Fact
File
Thailand
Abuses
and exploitation of migrant workers
Hundreds
of thousands of Burmese migrant workers are employed in
various sectors of Thai industry including fisheries,
garment factories, domestic and construction work, hotels
and restaurants, and agriculture. As Thailand has become
more prosperous, fewer Thai people are willing to work
in jobs commonly seen as "dirty, dangerous, and demeaning".
Burmese workers have arrived to fill the gap.
For
several years the Royal Thai Government has dealt with
the labour shortage by establishing a series of registration
processes for migrant workers. Although flawed in both
policy and implementation terms, these registrations have
been a good faith attempt to regularize and establish
a legal framework addressing the flow of migrants.
Burmese
migrant workers in Thailand are routinely paid well below
the Thai minimum wage, work long hours in unhealthy conditions
and are at risk of arbitrary arrest and deportation, it
is published in a report of Amnesty International.
The
report exposes a lack of basic labour rights and highlights
the abuse and exploitation of migrant workers by smugglers,
Thai employers and police. This includes frequent shakedowns
by police in order to extract bribes.
A
new registration process taking place from 1 30 June 2005
for migrant workers from Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia,
permitting them to remain in Thailand until June 2006,
is an opportunity for the Thai government to ensure strong
protection for migrant workers.
"The
Royal Thai Government should ensure that the security
forces do not arbitrarily arrest migrant workers, particularly
in order to extract bribes," said Catherine Baber,
Amnesty International's Deputy Director for Asia. "It
should protect migrant workers from mistreatment, harassment
and intimidation by employers, police and local officials,
and ensure that they are not returned to countries where
they risk torture and ill-treatment."
Amnesty
International interviewed 115 Burmese migrants in seven
locations in Thailand. The interviewees were working or
looking for work in the fishing, manufacturing, agricultural,
construction industries, or as day labourers or domestic
workers.
One
Burmese migrant worker told: "The Thai people regard
us as garbage - they don't see the Burmese as helping
the economy. We take jobs which they won't do. They see
us as trouble-makers, never as friends."
Amnesty
International called on the Thai government to ensure
that all workers in Thailand enjoy basic labour rights,
including adequate wages, reasonable working hours, and
safe and healthy working conditions.
Source:
Amnesty International.
