a few days later.

The stream of Cambodian beggars into Bangkok can seem endless; there are children who claim to have been to Thailand on 20 separate occasions to beg. The Thai and Cambodian governments struck a deal in 2008 to better manage the repatriation and migration of the begging population, but Somjit Tantivanichanon, the superintendent of the Nonthaburi Reception Home for Destitutes, says the formal process is still slow and lacks the follow-up services to make repatriation effective and permanent.

Not trafficked

Recent research also suggests that most Cambodian beggars are not victims of trafficking. According to a 2006 study by Friends International, an NGO that was founded in Cambodia and now works with street children on multiple continents, most children claim to be begging in Bangkok with a parent who has made the journey voluntarily. About 20 percent of the children were begging under more dubious circumstances, with a non-blood relative often identified as a family friend.

“It came out very clearly – they may be exploited when they arrive, but they come because they believe they can make much more money here,” says Tamo Wagener, international coordinator for Friends International.

The organisation’s research shows that begging in Thailand is almost always a more lucrative pursuit for Cambodians than working in their homeland or migrating to Thailand, legally or illegally, for minimum-wage work. The same study found that begging works in Thailand – more than 80 percent of 400 Thais interviewed frequently gave to beggars.

The research also seems to largely debunk the widespread belief that beggars are highly organised networks operated by Cambodian gangs.

Though Friends International staffers said gang-run begging rings may exist to a limited degree – there was some evidence to suggest this is the case for street children selling flowers, sweets and small goods – the overwhelming number of cases they encounter involve Cambodians who come to Bangkok voluntarily to beg. They found beggars enjoy freedom of movement and working hours, and live independently in rented rooms.

They also found no evidence that beggars were deliberately mutilated for the purpose of begging.

Still, the research also found that 80 percent of child beggars did not want to continue begging, and Chalermrat Chaipraser, Friends International’s country programme director, emphasised the importance of identifying alternatives.

“No one likes to beg. It’s not socially rewarding,” he said. “But as long as there is lots of money here and few alternatives in Cambodia, they will come.”

Tuesday, 16 February 2010 15:01 Erika Fry