By Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Vorasit Satienlerk BANGKOK/SA KAEW Thailand Tue Jun 17, 2014 11:27am BST (Reuters) - Thai officials said on Tuesday that the mass departure of Cambodian labourers would dent the economy as thousands more migrant workers, fearing reprisals from the new military government, poured across the border. Around 170,000 Cambodian workers have headed home in the past week, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), although the exodus is now slowing. Many left after hearing rumours that Thailand's junta was bent on cracking down on illegal migrants. A Cambodian minister said Thailand had sent the workers home without consulting his government. Thai military authorities, he said, would be held responsible for any loss of life. The generals who seized power on May 22 to end six months of political turmoil have promised no action against those working legally in Thailand. But junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha pledged last week to "tighten" laws applied to foreign labourers. "I admit there must be some impact on business, but I don't know to what extent," Sihasak Phuanketkeow, the foreign ministry's permanent secretary, told reporters after assuring Cambodia's ambassador that the military planned no crackdown. The junta blames the departures on "unfounded rumours" of imminent action against illegal workers. Tanit Numnoi, a senior Ministry of Labour official, said workers could return once their papers were in order. But Cambodians heading down the potholed roads to the border in packed buses and trucks were having none of it. Kiew Thi, 38, said it had taken him hours to reach the checkpoint. "I'm going back because I'm afraid soldiers are going to come and get us," he said. Like others, he had been drawn to a job in the Thai fishing industry by monthly wages of 8,000 baht ($250) (147.23 pounds), considerably more than he could earn at home. In Phnom Penh, Cambodian Interior Minister Sar Kheng said the Thai army had consulted no one about sending workers home. "The army has rushed to deport workers who are considered illegal without prior notice or discussion with Cambodia or at least making contact with provinces along the borders," he told a university graduation ceremony. "I think the current Thai army leadership must be held responsible for all the problems that have occurred, including the loss of life." Thai police say six Cambodian workers and a Thai driver were killed last weekend when a pick-up truck overturned on its way to the border. Thirteen people were injured. DOING THE JOBS THAIS DON'T WANT The Thai economy, Southeast Asia's second-largest, is heavily dependent on migrant workers, mostly from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. Migrants cross porous borders to perform jobs most Thais are unwilling to do in labour-intensive sectors. "This will definitely impact the construction industry, particularly along the eastern seaboard of Thailand, a key economic region. It will also affect agriculture as some fruit orchards rely on Cambodian workers," Vallop Vitanakorn, Vice- Chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries, told Reuters. "But I believe once they have their work documents in order most of them will return, perhaps within a month or two." The labour ministry says there are more than 2 million legally registered foreign workers in Thailand. More than half come from neighbouring Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. But Burmese labourers have not joined the rush to the border and rights groups told Reuters they were trying to allay any fears of impending deportation. A national verification programme requires migrants to secure passports at home in order to apply for, or renew, Thai work permits. Thai officials had previously turned a blind eye to many provisions of employment laws. Military authorities now propose policies with nationalist overtones, including the creation of economic zones for migrant workers in border areas in order to free up more jobs for Thais. Sihasak, the foreign affairs ministry's top official, said there could be a positive spin-off from the departures. "This will be a good thing for the country because we can put in order the workforce and make it legal," he said. "We don't want foreign workers to be exploited by their employers." The flow of migrants had eased somewhat over the past 24 hours, according to Brett Dickson, the IOM's team leader in the Cambodian border town of Poi Pet. "There are a lot of Cambodian military trucks picking people up and people are getting out of here within a couple of hours," he said. "The next challenge is helping those who want to return to Thailand in the next few months get proper work documents in order." (Additional reporting by Aukkarapon Niyomyat in Bangkok and Juarawee Kittisilpa in Sa Kaew; Editing by Ron Popeski, Alex Richardson and Ian Geoghegan)
Labour Violations Under Tight Wraps in Thailand
Tuesday, June 11, 2013 - 19:33Inter Press Service MAHACHAI, Thailand, Jun 11 (IPS) - Next time you visit Walmart and throw that packet of frozen shrimp in your shopping cart, pause a moment. The shrimp would most likely have travelled from Thailand, the world’s top exporter of seafood since 2004, where reports of abuse of migrant workers have recently cast an unflattering shadow over the industry. A Jun. 6 briefing report by the Washington-based International Labour Rights Forum highlighted child and worker rights violations at Narong Seafood, one of Thailand’s leading seafood factories and one of Walmart’s top suppliers. Narong Seafood’s principal shrimp processing facility is located in Samut Sakhon or modern Mahachai, a central Thai province that is home to over 6,000 seafood factories. This fishing and factory town at the mouth of the Tha Chin Klong River, which empties into the Gulf of Thailand, also hosts a huge percentage of the estimated 2.5 million migrant workers who underpin much of Thailand’s burgeoning economy. Burmese comprise 82 percent of these migrants, while the rest come mostly from Laos (8.4 percent) and Cambodia (9.5 percent). U Aung Kyaw was among those fleeing military rule, a crumbling economy and a lack of job opportunities in Myanmar (formally Burma). He came to Thailand looking for work in 1998 and soon found himself in Mahachai, working at a seafood factory. It was here that he first experienced labour abuse and vowed not only to educate himself about his rights but also to advocate improved conditions for his fellow workers. One of the few workers willing to speak to the press, U Aung Kyaw heads the Burmese-led Migrant Worker Rights Network (MWRN). He told IPS that smaller processing factories “force workers to work overtime for less pay. The legal minimum wage is 300 baht (roughly 10 dollars) per day and overtime is 56 baht (about two dollars) per hour, but they usually pay 50-100 baht (about 1.5 to three dollars) overall, and no overtime.” “Most workers are confined to the compound in these factories. Often, they are locked up and their documents confiscated to prevent them from escaping.” This is especially true in smaller factories, which handle the shrimp peeling for larger enterprises, where “shifts start at four a.m. and finish late at night,” according to U Aung Kyaw. Thailand's seafood industry employs more than 650,000 people. Its exports totalled 7.3 billion dollars in 2011, with the United States, Japan and Europe importing nearly 70 percent of the country’s seafood. Allegations of worker abuse are nothing new to the sector. One indictment came as recently as May 29 this year, when a report by the London-based Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) entitled ‘Sold to the Sea’ documented the case of 15 Burmese migrant workers who claimed that they were subjected to forced detention, bonded labour and physical abuse while being employed on Thai fishing ships. Another report by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in 2011 titled ‘Trafficking of Fishermen in Thailand’ documented cases of migrant fishermen who were forced to work for years without pay. Meanwhile, labour rights activists who attempt to expose the dark side of this lucrative industry risk severe reprisals from a strong business community anxious to maintain positive international trade relations, and present an untarnished view of the sector to the outside world. Especially in small factories, where individual owners can easily police the workforce, attempts to organise workers, or expose violations, have been met with police crackdowns or attacks by gangs. “We were beaten up and experienced a lot of physical harassment,” said U Aung Kyaw, who began collecting data and reporting abuses to the Labour Rights Promotion Network in Mahachai several years ago, before finally launching MWRN in 2009. Getting workers to speak out is tough because many are undocumented and fear reprisals. Activists recently pilloried the National Verification Programme for charging “extortionist” prices for work permits, pushing many migrant into a kind of bonded servitude. Twenty-seven-year-old Win Sein, hailing from the Tanintharyi Division in southeast Myanmar, was forced to pay his broker 223 dollars when he arrived here seven years ago. To pay off the massive bill, he landed a job at a tuna processing factory in Mahachai. "I'm currently working at Thai Union Frozen Foods in Mahachai,” Win Sein told IPS. Here, a full range of discriminatory practices are on display, including Thai workers receiving two weeks of paid vacation while their Burmese counterparts get no official leave. The fisheries sector is not the only one to have come under fire. A 2012 report by the Finnish research NGO Finnwatch revealed how basic human rights were being grossly violated at the pineapple processing company Natural Fruit, which supplies pineapple concentrate to Refresco, the bottle manufacturer that controls an estimated 20 percent of the European private label soft drink and fruit juice market. Finnwatch reserved a large part of its indictment for Refresco, saying it too is partly responsible for the exploitation of migrant workers. Finnwatch research coordinator Henri Purje said that companies like Refresco, which raked in 1.22 billion euros in revenues in 2010, compromised labour rights in an effort to maintain competitive prices. He told IPS that since labour costs only comprise a tiny percentage of the price of the end product, paying decent wages and abiding by the International Labour Organisation (ILO)'s guidelines will hardly impact the company’s bottom line. The problem, as Purje sees it, “is that the international chains that buy from Thai producers put fairly strict conditions on their suppliers, making it difficult for suppliers to pay minimum wage.” For the moment, Refresco has reportedly stopped sourcing from Natural Fruit, and the company, owned and operated by the brother of Thailand’s Democratic Party Secretary-General Chalermchai Sri-On, has filed a 10-million-dollar lawsuit against the co-author of the Finnwatch report, British migrant specialist Andy Hall, for “criminal defamation.” For the last decade, Hall has exposed systematic abuses of migrant workers in Thailand and has worked closely with foreign consumers and diplomatic missions to develop a strategy of corporate social responsibility that might make life easier for migrant workers. He told IPS he has also been working closely with the Myanmar government, on whose shoulders the responsibility of protecting migrant workers falls. Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s recent visit and meeting with migrant workers in Mahachai has brought renewed hope that things will change.
Concerns over Thai plans to return Burmese asylum seekers
Concerns over Thai plans to return Burmese asylum seekers
Liam Cochrane
Last Updated: Wed, 6 Oct 2010 17:06:00 +1100
Human rights groups have expressed concern over Thailand's plan to repatriate Burmese asylum seekers to Burma after the country's November 7 elections.
Thailand's foreign minister, Kasit Piromya, who made the announcement in New York, says repatriating Burmese asylum seekers is a priority for his government.
"I am going back to Bangkok, and one of the first things I will be doing is to launch a more comprehensive program for the Myanmar (Burmese) people in the camps."
"The displaced persons, the intellectuals that run around the streets of Bangkok and Chiang Mai province, to prepare them to return to Myanmar (Burma) after the elections," he said.
More than 140,000 Burmese asylum seekers live in nine camps spread along the Thai-Burma border.
Most of them have fled conflict, and persecution along ethnic or political lines.
David Mathieson, senior researcher on Burma for Human Rights Watch, says the idea of making those Burmese return is "absurd".
"It's simply not safe for them to go back. Just because Burma's holding elections in November doesn't mean the conditions have changed at all."
Rights groups, as well as the United Nations, have expressed concern about the credibility of the election system, which reserves a quarter of all seats for the army and will take place without the main opposition party.
The National League for Democracy chose to not take part because its leader Aung San Suu Kyi wasn't allowed to be involved and remains under house arrest.
Thailand's foreign minister, Mr Kasit says it is unlikely Burma�s elections will be completely free or fair, but he says it is the first step on the road back to an open and democratic Burma.
"We are going to prepare the Myanmar (Burma) people in Thailand for an eventual return to a new Myanmar (Burma), maybe half-democratic, but I think it is a beginning."
But David Mathieson says the vote next month is merely a mirage of democracy.
"This is one of the negative sides of the Burmese elections, this kind of phoney optimism that people have that the Burmese elections are a serious process - and they're just not."
Despite the comments from Thailand's Foreign Minister, groups involved with refugee resettlement say they have seen no changes to policy about Burmese asylum seekers.
Kitty McKinsey is the spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Asia.
"The UN refugee agency has no reason to believe that the Thai government intends to force refugees to return to Myanmar," she said.
David Mathieson from Human Rights Watch says that while forced repatriation would be frowned upon by the Western world, Thailand has done it recently.
"It's very unlikely they would force refugees back after the elections. However, Thailand did do that over Christmas with the Hmong refugees in the north. They forced them back and there was very little Western countries could do to stop that."
In addition to the asylum seekers in camps on the border, Thailand is also home to an estimated two million Burmese economic migrants, most of them working without proper visas.
Chris Lom, information officer at the International Organisation for Migration, says many of those migrants need the Burmese economy to strengthen and provide them with the chance of work.
"For the vast majority of those two million irregular migrants here, and also registered migrants working here in Thailand, they are here for economic reasons," he said.
"But there are very large numbers of people from Myanmar (Burma) who would go back if the economic situation allowed them to and they could find jobs there."
Thailand's Foreign Minister, Kasit Piromya, says the elections in Burma next month will be a test, not just of Burma but also of the regional bloc, ASEAN.
"The credibility of the election is not only on the credibility and respectability for Myanmar (Burma) but for ASEAN as a whole. It's our credibility and respectability and also on the notion of ASEAN centrality to the whole Asia Pacific."
Harming the Young: Sexually Abused Children in Burma and the Migrant Communities of Thailand
Harming the Young: Sexually Abused Children in Burma and the Migrant Communities of Thailand
October 3, 2009
WCRP:
Introduction
Burma’s military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) is notorious for its oppression of the democratic opposition led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and for human rights violations against ethnic nationalities who participate in liberation movements. In response to these violations and constant suppression, citizens are continually fleeing Burma.
There are over 1 million Burmese migrants working illegally and unsafely in Thailand1. Nearly 140,0002 refugees from assorted Burmese ethnic groups are seeking shelter in Thailand’s refugee camps and over 500,0003 people are displaced on Burma’s eastern border.
The following report details the many ways in which children, living in Burma or in migrant communities, are sexually harassed and abused due to the unstable environment created by the SPDC.
Background (Conflict and migration)
In Burma, armed conflict has occurred throughout Shan State, Kayeh (Karenni State), Karen State, Mon State and Tenasserism Division, where millions of members of ethnic minorities are living. The SPDC has named these conflict zones ‘Black Areas’, denoting their “unsecured” nature. The SPDC subsequently uses this to justify the numerous human rights violations it commits in the areas.
Your browser may not support display of this image. In Mon State since 2000, the SPDC has deployed over 20 military battalions. Additionally, they have implemented a population transfer project under which Burman workers are relocated Mon areas to replace Mon workers who have migrated to Thailand. Many retired SPDC personnel have been allowed to stay in Mon villages, and have been given ‘authority’ by local Burmese army commanders. In many cases, these retired Burmese soldiers and Burman migrant workers sexually harass and beat children.rmese migrant workers at a seafood production factory in Mahachai
Burmese migrant workers at a seafood production factory in MahachaiFacing widespread human rights violations, conflict, economic hardship and taxation, many Mon and other ethnic minorities decide to flee illegally to Thailand for better incomes and new jobs. In order to avoid police, they travel through jungles, rivers, and mountains.
Regularly children are withdrawn from school and the entire family migrates in search of new jobs. Of the thousands of migrant workers that move daily into Thailand, an uncountable number are children. Since the general population in Burma is unaware of any laws condemning ‘child labor’ or that the Burmese government has signed the Convention on the Rights of Children (CRC), children also migrate to Thailand for work.
It is very difficult for migrants to obtain legal status, and the majority work illegally in unsafe conditions in Thailand. Female migrants face additional difficulties, as they cannot always find work and many of them have to rely on their husbands, fathers and male friends for survival. Most female migrants stay in narrow rooms, in rented houses that are not secure. Because of these unsafe conditions, females living in the migrant communities of Thailand are often raped or sexually harassed by neighbors, Thai police or gangs.
Some Thai and international NGOs have helped workers in Thai migrant communities prevent sexual violence and abuse. However, because the migrant communities are so large, it is difficult to prevent harassment in every location.
Children are particularly vulnerable in Southern Burma
Conflict Zones or ‘Black Areas’
Armed conflict is fairly constant in Southern Burma. The New Mon State Party (NMSP), the largest Mon ethnic political group, agreed to a ceasefire with the SPDC in 1995, although several Mon splinter groups continue to fight with the SPDC creating conflict zones with in Mon State. Similarly, the SPDC, by collaborating with Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), a Karen ceasefire group, has launched a military offensive against the main Karen rebel group, Karen National Union (KNU). The offensive has created several conflict zones within Karen state. ‘Black areas’ also litter parts of Tenesserim division, within which the SPDC regularly fights with Mon and other ethnic minority groups.
The SPDC is constantly active in Ye Township in Mon State and in Yebyu Township in Tenesserim Division. When the SPDC launches military offensives in these conflict zones, the villagers endure various violations. Children are often sexually assaulted and or beaten, while men and women are taken as porters, or accused of being rebel supporters and killed.
Your browser may not support display of this image. An example, taken from a report made by the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), is detailed below:
Burmese Army troops in northern Tenesserim Division forced all residents of Amae village (Mae Taw village in Burmese) to abandon their homes and plantations in November. On the same day, the troops raped a 17-year-old girl and severely beat a young man.
Captain Pan Zar and 80 troops from Infantry Battalion (IB) No.107 entered the village on November 11, 2008. After accusing the residents of supporting an armed Mon rebel group in the area, the troops ordered the villagers to relocate. Each household was also ordered to pay the soldiers 50,000 kyat, and the residents were prohibited from visiting farms and plantations in the area.
The villagers were given virtually no time to prepare for their departure. sources said they left the next day, bringing only what they could carry and leaving behind the majority of their belongings, as well the timber and other valuable construction materials in their homes.
The soldiers assaulted at least one villager as they ordered the villagers to relocate. “One young man from the village asked the captain, ‘if you do like this, where will we go to live?’ said an eyewitness from Amae. “The captain replied, ‘you can go and live anywhere, but not in this area. After that he grabbed the young man and hit him in the head with the butt of his rifle. Once the young man had fallen down, the captain hit the young man’s leg and it broke.”
According to another source, soldiers also raped a 17-year-old girl as she worked on a betel-nut plantation nearby. The resident, who spoke with the victim’s mother and then quoted her to HURFOM, said that she was crying as time she told the story. “My daughter is only 17-years-old. She was raped by 7 soldiers,” the source quoted the mother. “Those soldiers are not humans. They are like animals. They are the same as evil, both the captain and his soldiers. My daughter nearly died, and now she has tried to kill herself many times.”
The 60 households found themselves in extra-ordinarily difficult circumstances. “Now we are in a very bad situation because we could not take much food or household things. And we have not much money. We also have to find land to live on and all new materials for building a home. It is so expensive we cannot afford it,” said a former resident. “Now I am staying at my friend’s house, but I cannot stay there for a long time. I have to find a way to solve the roblem – I want to migrate to Thailand to find a job, but I have no money even for transportation. My wife, my two sons and I have no idea where we will go.”
This is only one of many stories from Tenasserim Division, although many Mon families have suffered. Mon and Karen human rights workers cannot travel freely to several parts of Southern Burma, and as a result the majority of sexual assaults remain largely undocumented.
Non-Conflict Zones in Mon State
An increasing number of children in Mon areas have been sexually harassed, following the increased deployment of Burmese Army battalions in Mon State, part of the Army’s implementation of the ‘population transfer project’.
Your browser may not support display of this image. Hundreds of Burmans from Central Burma, (Pegu and Rangoon Divisions) have migrated to Mon State seeking jobs, as workers in Mon state are paid better than workers in other parts of Burma. A day can earn 1,500 kyat per day in Central Burma, while they could earn 3,000 to 3,500 kyat per day in a non-conflict zone in Mon state.
Migrant workers are employed at a variety of locations in Mon State; rice paddy fields, rubber and orchard plantations, transportation jobs, brick-making factories, etc. They also live on the rice paddy fields, plantations and in the forests near the villages. Several reports have been made about migrant workers stealing from or harming local Mon State villagers. Because of such activities, children are not safe in their homes, while traveling to the rice paddy fields, while working or living on the plantations, or at the factories.
Below is an example from Kya Inn Seikyi Township in Karen State:
In November 2008, a 15-year-old girl was raped and savagely murdered by a Burman man. A 47-year-old eyewitness from Innk Gwa village, Kyar Inn Seik Kyi Township explained the event.
The girl was from Pakapaw village, Kyar Inn Seik Kyi Township, also known as Moulmein district in the New Mon State Party Controlled Area. The girl worked as a beef seller, and on the day she was killed, had gone to her uncle’s village to sell beef. At 4:00 pm after the shop was closed, her uncle sent her back to her village before returning home himself.
On the return trip she was raped by a 33-year-old Burman man. After raping her, he killed her by striking her on the head with a machete. According to the eyewitness, “I saw him throw her dead body into a field at a farm which is very close to the village. I think it happened around 5 or 6 pm. I ran and collected some farmers who were working around there and we arrested him and brought him to the New Mon State Party (NMSP) Moulmein district headquarters.” The crime of rape and murder will most likely result in an extended jail sentence, though the length of a possible sentence could not be confirmed.
“We feel sorry for the Burman people and offer them jobs and allow them to live in our village. Sadly, a girl in our village was raped and brutally killed by a Burman man. Before, our village was a very peaceful place. But now as more Burman people have moved in, we have been cheated, had our motorbikes stolen, faced outright hostility, and now one of us has been killed” a source reported, who had recently spoken to a villager from the area.
He added, “Most of the migrant workers are from upper Burma and are working here or in other villages in the area.” He surmised, “There are approximately 1,000 Burman people in our village, and have increased in population this year”.
The source also reported a villager saying “Most of our villagers migrated to Thailand and left their farms and homes. We have a shortage of workers and therefore we must use the migrant workers who arrive from upper Burma looking for work.
In some cases, even though the village headmen inform the commanders of local military battalions of criminal conduct and abuses, their complaints are not taken seriously, and detained culprits are not arrested or prosecuted.
In some areas, Burmese battalion commanders appoint Burman migrant workers as village headmen, or as heads of local militia forces. Community leaders then lose their authority and control of the villagers.
Sexual harassment in Mon migrant workers’ communities
Domestic Violence
In Thailand, migrant workers have very restricted accommodations and of them live in fear because they do not have work-permit cards. When an entire family migrates to Thailand, they usually live in very narrow houses or rooms. There is no separate space or private areas in these living situations. Father, mother and children all share the same space. In such circumstances, girls often face sexual harassment from male relatives.
In the example below a father repeatedly attempts to rape his 14-year-old daughter:
On December 28th 2008, a 14-year-old girl, Ma K—T—W—, was raped by her father in Mahachai, Samut Sakhon Province, Thailand.
Your browser may not support display of this image.
The girl, a Burmese migrant teenager, was raped in December while her mother was in the hospital. According to a neighbor, “Her father tried to rape her many times until he succeeded while his wife was in the hospital. After she had been raped, she dared not to tell her mother and was also afraid of being raped again; she ran away from home with the help of a Thai man.”
The girl’s mother called her and asked her to return home. She also asked why she ran away with the Thai man. The girl told her mother the reasons and explained that she was afraid to be home alone. Her mother then sent her to a village in Mon State.
A few months later she returned to Thailand to help her sick mother. One day, her mother went to a celebration with relatives and left her in the house. At around 3:00 p.m., after the girl had finished taking a bath, her drunken father tried again to rape her.
The girl escaped and immediately phoned her aunt and asked for her mother to come back home. Her mother knew the reason and though she wanted to complain to her husband, she was afraid of being beaten and dared not to inform Thai police.
Your browser may not support display of this image. Her concerned neighbors, however, informed the Labor Right Promotion Network (LPN) and asked to have him arrested.
According to a source close to the victim, “Her mother doesn’t want to put her husband in jail because she is sick and relies on him. She couldn’t survive without his help, though he committed rape many times and needs to be punished. Therefore, LPN board members are not permitted to set him free.”
In some situations, because of financial and tradition circumstances wives do not challenge their husbands actions.
Gang rape
Migrant communities in Thailand are not properly protected and many families fear the local authorities. To avoid precarious situations, migrants usually stay in their rented rooms until leaving for work. Local gangs are aware that the migrant communities are not properly protected, and their members often exploit defenseless migrant families.
In the instance below, gang members in Bangkok pretended to be Thai police officers and raped a young girl:
A 12-year-old Burmese migrant child was gang raped by 5 Thai men posing as police in Minburi Sub-district, Bangkok.
Early in the morning, at around 2 a.m. on May 2nd, a group of 5 men came to the apartment where a Burmese migrant family was living. Pretending they were Thai policemen coming to check their work permit cards, they ordered the workers to open the door. Upon entering they half-heartedly checked work permit cards, ignoring some of the residents, and proceeded to search each room.
According to the aunt who was living with the child, “They captured the two children by showing us their guns and they stole a mobile phone which cost around 5,000baht as well as another 25,000baht in cash.” The girl who is from Ye township, works with her aunt at a construction site in Minburi, while her mother works farther away in Bangkok.
The men then drove away with the two children and after a few minutes stopped their car near a banana farm. One man held the 18-year-old boy at gunpoint while the others took the girl out beside the road. According to the 18-year-old boy, each of the men then raped the young girl.
“During the rape she nearly lost consciousness because of the pain. After they raped her, they left both children on the side of the road with 100baht to get a ride back home. The girl was so terrified she couldn’t speak,” said the victim’s aunt.
Lost and unable to get back home, the children proceeded to walk along the road. Back home the aunt had prepared a search party to sweep the neighborhood, and luckily found the two children at about 6am.
The 5 men were not immediately followed for fear an encounter would bring additional violence. The Burmese workers were also worried about being arrested as some of them did not posses a work permit card.
Additionally the victim’s mother didn’t want to contact the police about the case because, as a migrant worker, if the police needed to question her about the incident, she would have to go to the police station. Leaving work and missing that time could result in the loss of her job.
The migrant family did inform their employer about the incident, but he took no action other than to send the child to the hospital for a medical check. The employer never contacted the police for fear the 5 men might have actually been police officers. He was concerned that if they were real police the men would make problems for him and his business, as well as the potential loss of face over the incident.
However the doctor who preformed the medical examination informed the employer that in fact the rape of the 12-year-old was not a small issue, and because of its significance the police should be contacted
When workers from Burma migrate to Thailand, they do not want to leave their children alone with other villagers. In some cases parents have withdrawn their kids from schools so that the families can migrate together. When they arrive in Thailand, the children are not able to attend school and are too young to work in factories. Therefore, children have to stay alone in the apartments, rental houses or play grounds. Children in these situations are extremely vulnerable to attacks, sexual harassment, or exploitation by traffickers.
Sexual assaults by employers
In Thailand, many migrant women are sexually abused or raped by their employers. They rarely report the abuses, and as a result sexual harassment is on the rise among female Burmese migrants in Thailand.
In some cases, when the Thai wives are absent from their homes, the domestic workers are repeatedly raped and harassed by the Thai husbands. In some instances wives allow their husbands to harass the domestic worker; some Thai wives believe that it is normal for a Thai man to have a minor wife.
It is dangerous for under-aged girls to be domestic workers. Below is an instance of a Thai man sexually assaulting a young girl:
On July 7th, 2008, a 16-year-old Mon woman working in Zin Song Bun village, Om Noi Su-district, Krathum Bean district, Samut Sakhon Province, Thailand was abused and sexual harassed by her employer, during a routine massage.
Mi Win, worked as a house keeper and was also in charge of taking care of a 60-year-old patient. The patient suffered from a number of ailments and could no longer walk. Part of her duty included daily massages, and moving him from his bed to his wheelchair. She was required to follow him should he need assistance.
According to Mi Win, “He had touched my breasts and hugged me three or four times before. This was the fourth time he tried to sexually abuse me during 10 months of working there. I was so afraid I quit my job.”
She went on, “I am not only taking care of the patient, I also have to work from 6 am until well after dark. I have to do a lot of house work including sweeping, washing clothes, and I have to bathe their dogs three times a week. It is a lot of work for 3,000 baht and I was exhausted every day. However, I had to deal with it to support my poor family in Burma.”
Mi Win comes from Karen State, Ha-An Township and has been working as a house keeper in Thailand for about a year and a half.
Many female migrants are stuck in domestic work and encounter sexual harassment. Often times they have little to no contact with their friends and do not know how to flee. Additionally, many of them do not leave their employers houses, do not have work-permits, and are afraid of losing their jobs or being arrested by the police.
Childhood sexual abuse on the Thai-Burma border and in Burma’s rural communities
Instances of sexual abuse with in Burma are hard to document because of the controlled press, the limited number of organizations specializing on children’s rights and cultural boundaries that frequently restrict and confuse abused children. In interviews with NGOs on the border, WCRP gathered important information about ongoing childhood abuse and victims’ recovery processes.
The approach and abuse
In most refugee camps and border villages, refugees and villagers’ shelters are narrow and provide little or no safety for the female population. Commonly, while parents head to work children are left at home alone, or with relatives. Because of the lack of safety and parental supervision, social and relief workers in border areas have noticed an increase of sexually abused children.
A Mon woman community leader, from Three Pagodas Pass explained:
Your browser may not support display of this image. “I often heard about the sexual harassment toward girls in the villages. Most of the girls are parentless. Their parents left to go to Thailand and they stay with relatives, sometimes with elderly grandpas and grandmas. The men who tried to rape them firstly bought some food or came to the door and pretended to be the child’s parent. Then, they have an opportunity, and they rape them.
“Many children never… speak out about what has happened to them after being sexually harassed. Like the new leaves on a tree are destroyed, the children seriously suffer ‘mental stresses’. They are afraid to meet with people or to stay alone and the avoid staying near men.”
Sexual abuse is not always blatant; often in border communities neighbors or family members are the predators.
In the following example a little girl is raped by her neighbor:
In January 2008, on the Burmese side of the Thai-Burma border town, Three Pagodas Pass, a 4-year-old Burman girl was raped by her neighbor, a 30-year-old Burman.
The victim lived with her mother in a small rented house. Everyday the girl biked home from nursery school and waited for her mother to return from the factory. While waiting, the child would often play at the neighbor man’s house.
By promising a toy, the neighbor man lured the waiting girl to a secluded shaded area behind his house. There he held the child on his lap and raped her. After the man released the girl, she returned home to wait for her mother.
The mother was completely unaware of the assault.
2 days later the mother overheard her child crying during urination. She immediately examined her daughter’s vagina and noticed severe injuries. The girl then explained that the neighbor man “put his stick” inside her.
They immediately went to the free hospital in Paline Japan where a medic contacted Stop Violence Against Women Program (VAW).
VAW took the child and mother to Kwai River Christian Hospital in Sangkhlaburi and paid for their transportation, food and medical cost. There a doctor confirmed that a man had penetrated the young girl and tested for dieses.
Burmese township authority arrested the man and he was tried at a court in Three Pagodas Pass Town. It has not been confirmed whether or not he was sentenced to jail time.
Abused children need to learn how to identify perpetrators. If girls are harassed by their fathers, step-fathers or a man from the neighboring house, they have few opportunities to relate their stories or receive help.
Because it is difficult for migrants and people living in border communities to collect evidence and prove a rape, offenders often go free and continue to abuse children.
While rape is a common form of child abuse, sexual assault can have many forms which parents and community members should be aware of. The child rights coordinator from Human Rights Education Institute of Burma gave WCRP a few examples of sexual abuses they have documented:
· Children are threatened or lured away from the community and raped.
· Inappropriate but non-violent touching
· Photographing naked children.
· Watching pornography with children.
Parents, community leaders, religious leaders, villagers and teachers need to be extensively educated about sexual abuse. Additionally, school teachers must understand the nature of sexual abuse, so they can explain, warn, and protect their students.
Mental and physical suffering
Children, especially girls, that are sexually abused suffer from severe mental and physical problems. Rarely are there organizations within Burma equipped to handle these post-trauma problems. The director of Social Action for Women (SAW), an organization that provides protection for children, explained to WCRP;
“Most sexually abused children suffer mental problems. Soon after the harassment happens, we have found that they suffered from ‘fear’. They felt so afraid of men and would not like to stand in front of a group of people. They felt there is a black spot (unlucky turn) in their lives.”
Children who are sexually harassed are commonly too terrified to tell their parents. They are afraid of their parents’ punishments and accusations of carelessness. In some cases girls are unknowingly pregnant.
According to a field coordinator from the Labor Rights Promotion Network (LPN) “after a child is sexually abused they feel helpless, frightened and extremely insecure.” He added “The number of child rape cases are increasing in migrant areas and the assailant is usually a family neighborhood character.”
If NGOs knew a child was being harassed then they could protect the child from the predator. Mental suffering is a long-term issue and communities need to have recovery or rehabilitation centers to treat the children’s mental and physical ailments.
Physically, children can be infected with sexually transmitted diseases, specifically HIV/AIDS, and endure strenuous injuries. Child protection NGOs and healthcare workers examine injuries, test for diseases, provide medical assistance and safe houses in some areas. Most children who are saved by NGOs or other authorities need immediate medical and physical treatment or rehabilitation. Unfortunately, it is difficult for children in the migrant communities of Thailand and almost impossible for children in Southern parts of Burma to contact NGOs, and consequently most sexual assaults go untreated.
Conclusion and suggestions for future protection of children
If abuse from the SPDC continues, and unsafe living conditions persist in the migrant communities of Thailand and Southern Burma, then children will continue to suffer.
Within migrant communities, the Thai authority should be creating a safe environment and an atmosphere of security rather than one of fear. At the same time, the SPDC should be protecting the rights of children, promoting these rights, and adhering to the CRC. Currently the regime constantly violates the convention, and no one holds them accountable.
Until the SPDC changes its actions, or an international force holds them responsible for the uncountable human rights violations it commits, children in Southern parts of Burma will continue to be raped and assaulted.
1 Human Rights Foundation of Monland; Without a Choice: Increased economic migration from Mon State to Thailand, September 2008
2 Thai-Burma Border Consortium
3 Thai-Burma Border Consortium
Written by HURFOM · Filed Under Monthly Report
Thailand to Register 400,000 Foreign Workers
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=15423
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By LAWI WENG Wednesday, April 1, 2009
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The Thai Labor Ministry will register 400,000 foreign migrant workers to compete in the labor market, mostly in low-paying jobs shunned by Thai nationals.
Jackie Pollock, a founding member of the Chiang Mai-based Migrant Assistance Program, said “It is good for the Thai government to recognize the need of migrants. But they also need to stop the current crackdown and deportation of illegal migrants.”
The Thai Labor Ministry will register 400,000 new foreign workers, granting them permission to work legally in the kingdom, according to a ministry announcement on Tuesday.
Employment department director general Pichai Ekpithakdamrong was quoted by The Nation newspaper, saying: "We have decided to push for the registration of more alien workers because we have found that Thais are not interested in working in the fishery, construction and cold-storage sectors,"
According to the Thai Labor Solidarity Committee (TLSC), based in Mahachai in Samut Sakhon Province, most migrants work in the so-called "three Ds," in the "dirty, dangerous or degrading” sectors of the job market.
The group said there is a need for about 150,000 workers in Samut Sakhon Province, a center for the fishery industry.
“Thai workers don’t want to do the ‘three Ds’ because the work is unhealthy. But it is a good opportunity for Burmese migrants,” said a TLSC member.
Thailand is believed to have nearly 4 million migrant workers. About 500,000 are legally registered.
Most foreign workers live in highly concentrated areas like Mae Sot on the Thailand-Burma border, a center of the Thai garment industry, and Samut Sakhon, a hub for the labor-intensive seafood processing industry, located southwest of Bangkok.
According to the Labor Rights Protection Network, based in Mahachai, there are 200,000 Burmese migrants in Mahachai; an estimated 70,000 workers are legally registered while others are working illegally in hope of qualify for worker permits.
Recently, the global economic crisis in Thailand has forced many Burmese migrants to return to Burma because they can’t find work. The labor ministry estimated 2 million Thai workers are currently unemployed.
The Thai government earlier this year announced it would not offer illegal migrants a chance to register for legal status this year and have increased crackdowns and deportation. About 400 illegal migrants were arrested in Bangkok this week.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
Two migrants released from Thai ship after 25 months of work without pay, abuse
http://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/2009/03/10/two-migrants-released-from-thai-ship-after-25-months-of-work-without-pay-abuse/
2009 March 10
tags: Burma, Human Rights, Junta, migrants, Thailand, Thugs and Thieves, world focus on Burmaby peacerunningTue 10 Mar 2009, Ruby Mon,IMNA
Two migrant workers have been released after working for 25 months without pay on a fishing boat operated by a Thai company. The two men were rescued by migrant labor rights organizations in Songkhla, Thailand, as they waited for repairs to be made to their ship.
On March 4th the two workers were sent to a karaoke shop in Songkhla with 4 other Thai crewmembers. Though they had not been paid in 25 months, the Burmese workers made no attempt to escape because they did not speak Thai and had no idea where to go. Both workers are from upper Burma, and had made their way to find work in Thailand via a broker after they struggled to find agricultural jobs at home.
One of the Thai crewmembers, however, notified a migrant labor rights non-governmental organization (NGO) in the area, which notified the Thai navy. The NGO source requested that details of the organization be withheld for security reasons.
According to a source in the NGO, later that day representatives of two migrant labor rights NGOs and Thai Navy arrived and detained the fishermen.
One of the workers, who spoke with IMNA via phone, described 25 months of mistreatment, and no pay. “During the time we were working on the fishing boat for 25 months, if the workers did not catch fish they could not eat,” said the worker, age 19. “If you did not do a good job for your work, you would be beaten with a plastic shovel until blood would come out from your skin. And they never paid us anything.”
Though neither worker posses a work permit or immigration papers of any kind, they were both released by the Thai navy. According to a source at the NGO involved in securing their release, they have since found paid construction work.
The Thai fishermen were also left without pay, and though 3 have returned to sea on other boats the NGO source said that they are suing the fishing company for their back pay.
IMNA could not confirm, however, whether there were any repercussions for the owner of the ship or its captain. The ship, known as the Pohn Pai San #44, is owned by the chairman of a major area fisheries business organization.
from → Burma
Over 2 million workers anticipated to be laid off in Thailand
http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2503:over-2-million-workers-anticipated-to-be-laid-off-in-thailand&catid=87:human-rights&Itemid=285
Monday, 09 March 2009 18:19 Hseng Khio Fah Human Rights
According to the Social Security of Thailand, over 2 million workers would be laid off in 2009; most of them migrant workers, said Wilaiwan Sae Tia, Chairwoman of the Thai Labor Solidarity Committee, when she was invited to the 8th Annual Women’s Exchange Get-Together which was held at an undisclosed location on the Thai-Burma border from 5-9 of March 2009.
Wilaiwan Sae Tia
According to the Social Security of Thailand, over 2 million workers would be laid off in 2009; most of them migrant workers, said Wilaiwan Sae Tia, Chairwoman of the Thai Labor Solidarity Committee, when she was invited to the 8th Annual Women’s Exchange Get-Together which was held at an undisclosed location on the Thai-Burma border from 5-9 of March 2009.
Among those workers to be laid off would be workers from electronics, shoe and furniture factories, transportation, and tourism including graduated people.
Most of them would be migrant workers because they don’t have work permits, she said. “Currently, more migrant workers have been laid off than Thai workers.”
Last week, there were over 40 migrant workers from Chiangmai returning to their homeland due to lack of work, difficulty to survive and fear of police arrest.
Many migrant factory workers from Burma are feeling the effects of Thailand’s economic slowdown, Independent Mon News Agency (IMNA) reported yesterday.
In 2008, 93,275 workers had been laid off and this early year, 66, 776 more had been laid off.
However, Thai labor could be impacted as well if Thailand’s economy gets worse because some business owners could move their factories or their businesses to border towns like Maesod and Maesai in order to get cheap labor, she added.
“Most business owners don’t want to hire Thai labor because they are entitled to ask compensation under the law. They will only hire migrant labor so they don’t’ need to pay compensation.”
There are at least 2 million legal and illegal migrant workers in Thailand. But there is no law to protect those migrant workers.
In May, 2008, the Thai Labor Solidarity Committee sent a letter to the Thai government to pass a law for all migrants to have equal rights, to be safe in workplace and to allow them freedom of assembly.
Debbie Stothard from Altsean (Alternative Asean) also commented that if Thailand’s economy is to recover, they will need workers immediately, especially cheap labor.
“If the Thai government deports all migrant workers back to Burma, they may try to go to other countries because they have to survive,” said Jackie Pollock, Coordinator of the Migrant Assistance Program (MAP) “Deportation will only make it difficult for Thailand to get workers.”
Bangkok-based Labour Rights Promotion Network says the migrants are devoid of safe places to sleep through fear they may get arrested by Thai police
http://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/2009/03/04/bangkok-based-labour-rights-promotion-network-says-the-migrants-are-devoid-of-safe-places-to-sleep-through-fear-they-may-get-arrested-by-thai-police-when-they-go-back-to-their-houses/
Bangkok-based Labour Rights Promotion Network says the migrants are devoid of safe places to sleep through fear they may get arrested by Thai police when they go back to their houses.
2009 March 4
tags: Asean, Burma, Human Rights, Junta, migrants, world focus on Burmaby peacerunningMigrants fear for safety following crackdown
Mar 4, 2009 (DVB)–Burmese migrants in Thailand report being concerned for their safety following Thai authorities’ intense crackdowns on migrants over the past two weeks, according to a migrant activist group in Thailand.
Bangkok-based Labour Rights Promotion Network says the migrants are devoid of safe places to sleep through fear they may get arrested by Thai police when they go back to their houses.
LPN also claim the Thai police officers were not following legal procedures in dealing with the detained migrants and were releasing those who agreed to pay bribes.
“There is no proper deportation procedure for the migrants who get arrested,” said research coordinator at LPN, Ko Ko Aung.
Khun Patina, deputy director of LPN, said that most of the migrants were arrested from factories they were working in and freed in exchange for money.
“But then, they were left with no money at all after paying all the bribes,” she added.
Ko Ko Aung also alleged that the recent activity by the Thai authorities was due to remarks made by the Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva that the illegal immigrant issue is a threat to national security.
He added that some female migrants carrying their newborn babies were facing difficulties keeping their children safe from harmful diseases when they went into hiding in mosquito and insect-infested scrublands.
“This is a very dangerous situation for those babies,” he said http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=2284
from → Burma
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Thailand considering social security for foreign workers
http://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/thailand-considering-social-security-for-foreign-workers/
2009 March 2
tags: Burma, Human Rights, Junta, migrants, world focus on Burmaby peacerunningBANGKOK, March 2 (TNA) - The Cabinet is expected to consider recommendations to extend social security benefits to registered foreign workers in May, Minister of Labour Phaithoon Kaeothong said on Monday, noting that at present the privilege is given by the government and enjoyed only by Thai workers.
Mr. Phaithoon will invite labour officials nationwide to meet later this month to compile the numbers of foreign workers in their provinces so that welfare can be extended to registered workers.
If privileges are offered to foreign workers in the same manner as Thai workers, Mr. Phaithoon said, he believed crimes committed by alien workers against their Thai employers as well as diseases brought by them into the country would be reduced.
Unofficial statistics estimate that there are between one to two million foreign workers in Thailand, with only about 500,000 officially registered. The balance are illegal.
Surveys indicating the number of foreign workers are to be carried out nationwide, Mr. Phaitoon said, after which solutions to problems will be discussed in April with recommendations expected to be sent to the Cabinet in May for approval.
The recommendations, if Cabinet-approved, will become law automatically. (TNA)
http://enews.mcot.net/view.php?id=8850
Agency lists migrant worker abuse, calls for "humane" govt oversight
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/03/02/national/national_30096908.php
By Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Nation
Published on March 2, 2009
A migrants' support agency has reported allegations of official mistreatment of migrant workers in Thailand ranging from payments to police in return for their release from custody, constant "humiliating" police harassment, to the rape of women detainees by Thai Army Rangers.
The 234-page-report was prepared by the Mekong Migration Network and released at a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Bangkok last week.
It focused on the issue of arrest, detention, deportation, return and reintegration of migrants in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).
The report described how arrests of migrant workers in Thailand can happen at any time, day or night. Migrant workers constantly run the risk of arrest while at home, in their workplace, during their leisure time or while visiting places of worship.
Even at temples, migrants were not free from arrest. During October 2006, in Chiang Mai several hundred were detained by police while attending temples to celebrate the end of Lent, the report said.
Local Thais expressed their displeasure through a local website, saying immigration official should respect the sanctity of temples and not make arrests during religious ceremonies.
One Cambodian migrant fisherman in Rayong province told researchers most arrests of fishermen began around midnight, as officials believed they would not create so much commotion if undertaken at night.
However, the majority of migrants reported being offered the opportunity to pay for their release following an arrest, usually before they were taken to the police station.
The amount they were asked to pay varied between Bt200 and Bt5,000, with an average of around Bt1,000.
In some cases women had their hair cut by police. Migrants reported cases of immigration officers in Tak province's Mae Sot district cutting women's hair and shaving men's heads, saying the migrants would then be recognised if they tried to return to Thailand after being deported.
For Burmese women whose long hair is part of their cultural make-up, having it cut in such an undignified manner is extremely humiliating.
Full body searches of migrant women during arrest in isolated areas by male officials is clearly inappropriate and open to abuse, the report said.
It said women migrants in isolated border areas remained particularly vulnerable to abuse. In Mae Sot young women had complained the body searches were physically intrusive and abusive. In 1999, a group of women from Burma were abused similarly in a small hut in the same province.
On 12 July 1999, a group of 50 illegal migrant workers from Burma were being deported near Ban Lan village, west of Chiang Mai's Phang district. The migrants were put under the care of the Thai Army Rangers at Ban Lan.
The officer in charge separated 11 women from the group, and then ordered his men to take the rest of the migrants to the Nong Tao border point nearby. The report charges he took the women one by one into his room and physically molested each one, raping two of them.
Migrants registered with the authorities and holding a valid migrant workers' card are required to carry this card with them at all times. The migrant workers' card confers limited legal rights. While Thai citizens are fined for not carrying their national ID card, migrants lose their legal status in Thailand if they are caught without their card, leading directly to their arrest, detention and deportation.
The migrant workers' card is only valid as an immigration document when the arresting authority can verify the migrant works for the employer named on the card, and in the type of work and geographic area designated on the card.
In order to combat human rights violations experienced by migrants, the Mekong Migration Network's chairperson, Jackie Pollock urged the Thai government and others in the Greater Mekong Subregion to eliminate situations which can lead to abusive and exploitative working conditions and leave migrants vulnerable to arrest, detention and deportation.
She asked authorities to reform the procedures to ensure migrant workers treatment is humane, transparent and subject to legal oversight.
This report was a third edition in the series Migration in the Greater Mekong Subregion : Resource Book (1st edition published in 2002; 2nd edition in 2005) and is in response to rapidly changing issues relating to migration in the subregion, including changes to legislation and policy relating to migration.
In Thailand, the number of unregistered migrants from Burma, Cambodia and Laos is not known, but the estimate suggests that at any one time there are between 800,000 and 1.2 million unregistered migrants present in Thailand.
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