Thai Government Should Revoke Policies that Discriminate Against and Violate Rights of Migrant Workers – ASEAN States Should Join Migrant Convention

 

Fri, 17/12/2010 – 14:08

On International Migrant’s Day (18th December 2010), the State Enterprises Workers’ Relations Confederation (SERC), the Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF) and the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee (TLSC) requests the Royal Thai Government (RTG) to re-open registration for all migrants in Thailand, review its deportation policy, cooperate with the United Nations in examination of violation of migrant rights, repeal discriminatory policies affecting migrants including wage deductions for a deportation fund and formulate long term migration policies in response to actual labour demand. Thailand and others members of ASEAN should also sign and ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Their Families.

Background
Migration is not new to Thailand as for 20 years the RTG’s policies have allowed for yearly registration of migrants who illegally entered the country so they could “temporarily live and work in Thailand whilst awaiting repatriation”. Migration policy was developed through Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with Lao PDR, Cambodia and Myanmar in 2002 and 2003 with the aim to enhance cooperation in importing labour legally into Thailand and verifying nationality of migrants who originally entered the country illegally.

In 2010, over 1 million migrants registered with the RTG. It is estimated the actual number of migrants and their dependents in Thailand is at least 2 million however, with more than 80% from Myanmar. Although political, social and economic pressure as well as ethnic and civil conflict in Myanmar constitute the main push factors for migrants coming to Thailand, low skilled labour demand also plays an important role as a pull factor. This is particularly the case for work which is demanding, dirty, and dangerous and that Thai workers normally avoid such as fisheries, agriculture and construction. According to research, dependency rates for migrants in Thai production sectors range from 9% to 16%. Migrants contribute greatly to increases in gross domestic product (GDP) and need for migrant labour in Thailand will likely increase with economic growth in the future.

ABMA Journal Volume 1 No 22

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Viewing cable 07 BEIJING 1448, DAS JOHN DISCUSSES BURMA, SOUTHEAST ASIA WITH AFM

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ALL WIKILEAKS BURMA DOCS   https://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/wikileaks-burma-documents/

Snipers have make on Burma Army base camps by Daniel Pdersen

Daniel Pedersen

Mae Sot

Combined ethnic Karen armies have besieged three Burma Army base camps near the Thai-Burma border to the south of Mae Sot.

The camps – at Toh Kyo, K’ne Ley and Maw Kee – are the government’s closest footprint to the Thai border in this mountainous region.

More than 160 soldiers of Burma’s ruling military junta, the State Peace and Development Council, are pinned down, living underground, not daring to raise their heads for fear of attracting fire.

The Burma Army soldiers constitute the main body of government troops that once controlled the border with its former ally, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, which was employed as a forward fighting force.

The DKBA mutinied on November 7, the day of Burma’s much-maligned election, taking control of strategic points in the frontier trading town of Myawaddy.

Fighting persisted for two days before the DKBA pulled out.

Reporters Without Borders to host WikiLeaks mirror site

Reporters Without Borders will begin tomorrow to host a mirror website for the US diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks. Its address will be wikileaks.rsf.org.

“This is a gesture of support for WikiLeaks’ right to publish information without being obstructed,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We defend the free flow of information on the Internet and the protection of sources, without which investigative journalism cannot exist.”

By publishing the US diplomatic cables, WikiLeaks made a large amount of hitherto unpublished material available to five leading international newspapers and the general public. The harassment and attempts to close WikiLeaks represent an attack on the “democracy watchdog” role to which article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights refers.

The European Court of Human Rights has on several occasions stressed that this role entails the protection of sources and the absence of government measures designed to silence these sources.

As is often the case with investigative journalism, laws were broken to obtain the documents that were passed to WikiLeaks, and which WikiLeaks has made available to leading news media. In theory, this means that WikiLeaks, and the media that have been cooperating with it, could be regarded as accomplices.

But Reporters Without Borders points out that the European Court on Human Rights has ruled that the notion of “complicity” does not apply when it can it be said – as it can in this case – that the release of such documents serves the general interest and the public right’s to be informed.

Reporters Without Borders is hosting a WikiLeaks mirror site in the name of the free flow of news and information. We are doing this solely as part of the partnership that WikiLeaks has established with news media. This partnership will be constantly reassessed in the light of WikiLeaks’ activities and the content it offers in the future.

http://en.rsf.org/reporters-without-borders-to-host-20-12-2010,39084.html

 

Letter to SPDC from a Burmese Student by NIKNAYMAN

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Thailand_One of Karenni migrant workers killed and one hospitalizes

20.December 2010

Burmese migrant workers’ life is extremely uncertain and unsafe in Thailand as they flee one difficult or deadly situation into another, meanwhile one of Karenni in Chiang Mai has been hospitalized after one chop killed by the Thai boss’s sons on December 11, said the migrant workers assistance.

According to the Catholic Community Development Action Group said that the guy who known as David (21) was badly killed while the other one Taw Law (24), were escaped from killing. However, escaped with seriously wound that hit with knife in neck, stomach and waist.

The cased was occurred at around 7:00 pm. At that time, David was going out with the boss’s sons and he is probably killed in the way back home, according to the hospitalized, adding that the two sons come to the apartment of Taw Law and pulled him from bed then chop him with knife.

Video_Situation in P’lu, refugees and fighting-20.12.

Letter+from+Daw+Aung+San+Suu+Kyi+20.12.2010+korea

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101221_bty_bur_pyi_ti_oo-Biggest wedding

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