- Title: Thailand launches fresh crackdown on migrant workers
- Date: 29th September 2016
- Summary: BANGKOK, THAILAND (SEPTEMBER 27, 2016) (REUTERS) MIGRANT WORKERS RUNNING AWAY FROM POLICE AND TROOPS DURING POLICE RAID IN FRESH PRODUCE MARKET VARIOUS OF MIGRANT WORKERS BEING ESCORTED BY POLICE POLICEMAN ESCORTING MIGRANT WORKER AWAY FROM STALL SOLDIER ESCORTED MIGRANT WORKER OUTSIDE MARKET MIGRANT WORKERS GATHERED OUTSIDE MARKET AS OFFICIALS STAND BY OFFICIAL'S HANDS HOLDING A MIGRANT WORKER'S IDENTIFICATION CARD OFFICIAL TALKING TO THAI EMPLOYEE OFFICIAL CHECKING MIGRANT WORKER'S PASSPORT (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) LABOUR OFFICIAL, CHAITAT NA NAKORN, SAYING: "There are more numbers of migrant workers turning to working as vendors instead of doing labour work. Those (kind of) jobs are reserved for Thais and it is already affecting them (Thais)." MIGRANT WORKERS GATHERED OUTSIDE MARKET, ONE CRYING MIGRANT WORKERS STANDING, ONE CRYING OFFICIAL CHECKING MIGRANT WORKER'S PASSPORT IN FRONT OF WORKERS AND SOLDIERS OFFICIALS ESCORTING UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANT WORKERS DOWN STREET UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANT WORKERS GETTING IN VAN BANGKOK, THAILAND (SEPTEMBER 28, 2016) (REUTERS) DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH ASIA, PHIL ROBERTSON, TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH ASIA, PHIL ROBERTSON, SAYING: "The reality is that Thailand depends on migrant labour for many of the things that it produces and exports. And, you know, the government and the Thai police need to consider that when they start thinking about how they're going to crackdown on people that they've decided arbitrarily shouldn't have this or that type of job. " BANGKOK, THAILAND (SEPTEMBER 27, 2016) (REUTERS) PEOPLE WORKING IN MARKET MIGRANT WORKERS WORKING BEHIND STALLS (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) THAI SHOP OWNER, SOMSAK SERMPANIJAKIT, SAYING: "Thai people will lose their jobs. We won't have any jobs left for sure because Burmese are more diligent than Thais. They earn 500 baht per day, more than the 300 baht a day that Thai people earn. Thai people are lazier." MIGRANT WORKERS WORKING IN MARKET BANGKOK, THAILAND (SEPTEMBER 28, 2016) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH ASIA, PHIL ROBERTSON, SAYING: "The problem is that the Thai system of monitoring and regulating migration is failing and, you know, it needs to be completely revamped. It needs to be done in a way that people are in the formal economy, that they are permitted to stay here for a period of time, that they can change employers, and they can have their rights respected." BANGKOK, THAILAND (SEPTEMBER 27, 2016) (REUTERS) SIGN READING (Thai, English): "MINBURI METROPOLITAN POLICE STATION" UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANT WORKERS WALKING INTO POLICE STATION VARIOUS OF UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANT WORKERS SITTING IN POLICE STATION
- Embargoed: 14th October 2016 06:35
- Keywords: Thailand migrants labour law Human Rights watch human rights illegal crackdown
- Location: BANGKOK,THAILAND
- City: BANGKOK,THAILAND
- Country: Thailand
- Topics: Human Interest/Brights/Odd News,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA00151MB7ET
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Migrant workers in Thailand scatter amongst rickety stalls looking for an escape route during a police raid on a fresh produce market in Bangkok, an operation led by the Thai labour department.
Fourteen of them from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar are found undocumented, and detained for "illegal entry" into the country.
Thailand is cracking down on migrant workers from neighbouring countries, saying they are "stealing jobs from Thais", amid fears that anti-immigrant sentiment is rising as Southeast Asia's second-largest economy stagnates.
Some of those detained in the market on Tuesday (September 27) did in fact have documents permitting them to stay and work in the country.
But the government says that one of the major issues is the many documented migrants turning to jobs they say are reserved for Thai citizens.
Thailand's Labour Ministry says the country has Memorandums of Understanding with Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam that restricts migrant workers' employment to mainly labour and cleaning-related work.
"There are more numbers of migrant workers turning to working as vendors instead of doing labour work," said a labour department official, Chaitat Na Nakorn. "Those (kind of) jobs are reserved for Thais and it is already affecting them."
Thailand became wealthy compared to its neighbours when its economy boasted annual growth rates of over 7 percent in the 1980s and 1990s, drawing migrant workers from across the Greater Mekong Delta region and other parts of Asia. They mostly did jobs Thais tend to spurn, including backbreaking work in the fishing and construction sectors.
"The reality is that Thailand depends on migrant labour for many of the things that it produces and exports," said Phil Robertson, the deputy director for Human Rights Watch Asia.
"The government and the Thai police need to consider that when they start thinking about how they're going to crackdown on people that they've decided arbitrarily shouldn't have this or that type of job," he added.
But, more than two years after the military government seized power and with Thailand's economy on shaky ground, some rights groups have expressed concern about rising resentment against immigrants in Thailand, mirroring such sentiment elsewhere in the world.
After the market raid on Tuesday, one Thai vendor, Somsak Sermpanijakit, said he believed Thais were inevitably going to lose their jobs, and that migrants are often seen as competitors.
"We won't have any jobs left for sure because Burmese are more diligent than Thais. They earn 500 baht per day, more than the 300 baht a day that Thai people earn. Thai people are lazier," he said.
Human rights groups say Thailand's crackdown and current labour laws threaten migrant rights.
Migrants, they say, often are at risk of falling into the hands of human trafficking rings, who sell them into virtual slavery on plantations, timber mills and fishing boats.
"The problem is that the Thai system of monitoring and regulating migration is failing, and needs to be completely revamped," said Robertson. "It needs to be done in a way that people are in the formal economy, that they are permitted to stay here for a period of time, that they can change employers, and they can have their rights respected."
Thailand, however, says the crackdown is not driven by anti-immigration policy. Its economy is on course to grow 3.0 percent in 2016 after expanding 2.8 percent in 2015 and only 0.7 percent in 2014.
They say the recognise migrant labour is still needed, but they just need to keep it in order.
More than three million migrants work in Thailand, the vast majority from neighbouring Myanmar, according to the International Organization for Migration.
The raids so far have targetted fresh markets, restaurants, supermarkets and shopping malls. Around 153 immigrants were rounded up between Sept. 1 and Sept. 26, according to labour department figures. Those caught face up to five years in prison, a fine of up to 3,000 baht ($100) or deportation. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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