The Mekong challenge - working day and night - the plight of migrant child workers in Mae Sot, Thailand

The relative wealth of Thailand, with its significant demand for employment in industrial, service and agricultural sectors, continues to draw workers from impoverished neighbouring countries, especially Burma. The political, economic and human rights crisis in Burma, which has undermined basic considerations of human security and reduced the margins of survival for both urban and rural populations, has created a wave of migration to Thailand – a wave that carries with it both adults and children – some accompanied and some not.

Perched on the Thai side of the Thai-Burma border sits the industrial town of Mae Sot. It is a major crossing point between Thailand and Burma, and is what some consider to be the high-water mark of this wave of labour migration. The economic desperation of these Burmese migrants has made it relatively easy for both adult and child migrant workers to be exploited in both the formal and informal industries of Mae Sot. But with approximately 42 per cent of Burma’s population aged 18 years or less, there is a large and steady supply of potential child workers – their youth and inexperience accompanied by increased vulnerability to exploitation.