Thailand: Better deal urged for migrants

Extortion by state authorities, complicated registration procedures and abusive employers are urgent issues the new government should look into to better protect the human rights of migrant workers in Thailand, labourers and activists say.

With parties promoting populist policies in the run up to the July 3 election, migrant labourers and labour advocates have called on politicians to spare them some attention.Wassana Ramrong, an outreach staff member at the Raks Thai Foundation, a non-government organisation, said the next government should enforce stricter laws on employers of migrant workers. Rights violations of migrant labourers come in various forms _ from seizing employees' work permits and passports, to wage cheating and dangerous working conditions, she said.

The Surat Thani-based activist also called for an overhaul of migrant labour registration and nationality verification procedures, which, she said, were too complicated and costly. A migrant labourer has to pay at least 13,000 baht a year to relevant state agencies and brokers to obtain work permits and to undergo the nationality verification process, Ms Wassana said. "Those who can't afford the fees to complete the registration procedure, or who have had their work permits seized by their employer, have to pay 500 baht to local police to avoid being arrested," she said. A total of 1,265,608 migrant labourers registered with the Labour Ministry as of October last year. About 260,000 of them work in the Southern provinces.

Thet, a 42-year-old Burmese migrant in Surat Thani's Muang district, said she and her husband, also a Burmese and a construction worker, had yet to undergo the nationality verification process because they could not afford the 5,500 baht fee and travel costs to undergo the process at the Thai-Burmese border.

Nationality verification entitles migrant workers to a temporary passport and legal status in Thailand. Migrant workers without a passport are banned from travelling outside the area stated in the work permit.

Tin Sein Oo, a Burmese staff member at the Raks Thai Foundation who worked with Burmese migrants in Nakhon Si Thammarat, said abusive employers were the biggest threat to migrant workers. Many employers seized the workers' passports and work permits to prevent them from fleeing the workplace. Without the documents, the workers are at risk of being arrested, he said. "Taking legal action against employers who breach labour laws should be the most urgent task of the new government," he said.

Maitree Wichian, of Phun Phin Hospital in Surat Thani, said she would like the next government to allocate additional funds to hospitals in provinces where there are a large number of migrant workers. Ms Maitree, a nurse responsible for health care for alien labourers, said the hospital had to shoulder medical expenses for many uninsured workers. Workers applying for work permits are required to buy the 1,900-baht health insurance which enables them to seek medical treatment at state hospitals.

"We have to treat [illegal migrant workers] for humanitarian reasons," said the nurse. "But the treatment costs put a financial burden on the hospital as most migrants cannot pay their medical expenses and most of their employers refuse to pay the bills."

Source: Bangkok Post