MYANMAR-THAILAND: Undocumented workers exploited post-floods

Burmese migrants caught in Thai floods

BANGKOK, 8 November 2011 (IRIN) - While the Burmese government has re-opened a key border checkpoint between Thailand and Myanmar to accommodate thousands of migrants fleeing Thailand's flooded factories, undocumented - and now unemployed - migrants face extortion and abuse as they try to return home, according to migrants and activists. Aye Than, a 35-year-old Burmese employee, was working in one of Thailand's hardest-hit provinces, Ayutthaya, in a furniture factory until it flooded. "I've lost everything in the flood, but I cannot leave because I have no money to feed my family in Myanmar," said Aye Than. Thousands of Burmese migrants have been fleeing flooded industrial parks in the provinces of Ayutthaya, Nakhon Sawan, Nakhon Pathom and Pathum Thani, according to migrant workers' groups. As quoted in local media, the Federation of Thai Industries estimates losses from the seven hardest-hit industrial estates could reach US$13 billion, covering 891 factories and 460,000 workers. "Many people want to stay and get their unpaid wages back, but some simply gave up because they were traumatized and have lost all contacts with their employers," said a representative from the Thailandbased Migrant Working Group NGO coalition. Aye Than said since his work permit expired in October, police have arrested him several times, with immigration officers on both sides of the border demanding up to $80

each time as a condition of his release. He is now earning $4 per day doing odd jobs. "It is impossible for me to pay the fees," he said. Risking arrest Without cash, identity documents or social connections, migrant workers are among the most vulnerable groups in the ongoing floods, said Claudia Natali, labour migration programme coordinator at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) office in Bangkok. "Irregular [undocumented] migrants who have no passport or work permit risk being arrested, but also those with a work permit or ID risk arrest and deportation when they leave the provinces where they are registered." Under Thai law, migrant workers - except domestic, fisheries and water transport workers - are forbidden to travel outside their registered provinces. But as an emergency relief measure during one of the country's worst natural disasters in recent history, the government has ordered the police not to arrest migrants fleeing floods, said Jackie Pollock, director of the MAP Foundation, a Chiang Mai-based NGO working with Burmese migrants in Thailand. However, immigration services are still pursuing undocumented migrants, said Pollock. Meanwhile, illicit brokers are charging migrants unreasonable transport fees to take them to the Myanmar border, said Andy Hall, a consultant with the Thailand-based Human Rights and Development Foundation. Many of these trips are at night, said Hall. "This is very dangerous and makes them even more vulnerable to the extortion by immigration officers [in Thailand and Myanmar] and militia groups [in Myanmar]." More than one million legally registered Burmese migrants work in Thailand, making up to 80 percent of the country's total migrant population and 5 percent of Thailand's labour force, according to IOM. While the number of undocumented migrants in Thailand

is unknown, IOM estimated there were 1.4 million unregistered workers and family members in an October 2011 report. Nationwide, more than 500 people have died in this year's monsoon, with more than seven million households in affected areas, according to the government as of 7 November.

http://www.france24.com/en/20111106-week-asiathailand-floods-burma-china-communist-partieselections-japan

Thailand flooding: fears rise for trapped Burmese migrants

With flood waters still covering large swathes of Thailand, we look at the fate of the many illegal migrant workers, who have nowhere to flee. http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=Qr1t1j8Pft8&feature=player_embedded http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/fleeing-thai-floodsburmese-migrants-story-of-extortion-threats

Fleeing Thai floods: Burmese migrant's story of extortion, threats

07 Nov 2011 Source: Reuters Alertnet // AlertNet Correspondent Migrant workers from Myanmar sort fish after unloading the catch from a boat at the port of Mahachai, near Bangkok September 24, 2011. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

BANGKOK (AlertNet) When flood waters threatened to engulf *Tun Win's home close to the Thai capital Bangkok, he decided it was time to escape and avoid the worst flooding the country has seen in half a century. A migrant from neighbouring Myanmar, the 22-year-old made plans to travel to Mae Sot and stay with some family in the bustling town in northwest Thailand, which has become the main gateway for refugees and migrants from the former Burma. Tun Win almost didn't make it. His journey was punctuated by intimidation, extortion and physical abuse by Thai officials and a broker who demanded money for his release with five others. "We'd heard of extortion and threats faced by migrants before we left but we couldn't stay in Bangkok," Tun Win, who declined to give his real name, told AlertNet by phone from from Mae Sot. We also know we might get deported if we are arrested but we thought at least we would get to see our families in Myanmar then, he added. Thailand is battling to deal with flooding that has killed more than 500 people and disrupted the lives of 2.45 million. The disaster is the first big test for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinwatra, who took over this year. Yet the government has already faced criticism for ignoring migrant workers caught up in the disaster. Many are in Thailand illegally, but even the legitimate migrants fear arrest or becoming victims of extortion by Thai and Burmese border officials and opportunist mafia gangs. Many of those with legal documents are not allowed to leave their province of employment.

"The Thai Government has up until now made no genuine effort at a policy level to respond to the plight of migrant flood victims," said Andy Hall, a migration policy expert at the Mahidol University. The government has failed to assist migrants trapped in houses and factories or encourage them to travel to and stay in the only official shelter provided, he said. "The Thai government has through its inaction opened the way for brokers and other individuals to profit from the desperate plight of confused and homeless migrant flood victims," he told AlertNet. EXTORTION Tun Win left Mahachai - an industrial area in Samut Sakan province next to Bangkok that is home to large numbers of both legal and illegal workers from Myanmar with his younger brother and four female friends. They left by bus just before midnight on Nov. 3. But the next morning, at a checkpoint before Mae Sot, they were ordered to get off the bus by the police. "The police accused us of being illegal aliens because the girls only had work permits which do not allow them to travel outside of Pathum Thani province," Tun Win said. "I showed my student card which is still valid and explained to them that were flood victims and just wanted to go to Mae Sot to stay with our families during this time but the official would not listen." After agreeing to pay 300 baht (about $10) each, a policeman drove the group to Mae Sot - where he

passed them on to a Thai broker. TRAPPED There they were targeted for extortion again. The broker demanded 1,000 baht each (about $33) for their release, threatening to take them to the immigration office and then to ethnic militia camps in Myanmar unless they paid up. Negotiations to reduce the sum proved futile. Tun Win and his brother paid and were released but the broker then told the four women they would now have to pay 5,000 baht in total. "It was too much money and they refused," Tun Win said. "But the broker didn't take them to the immigration office either. They were just trapped in the house and their mobile phones were confiscated." One girl managed to hide her phone and made contact with Tun Win. By then it was evening. "It was already dark and we were worried something would happen to them so we approached the People's Volunteer Association a Mae Sot-based organisation helping migrants and went to the police." NGO workers and the police confronted the broker, who released the women and returned the men their money, but not before repeatedly slapping the girl whose phone was used for communication. When the girl told us afterwards what happened, we thought such abuse shouldn't occur and went to the police again," Tun Win said.

But they had all but given up hope of any legal proceedings against either the broker or the check point official. "I think the police and the broker negotiated something that night. We havent heard anything about it since, Tun Win said. * Name has been changed to protect the identity.

http://www.mmtimes.com/2011/news/600/ news60013.html Migrants face extortion to flee floods

By Martin Petty November 7 - 13, 2011 AYUTTHAYA, Thailand With no money or identity documents and stranded in a foreign land for days on end without food and water, they are the forgotten people of Thailands flood disaster. Evacuation is not an option for hundreds of Myanmar migrant workers marooned in the newly formed swamps and road-rivers that cover industrialised central Thailand. Many are in Thailand illegally, but even the legitimate migrants fear arrest or becoming victims of extortion by Thai and Myanmar border officials and opportunist mafia gangs. We have to take care of ourselves, we share the little food we have, but thats gone, said Show Tae, 34, who worked in a factory making pizza bases before water rushed in a month ago. We cant go home because we have no money and if I go back to Myanmar, theres no work there either. In provinces like Ayutthaya, 100 kilometres (65 miles)

north of Bangkok, hundreds of Myanmar are trying to ride out Thailands worst floods in half a century, crammed into apartment blocks with no electricity and relying on a few aid groups to navigate submerged roads to deliver food, water and medical supplies. Homes and shops have been destroyed, and industrial estates housing hundreds of factories have been forced to shut down, leaving 650,000 people jobless. More than 400 people have been killed and two million affected since July. People like Show Tae are not the priority, however, as authorities, troops and relief workers battle to reach thousands of Thais cut off by water as deep as 2m in provinces like Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani and Nakhon Sawan. Many Thais are in evacuation centres, or camped out along highways, sleeping in small tents, the back of parked trucks or under plastic sheets, but food and water is available. Families are crammed into boats, rowing along roads and through rice fields with a backdrop of warehouses, tractors and bulldozers partially submerged by the muddy, foul-smelling water that has left this province looking like a coastal area. For Myanmar migrants, the situation is even more dire. Activists say migrant workers hit by floods a crucial part of Thailands US$319 billion economy have been largely ignored. They have no one, nowhere to go and the factory owners cant take care of them, said Laddawan Tantivitayapitak of the Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB), which was delivering food supplies to the Myanmar victims on November 1.

Many lost their documents and money in the floods. Other chose to flee but were arrested. About 250 Myanmar are believed to be receiving help in shelters, but tens of thousands more were affected by the flooding. The Labour Ministry estimates there are more than one million foreign migrant workers in Bangkok and surrounding provinces, including those who are registered and those working illegally. Those with documentation are not permitted to travel beyond the provinces in which they are employed. Win, 19, a registered worker at the pizza base factory who was born in Thailand but does not have citizenship, said she and her colleagues were destitute and living in fear. We no longer have work but my friends have no choice but to wait, she said. Theyre too scared to leave.
Andy HallForeign Expert, Institute of Population and Social Research (IPSR), Mahidol University Consultant, Human Rights and Development Foundation Tel: +66 (0) 846 119209 Fax: +66 (0) 2441 9333 prandy@mahidol.ac.th andy@hrdfoundation.org