Migrant Workers in Thailand2002

2002 Timeline of Events for Burmese Migrants in Thailand
January
l On 2 January, Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai reported plans for Thailand and Burma to establish a task force aimed at repatriating illegal workers back to Burma. The task force scheduled a meeting at the end of February or in early March to decide what should be done about the approximately 100,000 Burmese workers who had not yet registered with Thai authorities. In the meantime, some of the workers would continue to be held in a holding centre on Burma’s side of the border in Myawaddy, across the border from Thailand’s Tak province. The Thai Foreign Minister reported that both countries would be responsible for managing repatriation of illegal workers. Paisarn Preutiporn, secretary-general of the Office of the Administrative Commission on Irregular Immigrant Workers, noted that the Thai government plans to ask the SPDC to arrange two more sites in addition to Myawaddy: Phaya Thongsu town opposite Kanchanaburi, and Kawthaung (Victoria Point) opposite Ranong, to process illegal migrant being repatriated. The secretary-general also stated that immigrant workers found to be suffering from tuberculosis, leprosy, elephantiasis, syphilis, alcoholism or mental illness will not have their work permits renewed. (Source: News Summary/ Burma Issues)
l On 26 January the bodies of 14 Karen migrant workers were found with their throats cut near the border with Burma in Mae Ramat district, Tak province. The bodies of seven men and seven women aged 14-45 were found floating near the banks of Huay Mae Lamao stream in tambon Mae Jarao. An autopsy found they were murdered more than 10 days ago, some from stab wounds to the body. The killer cut their throats later. On 28th January two more bodies were found, and Thai police the next day reported that the death toll had risen to 20 after four more bodies were pulled from the Moei river blindfolded with their hands and feet bound, their throats cut and beyond recognition. Police stated that they suspected the murders were connected to either conflicts in the drug trade or human smuggling. However, Thongmuan Sitthikaew, head of Wang Pha village in the district, said the recent victims were illegal workers. He believed they might have been killed by a local employer who did not want to pay them wages. (News Summary/Burma Issues)
February
l On 1 February following a visit to Rangoon, Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, reported that the SPDC requested that Thailand submit a list of illegal migrant workers to be sent back to Burma so their nationality can be verified. As part of this list, the SPDC stated that they wanted Thailand to record migrants’ names and home addresses in Burma, and also submit the workers’ photos and identity cards for verification by Burmese authorities. The ministry’s permanent secretary, Tej Bunnag said that [regarding repatriated migrants] "If all of them hold Burmese nationality, they should have house registration documents. But if they are ethnic minorities, they will be investigated and reports will be sent to Burma." Mr. Tej also stated that Burmese officials had been instructed not to subject returnees to punishment for having left Burma illegally. (Source: "Rangoon to verify status of migrants," Feb 9. Bangkok Post/Burma Issues)
l At the beginning of February, Police announced that they will launch a four-month campaign, to crack down on illegal foreign labourers in big cities. The campaign will run from February 10 to June 10 in nine provinces: Tak, Ranong, Phuket, Samut Sakhon, Bangkok, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Samut Prakan and Sa Kaeo. Paisal Pruthiporn, head of the labour ministry’s office of alien workers, said illegal migrant workers who are arrested face a maximum jail term of three months and a maximum fine of 5,000 baht ($113.60) followed by deportation. Employers found hiring illegal workers also face a maximum penalty of three years in jail and a 60,000-baht fine. (News Summary/Burma Issues)
l On 9 February more than 200 Burmese illegal workers were arrested in Mae Sot, Tak Province at the start of a three-month long crackdown against illegal workers. The arrested workers were sent back to Myawaddy the next morning and were detained in the newly built detention center near the Friendship Bridge in Myawaddy. (Source: Network Media Group)
l On 11 February, Thai army commander, Lt-Gen Udomchai Ongkhasing, shut border checkpoints in Mae Sot and Mae Ramat districts while inquiries continued into the unexplained deaths of 20 people whose bodies were found in a stream the previous week. Crossings at Wang Kaew and Mae Kit Mai villages in Mae Sot district and Wang Pha village in Mae Ramat district were temporarily closed. News sources reported that a major investigation had been set up into the murders, involving hundreds of police from Mae Sot, Mae Ramat and Tha Song Yang districts and border patrol police from the 345th and 346th companies. Reportedly, both the Thai military and Burmese authorities in Myawaddy were co-operating in the investigation. (Source: "Thailand shuts Myanmar crossing in murder probe," Feb 11. Reuters/Burma Issues)
l On 20 February, Five workers from a lead melting factory in Mae Sot, were fired and many other workers were arrested by police, following an argument between the workers and their employer. The argument allegedly began when the workers asked for their salaries. One worker from the factory explained the cause of the workers’ complaints: "some workers are working with monthly salary of 600-700 while others get 1200 baht. They were not paid for 7 months and the owner owed them 5000 to 8000 baht each. The problem started when the owner paid them only 100 baht although they asked for 500 baht each for general expenses. The majority of workers are ethnic Karen and Pa-O nationals and they had to handle lead without any protection resulting in skin diseases and stomach ulcers." (Source: "Burmese workers expelled from work for asking their salaries," Feb 20. Network Media Group/Burma Issues)
l On 20 February one hundred workers were sent back to Myawaddy from Thailand, amongst them was a migrant from Pegu who was found to be infected with HIV and was refused permission to return to his home. According to a source in Myawaddy the man was detained there by the military regime. The other workers, including 64 men and 35 women, were sent on to Pa-an that same night at 8:00 PM in two trucks. What happened to these workers when they reached Pa-an is not yet known. A multi-departmental investigation team, lead by Major Ye Kyaw Thu under supervision of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, checked and interrogated all the workers when they reached Myawaddy. The check up and interrogation included an interview, personal data recording, a photo and medical check up, including a blood test. The SPDC officials have not made clear what action they plan to take against the worker who tested positive for HIV. (Source: "Migrant worker with HIV not allowed back home", February 22, Network Media Group/Burma Issues)
l On 26 February Thai police arrested over 500 illegal foreign workers in Tak province. It was reported that most of the illegal workers came from Burma. They were arrested when the police inspected local firms and factories in the province along the Thai-Burma border. Many of the arrested workers were found to be infected with malaria and other infectious diseases. The crackdown followed the closure of the official nation-wide registration of illegal alien workers from Burma, Laos, and Cambodia late last year. Police said illegal alien workers who failed to turn out for this registration as legal workers would be sternly cracked down upon. Their employers would also be fined and would be responsible for deportation costs of the illegal workers. (Source: "Thai police arrest 500 Illegal Alien Workers", February 26, Xinhuanet/Burma Issues)
March
l On 5 March police discovered the bodies of 13 migrant workers from Burma in sandbags in a deserted quarry near the Thai-Cambodian border. Police reported that it appeared that the victims had been murdered at another site and then brought to the quarry by truck. Some of the bodies of the five male and eight female victims had broken necks. Several bodies carried Burmese identification cards or border passes for entering Thailand via Mae Sot on the Thai-Burma border on March 2. Autopsies have found that the 13 died from suffocation after they were covered in vegetables and rice to escape detection from border patrols. Police have apprehended two suspects and are looking for four more believed to be involved in this case. The arrested are believed to be part of an illegal people smuggling ring. (Source: News Summary/Burma Issues)
l On 25 March the one month worker registration period ended. During this registration more than 200,000 of the 500,000 registered alien workers failed to have their six-month work permits renewed. Supat Kukhun, deputy secretary-general of the alien labour management office, said the number of alien workers who reported for work permit renewals between Feb 24-March 25 was only around 350,000. (Source:"200,000 fail to renew their work permits", March 26, Bangkok Post/Burma Issues)
April
l On 9 April it was reported that Burma and Thailand had agreed on a plan to repatriate more than 500,000 Burmese illegal immigrants in Thailand. As part of the deal, Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai told the BBC, the Burmese workers will be screened for HIV. Mr. Surakiart said those workers who were diagnosed as HIV positive would be separated from the other illegal immigrants and would be treated as part of a special repatriation scheme. (Source: "Burmese migrants face HIV test", April 9, BBC/Burma Issues)
May
l On 4 May a Thai official reported that more than 700 workers from Burma suffering from communicable diseases including HIV will be deported soon back to Burma. The workers were identified during medical checkups, which are mandatory for foreign workers at the time of renewal of their work permits, Dr. Winai Withoonkija, permanent secretary of the Public Health Ministry, told reporters. He said 737 Burma workers among the 40,000 tested during the last two months would be deported. (Source:"Thailand to deport 737 Myanmar workers because of disease", May 4, Associated Press/Burma Issues)
l On 21 May the SPDC ordered all border crossings with Thailand closed. This order followed a skirmish the day before which involved the SSA, UWSA, as well as some Thai and Burmese army troops. Following the attack, the SPDC accused Thailand of aiding the SSA opposition army troops. Thai Deputy Defense Minister Yuthasak Saaiprapha denied this allegation saying: "Thailand was not involved in the border fighting and it did not back any ethnic faction in Myanmar." The SSA also released a statement saying that attacks on May 20th had been part of an anti-drug campaign, and that SPDC army camps had been included in the attack because they in close proximity to targets. The statement went on to note that UWSA camps and drug refineries were under the protection of SPDC troops. Residents in Mae Sot report that following the order to close the border, the SPDC erected barbed wire on the Mae Sot/Myawaddy Friendship Bridge and placed soldiers along the bridge on standby. (Source: "Junta Issues Directive, May 2002, Irrawaddy)
June
l On 10 June Thailand’s Interior Ministry forbade staff from issuing birth registration documents to children of undocumented migrants, although it is permissible under Thai law to issue the papers. Without this registration, children are barred from access to welfare, health and education services. Many illegal migrants fear arrest and thus don’t attempt to register their children. (Source: BLC)
July
l On 17 July a Burmese woman died of burn injuries she suffered after being set on fire allegedly as punishment for stealing from her Thai employer. 18-year-old Ba Suu died in the hospital nine days after she was found lying on a road by a passer-by in Uthai Thani province. Ba Suu had told police that she worked as a maid at the house of a factory owner, who accused her of stealing a gold necklace. When she denied the accusations, she was beaten up and taken away by two men who doused her with gasoline and set her on fire. She suffered burns on more than half her body, including her chest, back and both arms. Police say that because the woman was kept a virtual prisoner in the house, she was unable to tell police details about its location. (Source: ‘Myanmar woman dies of burn injuries blamed on Thai employer’, AP, July 18/Burma Issues)
August
l On 5 August a 12-year old Burmese girl was raped by a 47-year-old man who acted as a volunteer outreach worker for the international aid organization, World Vision. The incident occurred in the victim’s neighborhood in the Islam Bankalone slum in Mae Sot. After consulting with religious leaders the girl’s parents reported the case to police the following day, despite fearing their actions would prompt Thai authorities to deport them as illegal migrants. Both the family and the accused, a Burmese citizen identified only as Salawut, are members of the Muslim refugee community living in Thailand. Police took the victim for an examination, which confirmed she had been sexually assaulted. The family said that a World Vision staff member visited their home shortly after the incident and promised to take responsibility for the case and provide assistance to the victim, but after that they heard nothing from the agency. The police investigation has also made no progress, they say. Social workers stated that they believed the family’s case was being ignored because they are illegal migrants. (Source: ‘Myanmar migrant family complain daughter’s rape has gone ignored’, Agence France Presse, August 22/Burma Issues)
l On 22 August it was reported that illegal migrant workers had won two million baht compensation after filing a lawsuit against their employer. Saranya Chandchuay, of the Foundation for Women, said 30 ethnic Karen women, many aged under 18, were rescued from the Bang Bon Garment factory in October 2000. Ms Saranya said that at the factory, the women worked from 7am to 9pm without a holiday. Sometimes, work carried on until after midnight. The factory gate was locked to prevent them leaving. The workers were paid 40 baht a month. Women who lasted a year would get small extra payments of 1,200 - 1,500 baht a month. Meager food, mainly chicken bones and vegetables were provided. The foundation, together with the Foundation for Child Development, took the case to the central labour court. Criminal charges were finally dropped by the attorney general, and the company was told to pay 2.1 million baht of the 41 million baht demanded in a civil suit. The payment was to be made in instalments, starting in November last year. Fifteen per cent interest was to be charged on delays. The company, however, suspended payments after surrendering only a small amount. The foundation had to pursue the case with the Legal Execution Department, as the workers had been sent back to Burma. This was the first case involving labor exploitation of migrant workers to go to court. The court decision was seen by academics and activists as a sign of progress in the legal system. (Source: ‘Slave Workers Win Historic Court Battle’, Bangkok Post, August 22/Burma Issues)
l On 29 August DVB reported that earlier in the month a Burmese female illegal migrant in Thailand was raped while in police custody. Ma Tin Tin Moe and her husband Ko Maung Soe, Mon State residents had been arrested in the town of Prakyub, Prakyub Province, South Thailand and charged with working illegally. After the arrest, husband and wife were held in different rooms. During the night, Ma Tin Tin Moe (age 27 years) was raped, first by a single Thai male, and then gang raped. Her husband Ko Maung Soe in the adjoining room could hear everything that was happening. Both husband and wife hanged themselves the next morning with one longyi. (Source: DVB)
September
l On 20 September, 20 Burmese workers, including 5 women, escaped from a cell in the Mae Sot Police Detention Center. One resident who went to the police station reported that police found the iron sieve that cover the windows of the women’s cell on the first floor had been cut by a hacksaw. According to a leader from a Burmese workers’ association, the escapees had been detained for 3-4 months in the detention cell in order to serve as witnesses against their factory owner who was on trial for hiring illegal workers. (Source: Network Media Group)
October
l On 1 October Mizzima News Group reported that human trafficking from Burma to Thailand had been increasing due to worsening economic conditions in Burma. The Mizzima article reported that two gangs of human traffickers were operating from Kyaikto town, and one gang from Kyaikmayaw town, both in Mon State. Reportedly, these traffickers smuggle between five and twenty people per day to Mae Sot town, Thailand, and onwards to Chiangmai, Bangkok and Malaysia at a cost of 100,000 Kyats per person. The article stated that it is common for human traffickers to deceive their customers, take their money and then kill them, or else sell them into forced labor or sex work.
The article went on to name the Yetuingung village headman in Kyaikmayaw town, U Aadu, and the son of the principal of the Islamic college, Aadu Sein, as being involved in human trafficking. Allegedly the leaders of the Kyaihtthu town human trafficking gang are Mon nationals U Kyaw Oo and Ma Tin San. While human traffickers in Burma are prosecuted and sometimes arrested on military orders, lower ranking military officers reportedly regularly ask for bribes and then release them. On 25 September, local Military Intelligence personnel arrested U Kyaw Oo and Ma Tin San in Kyaikto town while at the same time, other human traffickers were arrested in Kyaikmayaw. However local residents reported that all those arrested were immediately released after paying 1 million Kyats to the police. According to locals, human traffickers give 100,000 kyats to the Police and Village Peace and Development Authorities, which allow them to continue their work unimpeded. (Source: Mizzima)
l On 15 October the Thai-Burma border reopened after a 5 month closure. The Bangkok Post reported that the closure cost Burma around 300 million baht or close to US$ 7 million in lost revenue. The closure also led to increasing devaluation of the Burmese kyat. "In the five months the border remained closed, the Mae Sot checkpoint has lost 2.1 billion baht on import and export taxes. The total losses for all checkpoints equals about five billion baht," reported Boontian Chokewiwat, Mae Sot customs chief. He further reported that when the border was opened, the daily value of goods crossing the Myawaddy-Mae Sot checkpoint alone was 18 million baht (around $800,000). Burma closed its borders with Thailand following a skirmish involving Thai and Burmese soldiers. The incident also involved armed opposition groups whom the SPDC claims were being supported by the Thai military. (Source: ‘Counting the Cost of Closure,’Irrawaddy, November 2002)
December
l On 14 December approximately 600 hundred Burmese garment workers in Mae Sot were fired after demanding that 40 employees be reinstated who had been terminated for requesting overdue wages as well as a raise. The workers from Rian Thong Apparel factory said that they were also protesting the amount of monthly leave granted to them by the factory’s owner, Yan How, who is from Taiwan. Mr. Yan How said that he dismissed the workers after they took more than the allotted half-day off per month.
Workers complain that a half-day off per month is insufficient to allow them to buy monthly rations or to remit money back to Burma. Workers have also reported that Mr Yan was taking 3 percent of their wages each month for unknown reasons and that he never paid overtime or set a piece rate for knitters. On Saturday, Mr Yan’s son paid the workers a ten-day deposit as well as back wages in front of local police, who had been called to maintain security at the factory. But workers said they were not given their work permits despite paying for them. Some workers said they would like to sue Mr Yan, but without work permits they did not think that was possible. Others said they were going to return to Burma and look for work despite the low wages. "We can earn enough for food in Burma, but the income is not enough for clothes, medicine or anything else," said one worker. (Source: ‘Hundreds Fired in Mae Sot,’ Irrawaddy, December 16 2002)
l From 29 December onwards, Thailand instituted new visa rules for Burmese passport holder. Previously, Burmese passport holders were granted visas upon arrival to Thailand. Following these new regulations Burmese are now required to apply for visas inside Burma. This new rule has made it extremely difficult for Burmese refugees and political dissidents to maintain a legal status in Thailand as many cannot re-enter Burma except at great risk to their personal security.