Thailand

Forced Labour, Child Labour, Discrimination and Violations of Trade Union Rights All Common in Thailand

Date: 28/11/2011 - 11:27

A new report by the ITUC on core labour standards in Thailand, published to coincide with the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) review of its trade policies, reveals serious violations of fundamental workers’ rights including a high degree of prevalence of forced labour.

Migrant Workers Struggling to Escape Thai Floods

Date: 03/11/2011 - 16:10

Migrant workers, largely from Burma, Cambodia and Laos, are still struggling to escape inundated areas of Thailand.

There are no reliable estimates of how many people are stranded in the scores of flooded communities in Bangkok and areas north. Aid workers say that among the millions affected in Thailand, as many as 600,000 migrant workers, largely from Burma, are stranded in worsening conditions.

Thailand: Livelihoods at risk as more flooding expected

Date: 21/10/2011 - 07:20

The market in Ayutthaya where Arun Kaewan used to sell goods is now a river. The factory where her son used to work is a lake.

"We'll start our new lives from nothing," Kaewan, a 43-year-old mother-of-six said from the Thammasat University gym outside Bangkok, one of a string of evacuation centres hastily provided by authorities in recent weeks.

Statement on Thai Government’s Remarks and Pledge to Enhance Human Rights Protections for Migrant Workers

Date: 13/10/2011 - 06:46

"Moving toward Thailand’s pledge to enhance human rights protections for migrant workers, HRDF urges the Thai Government to consider becoming state party to the Convention on the Promotion and Protection of Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of their Family. To truly uphold the human rights of migrant workers on the ground as pledged, the TG must review domestic practices and policies relating to migrant rights protections, which are in conflict with the TG’s international obligations and recognized standards.”

A changing migration landscape for Thailand

Date: 18/08/2011 - 07:31

In 2009, Thailand imposed a February 2010 deadline for 1.3 million registered migrants from Burma, Cambodia and Laos who originally entered the country ``illegally'', to complete nationality verification (NV) and become fully ``legal.'' Those missing this deadline were threatened with deportation.

Thailand: Increasing Abuse of Migrant Workers

Date: 08/06/2011 - 14:11

Oral Statement at the 17th Session of the Human Rights Council - June 3rd, 2011

Mr. President, we would like to thank Jorge Bustamante, the outgoing Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, for his work, make a few observations on his final report, and raise serious concerns about human rights abuses against migrant workers in Thailand.

Thailand: Better deal urged for migrants

Date: 08/06/2011 - 07:21

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.

Workers brought into US and 'exploited'

Date: 21/04/2011 - 14:04

A US federal agency has filed lawsuits over the unequal treatment of more than 500 migrant workers from India brought into the country to work at shipyards in Mississipi and Texas, and over 200 Thai farm labourers brought in to work in Hawaii and Washington state.

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said on Wednesday that the workers were forced to live in substandard housing and were exploited with fees that meant that for some their net earnings were almost zero.

Thailand: Returnees have little to look forward to

Date: 30/03/2011 - 14:08

As the world's attention focuses on the use of military force by mainly Western powers in the conflict in Libya, the stories of more than 1 million migrant workers from the Middle East, Asia and Africa who had been working in Libya, have been totally overshadowed.

These stories are very much part of the larger saga of Libya's relations with the world because countries other than Europe have become tied to the fortunes of Moammar Gadhafi. Thailand is one of these countries.

Thailand: Rights Groups Call for Improved Migrant Rights

Date: 17/02/2011 - 10:12

A group of civil society organizations, which included Thai and Burmese organizations, sent an open letter to the Thai Ministry of Labor calling for safer and better working conditions for migrant workers in Thailand—most of whom are Burmese—who are often mistreated and exploited by local authorities and their employers.