The council is considering offering the status, equivalent to permanent residency, to migrants who have lived in the country illegally for 20 to 30 years, NSC secretary-general Thawil Pliansri said.Their offspring will be given Thai nationality.

Mr Thawil said after a meeting of the NSC yesterday the 200,000 migrants were regarded as being “on the run” from authorities.

They fall into the “documented” group of illegal migrants.

Many more migrants, numbering about half a million, are believed to have slipped into the country illegally and are not documented.

Mr Thawil said giving the 200,000 documented illegal migrants the status of foreign migrants would benefit the country.

The state could keep track of their movements and collect taxes from them, he said.

Mr Thawil said another category of illegal migrants was the 100,000 people who fled strife in their home countries and entered Thailand through its western border.

These include Burmese, Rohingya, and North Korean refugees.

Mr Thawil said the government would provide this group with temporary shelter on the condition they were unarmed.

This group is not qualified to receive foreign status even if the NSC’s proposal to treat them in such a way is approved by the government, he said.

A security source said some members of this group showed no interest in settling in Thailand as they land on the border in the hope of being resettled in a third country.

Mr Thawil said some illegal migrants intentionally violate the law while staying here. They form criminal gangs or intentionally overstay their visas.

Authorities will step up measures to arrest them, once officials have completed an estimate of their numbers.

The NSC secretary-general said criteria for giving foreign migrant status to migrants included what jobs they have done during their illegal stay in the country.

If there is a labour skills shortage in that area, they stand a better chance of receiving legal status.

Published: 19/08/2010 at 12:00 AM

The impact of the closure is particularly strong at the main overland border crossing point between Myawaddy in Karen State in Burma and Mae Sot in Tak Province of northern Thailand.

Nai Tain, a truck driver who lives in Myawaddy Township said many people who have come to work at Myawaddy are no longer able to pay monthly rents of around 30,000 kyat [US $300] for apartments and increasingly are having to share.

A Burmese money changer in Myawaddy said that after the border closed, many Burmese workers in Thailand no longer use the Myawaddy crossing to return to their homes.

“I used to earn 3,000 kyat [$100] a day. But, no one is coming to exchange money now so I have no income, but who can I complain to?” he said, adding that people are wondering how long they will be able to go on if the border remains closed and there is no work.

People who have lost jobs are having to go out into the country to dig for bamboo shoots to sell in town, earning two dollars a day for hard work that many do not want to do, local sources said.

The closure is affecting almost everyone, whether truck drivers, taxi drivers, market stall-holders, restaurant owners or traders.

One guesthouse owner in Myawaddy said few people stay now the border is closed.

Mahn Bala Sein, a Karen businessman, who own a restaurant in Mae Sot, said he earns around 1,500 baht a day [$48], half of what his restaurant brought in when the border was open.

“Many of them [border traders] have disappeared since the border closed,” he said.

The Burmese regime closed the border, stopping all trade, on July 8, ostensibly in protest at Thai government construction to prevent erosion of the river bank on the Thai side of the River Moei that separates the two countries.

The closure is costing Thailand an estimated 88 million baht a day [$2.8 million] and Thai authorities say the closure is causing large problems.

The Thai border authorities have held talks with the Burmese Deputy Foreign Minister, Maung Myint, several times in Myawaddy but have failed to persuade the Burmese to reopen the border and restore trade to normal.

The Burmese authorities have closed more than 20 illegal crossing routes along the Moei River and they continue to block the majority of goods including food, clothing, cars, furniture, bicycles, automobile parts, consumer electronics and vegetable oil.

Burmese exports to Mae Sot such as teak, furniture, jade, rice, sea food, potatoes and other goods have also halted.

The Burmese authorities are not allowing people to cross the border and people in Myawaddy said they have to pay about 400 baht [$13] to cross the river clandestinely on a return trip to Mae Sot.

After the border closed, many traders have stopped doing business. Only some of the bigger traders have been able to continue by paying double the fees to the authorities, or by crossing over at night at Gate 6, which is under the control of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA).

No one understands what is causing the Burmese authorities to enforce such a prolongued closure.

Local sources suggest it might be to put pressure on the armed ethnic groups along the border, in particular the DKBA, to force compliance with the border guard force plan by disrupting cash flow from border trade.

Another theory is that the Burmese authorities want to increase security along the border and prevent any threats to the smooth running of the Nov. 7 election.

The closure has lead to increased commodity prices across Burma, and sources report that prices on electronic items in Rangoon have doubled.

By LAWI WENG
Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Ly Sotheary, executive director of the Healthcare Centre for Children in Koh Kong province, said the six victims – including one minor – were being sheltered at the Ban Krettrakarn Girl’s Shelter in Nonthaburi province. She said the women were being cared for by employees of the Labour Rights Promotion Network, a Thailand-based organisation.

A seventh trafficking victim escaped the karaoke parlour last month, she said, and provided information that led to the raid, which took place on August 5. The raid resulted in the arrests of 21 people, including the victims, other Cambodian prostitutes, customers and two brothel owners.

Thai police eventually released everyone except a Thai man and a Cambodian woman, who owned and ran the karaoke parlour.

The pair have been remanded in custody while awaiting charges in Trat province, which is adjacent to Koh Kong province.

Ly Sotheary said the six Cambodian women would remain in Thailand to provide evidence in the case against the two brothel owners.

The women were “cheated”, she said, after they were promised jobs as maids or in garment factories, fisheries or restaurants.

She said that representatives from HCC would visit the six victims in the coming weeks and observe the trial if the suspects were charged.

Speaking under the condition of anonymity, a 30-year-old prostitute who worked at the karaoke bar in Trat province and returned to Cambodia last week said that she felt sorry for the victims, especially the underage girl.

“I was very embarrased when we were arrested, but I really pity the true victims,” she said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said that he was unaware of the case. Bun Leut, Koh Kong provincial governor, could not be reached for comment

Friday, 13 August 2010 15:02 Kim Yuthana

Un Samnang, 23, and Chang Ty Hok, 53, were arrested at their coffee shop in Chaktomuk commune in October last year, where police discovered 25 Vietnamese prostitutes.

Presiding Judge Sous Sam Ath sentenced Un Samnang to 10 years in prison and Chang Ty Hok to five years.

Defence Lawyer Nach Try declined to comment after yesterday’s hearing, but Kim Ly La, a lawyer who represented six of the Vietnamese prostitutes, applauded the decision.

“It is acceptable and just for my clients, who did not ask for any compensation from the two accused because they voluntarily worked as prostitutes, and have agreed to return to Vietnam,” she said.

Both defendants denied the allegations in a hearing held August 2. Un Samnang, who also holds a Cambodian identification card, told the court that although he had accepted US$80 to allow the coffee shop’s proprietors to rent the facility under his name, he was not involved in the sale of sex. An elderly Khmer Krom woman named Ky Nang was responsible for the criminal activity, he said.

But Sous Sam Ath rejected the testimony, saying that investigators could not find anyone by that name.

Chang Ty Hok testified during the hearing that she had worked only as a cleaner at the coffee shop, a claim that the judge said was “not credible”.

‘Illegal’ migrant
In a separate case yesterday, the Municipal Court sentenced a Nigerian man to a total of six years in prison after finding him guilty of robbery, drug possession, damaging police property and living in Cambodia illegally.

Charles Uy, 27, was arrested from his rented house in Meanchey district in March after a complaint was filed against him by three other Nigerian men. Uy said during his trial on August 2 that the complaint had been filed in revenge after he warned the men about fighting in his house the previous evening.

Judge Sous Sam Ath also ordered Uy to pay 1.5 million riels (US$358) in compensation to the three men, and ordered him to be deported following his release from prison.

Friday, 13 August 2010 15:02 Chrann Chamroeun

The ranks of the unemployed are filled with car and trucks drivers, conductors, border workers, traders and taxi drivers.

An estimated 130 vehicles carried goods into Myawaddy and other parts of Burma each day before the border was closed. The Burmese regime closed the main border crossing in Myawaddy on July 8, in protest against a river construction project on the Thai side of the Moei River embankment.

Because of the closure between Myawaddy, Burma, and Mae Sot, Thailand, Thailand has lost about 88 million baht (US $2.7 million) a day, Thai Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai told Bangkok Biz News on Monday. She would discuss the matter with her Burma counterpart during the 42nd Economic Ministers Meeting this month in Vietnam, in a bid to restore normal trade.

Thai and Burmese border authorities have meet several times recently in Myawaddy Township, and Thai authorities are now working meet Burmese concerns about the flow of the river.

Burmese authorities continue to block the majority of goods including food, clothing, cars, furniture, bicycles, automobile parts, consumer electronics and vegetable oil. Burmese exports to Mae Sot such teak, furniture, jade, rice, sea food, potatoes and other goods are also blocked.

“More than three hundred people who are drivers and conductors have no jobs now because there is no trade,” said Nai Mang, a trader in Myawaddy Township. Some traders and workers in Myawaddy are thinking of returning home until the border opens again.”

Many people have no money to buy food, said observers. Kyaw Hein, a well-known trader in Myawaddy Township, donated food to the poor last week.

“He cooked 30 bags of rice (50 kg bag) a day and hundreds of people came to enjoy the free food,” said Nai Mang.

Nai Tain, a driver on the Myawaddy to Moulmein route, said he used to earn 20,000 kyat ($20) on each roundtrip, but now he has no work.

A trishaw driver in Myawaddy Township said that there are fewer people in town now. He earned 400 kyat ($0.40) on Thursday, but he said he must pay the trishaw owner 300 kyat daily to rent the trishaw.

He said he used to work at the Rangoon Bus Express in Myawaddy and could sometimes earn 20,000 kyat ($20) on a round-trip from Myawaddy to Rangoon.

“I could save some money when I worked at Rangoon Bus Express,” he said. “But, because the bus has stopped, I have to drive the trishaw.”

Win Naing, who transports Thai products from Mae Sot to Myawaddy, said that he used to earn 500 baht ($15) a day from his work. But now, he only carries Burmese kindergarten students around Mae Sot.

Nai Mang said, “I have been here more than 20 days with no work and no income. I just eat and sleep and wait the border to open again.”

Many small border traders have stopped doing business. Some bigger traders continue to work by paying double prices to authorities, or cross over at night at gate 6, which is under the control of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.

More than 20 illegal crossing routes along the Moei River are used regularly. However, following the closure of Friendship Bridge, the main crossing gate, Burmese officials have tried to shut down all known trade routes.

Because of the closure, commodity prices have moved higher at the border and across Burma. Some prices on electronic items have doubled in Rangoon, sources say

By LAWI WENG
Wednesday, August 11, 2010

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The report, which outlines the ministry’s new labour migration policy, states that youth unemployment levels are “becoming critical”, and points to foreign labour markets as “a cornerstone for alleviation of unemployment, income enhancement and poverty reduction”.

About 250,000 young job-seekers will enter the labour market annually over the next few years, according to estimates in the report, which notes that employment opportunities in the Kingdom have become limited because “economic growth and employment in Cambodia have been narrowly concentrated in the agricultural, garment, construction and tourism sectors”.

The authors of the report, dated June, conclude that expanding the migrant workforce can benefit young workers by providing more opportunities, so long as more stringent protections are in place. “Thus, the current Ministerial Strategic Plan sets out the following main interventions: improved management of foreign employment; expanded protection of migrant workers; strong inter-ministerial coordination; and intimate international cooperation,” the report says.

Among other things, the new policy guidelines require that labour attachés be posted to Cambodian embassies to support workers in foreign countries, that a list of placement and documentation costs payable by migrant workers be established, and that vocational training courses be improved.

The report also underscores the need for new “comprehensive” legislation governing the labour-migration process and the protection of migrant workers.

Labour officials said yesterday that amendments to an existing sub-decree were expected to be finalised by the end of the year, and that the amendments would set out stricter guidelines for migrant recruitment companies.

According to the report, the legislation should include “provisions for the suspension or withdrawal of recruitment and placement licenses in cases of violation”.

The new regulations would support what appears to be a rapidly expanding workforce, with twice as many Cambodian migrant workers finding jobs in Malaysia through recruitment firms during the first half of this year compared with the same period last year, according to figures provided by the Association of Cambodian Recruitment Agencies earlier this month.

Seng Sakada, director general at the Labour Ministry, said yesterday that migrants stood to gain both individual and social rewards.

“The workers who go to work abroad get many benefits such as earning money to help their living standards and professional skills for their lives,” he said, and migrant workers were often able to send money home to their families.

Hou Vudthy, deputy director of the ministry’s Employment and Manpower Department, said yesterday that he believed that the sub-decree would enable migrant workers to experience these benefits without fear of the potential drawbacks.

“Now we have more experience after we practiced sending the workers to work abroad since 1998,” he said, referring to the year workers were first sent through the ministry.

“We have 12 years’ [experience] with this, so we have enough experience to make our sub-decree strong and good.”

Wednesday, 11 August 2010 15:03 Mom Kunthear and Brooke Lewis

A Kasikornbank ATM in Samut Sakhon displays text in Burmese to serve the needs of migrant workers. PAWAT LAOPAISARNTAKSIN

Eighty percent of the ATMs with the Burmese language are in Samut Sakhon’s Muang district where there is a large Burmese population involved in the fishing industry. The rest are in Phetchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Ranong and Trat, KBank senior vice-president Wirawat Panthawangkun said yesterday.

Business operators who hire Burmese staff asked for the language option to help foreign workers use ATMs.

KBank first introduced Burmese language options to ATMs in Samut Sakhon in February.

“[Burmese customer] financial transactions have increased by about 20% per ATM after [the introduction] mainly [involving] money deposits, withdrawals and cash transfers,” Mr Wirawat said.

“The bank can target the segment directly with marketing campaigns, as well.” KBank plans to provide services in other neighbouring languages, especially Cambodian and Lao in select areas, according to customer demand.

The bank would maintain its main focus on its core customer base of Thai people before making any decisions, he said. Too many languages on ATM screens could cause confusion or lead to dissatisfaction among Thai customers.

The bank has no plans to expand its loan services to Burmese borrowers because of the low demand and risk factor, Mr Wirawat said.

KBank offers four standard languages at about 7,500 ATMs nationwide: Thai, English, Chinese and Japanese.

Published: 10/08/2010 at 12:00 AM

Thailand must reduce its fees for overseas job placements and improve the language skills of workers, labour authorities have warned.

Labour Minister Chalermchai Sri-on said that Israeli ambassador to Thailand Itzhak Shoham had told him that the job placement fees for Thai workers seeking work in Israel were too high. As a result, Israel was considering reducing its quota for imported Thai labourers.

Mr Chalermchai said other countries shared a similar sentiment and were rejecting Thai workers because they viewed Thai labourers as victims of human trafficking. The high fees they pay to go abroad means Thai workers must work very hard and live in poor conditions to repay the debt incurred by the placement.

Israel had earlier suggested that Thailand send its workers through the International Organisation for Migration to reduce the cost of job placement overseas. The proposal was made a few years ago, but Israel has yet to receive a response from the Thai government.

Mr Chalermchai said his subordinates are studying the proposal, but for now he advises Thai workers to apply for membership with the Israeli labour organisation Histadrut.

Membership in the organisation cuts job placement expenses by 20,000 baht, he said.

Mr Chalermchai said job placement fees for a worker seeking employment in Israel should be 150,000 baht but agencies charge as much as 300,000 baht.

Upgrading the skills of Thai labourers working abroad is another matter that must be addressed, said Samarn Laodamrongchai, a researcher at the Institute of Asian Studies of Chulalongkorn University.

He said that the number of Thai workers leaving for overseas jobs has dropped from over 100,000 per year to 70,000-80,000 due to a lack of improvement in labour and language skills.

He said workers from Vietnam and the Philippines were more competitive in this respect.

Supat Kukhun, deputy director-general of the Employment Department, said that Thais used to be the most prevalent foreign workers in South Korea through the country’s Employment Permit System for foreign workers, but it has since been surpassed by Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Nepal.

He said only one in 10 Thai workers looking for work in South Korea are able to pass language tests. Fewer than 1,000 Vietnamese job seekers passed language tests in the first year of South Korea’s foreign employment system examinations, but today 85% of applicants from that country successfully complete the tests.

Vietnamese and Filipino workers with language skills work in medium-sized businesses in low-risk roles.

Thais work in small businesses and often take on dangerous jobs due to their limited language skills.

Published: 8/08/2010 at 04:32 AM

If not, then why have we refused to give legal migrant workers driving licences - on the grounds that they still pose a threat to national security?

Last week, the provincial authorities in Ranong stopped issuing driving licences to a batch of legal Burmese workers, following a protest from some 200 Ranong motorcyclists who feared that migrant workers would steal their jobs if allowed to drive.

Worse, they might abuse their new privilege and smuggle drugs and illegal workers into the country, said the motorcyclists.

Their concerns are understandable. But isn’t it the job of the police to arrest law breakers? Aren’t drug and human trafficking rings reportedly run by men in uniform, and not by migrant workers?

Also, is it right to comply to a demand which violates a basic human right of another person? Do we not consider the right to movement a basic human right? Or do we simply not see migrant workers as human? What is our real problem?

These workers have fled harsh poverty and persecution in Burma to toil here doing dirty and dangerous work at pitiful wages. Yet we condemn them as unwanted outsiders who burden us with social problems and infectious diseases. We dismiss the fact that it is our government’s support for the atrocious Burmese junta that has forced them to flee their homeland.

And it is our prejudice that makes us blind to their slave-like conditions.

We Thais pride ourselves as free people in a free land. Yet we celebrate confinement, which is part of slavery, for migrant workers. Why is that so?

Since we brand them illegal, which is criminal in our view, we believe the problems from migrant workers and human trafficking will disappear if all Burmese workers have legal entry. So we forcibly deport them to face danger, extortion and complex red tape back in Burma in order to obtain the passports, not to mention the astronomical fees involved. So far, only about 90,000 out of 2-3 million Burmese migrant workers in Thailand have succeeded in obtaining their passports.

Yet, after going through a difficult process, these legal workers are not promised the legal minimum wage nor the right to change employers. They are allowed to work only as labourers and domestic workers and, as before, denied the freedom of movement. With such little benefits, most migrant workers prefer to stay underground and remain exploited while human trafficking rings continue to thrive.

Regarding the Ranong incident, the driving licences for migrant workers are actually private and cannot be used for plying or running taxis or taxi-motorcycles. Also, migrant workers - legal or illegal - cannot travel outside their restricted zones. So a driving licence would only help them to commute within their area without fear of police extortion. Yet, this too is beyond their reach.

No, I am not writing about all this because it is a matter of life and death for migrant workers in Ranong to go buy food on their motorcycles. But it is a matter of life and death for us.

How can we get out of our political abyss and avoid future carnage if we still don’t see the weak and the poor as our equal human beings?

At the core of the social injustice and double standards that are threatening to tear our country apart is this very lack of respect for lawful needs and concerns of the people we view as inferior to ourselves, isn’t it? Migrant workers are at the lowest rung of our big-fish-eat-little-fish world. How we treat them is an indicator of social justice itself.

The May bloodshed may have shocked us into trying to fix structural injustice. But don’t bet on it if we still feel it is okay to treat migrant workers the way we do now. We cannot hope to get closer to a fair society because we do not have in our hearts what it takes to make this happen.

BANGKOK POST COMMENTARY

Published: 5/08/2010 at 12:00 AM

Pa Sam Eth, the police chief in Kien Svay district, said the Sunday raid was triggered after villagers in Prek Eng commune’s Robors Angkanh village reported seeing several girls detained in a building.

“Leaving people like this is an illegal action,” Pa Sam Eth said. “This is an illegal human detention.”

Pa Sam Eth said many of the girls told police they were at least 18 years old. But he said they lacked any proper documentation to prove it.

At the moment, the firm’s owner, a 51-year-old man, has not been charged, Pa Sam Eth said, and police could not say yesterday whether the firm was licensed to train and send workers abroad.

Kien Svay district governor Heng Theam said four people were arrested as part of Sunday’s raid, including the owner.

He suggested that the suspects could be accused of holding an illegal gathering.

“The gathering of crowds like this is illegal because they have not informed the authorities,” Heng Theam said.

Ouk Kimsith, the provincial court prosecutor in Kandal, said the court had yet to charge anyone involved because it was waiting for a police report.
Under the 1995 sub-decree that permits authorised companies to train and send workers abroad, all prospective workers must be at least 18.

Tuesday, 03 August 2010 15:03 Meas Sokchea