Statement Regarding
the Deaths of Migrant Workers in Thailand
by Bill Salter, Director, ILO Sub-regional
Office for East Asia
11 April 2008, Bangkok: It is
with great sadness that, yet again, we observe
that foreign migrant workers in search of
a more prosperous future have become victims
in Thailand – and in this case they
have paid with their lives.
The dead include more than 50 migrants
from Myanmar, including many women and young
people. The International Labour Office
is following the developments in this investigation
and is making its own enquiries into the
circumstances surrounding the tragedy, and
the treatment of the survivors, through
trade unions and other organizations most
involved in protecting the rights of migrant
workers.
While some may characterize this as a tragic
accident, or even criminal negligence on
the part of the driver of the vehicle in
which the people died, it is clear that
this occurrence is an indication –
indeed a consequence – of a much larger
problem.
The Royal Thai Government is aware that
Thai companies and employers need foreign
migrants to help fill vacancies in a variety
of workplaces – especially in the
seafood industry, construction, agriculture
and domestic work.
The Government is actively engaging the
ILO and others to reduce the vulnerabilities
of migrant workers and to deal with problems
when they arise. Still, much more needs
to be done.
Despite the Government’s attempts
to formalize a system of cross-border employment
agreements with its neighbours, the demand
by Thai employers for migrant workers –
documented or undocumented – is continuing
and may even be accelerating. However, the
formal systems of recruitment are not working.
The reasons vary – a slow and expensive
migrant registration system, a breakdown
in the sending countries’ abilities
to provide the initial documentation required
and legitimate concerns of migrants who
are worried that they will not be able to
change employers, even if they suffer abuse.
Within such an environment, trafficking
for labour exploitation is bound to flourish.
The ILO’s own research into trafficking-related
labour exploitation shows that many migrants,
both documented and undocumented, are indeed
suffering abuses. One report has found that
more than half of the Thai employers interviewed
were of the view that locking up their migrant
employees so they ‘couldn’t
escape’ was appropriate. Another 75%
of migrant workers on fishing boats had
no access to their legal documents in any
event – they were held by their employers.
There are continuing indications of both
forced labour and child labour involving
migrants in Thailand.
While Thailand cannot be held accountable
for the reasons desperate young men, women
and even children leave Myanmar and other
neighbouring countries to search for work
in Thailand, the Royal Thai Government is
obliged to prevent the exploitation of those
migrants inside Thailand, regardless of
the documentation they may or may not have.
That means holding employers and recruiters
accountable for the treatment of migrants
– legally registered to work or otherwise
– and punishing those employers, recruiters
and sub-contractors who abuse both the system
and the migrants. It means improved labour
inspection of workplaces with the dignity
and rights of the migrant worker paramount.
It also means re-evaluating and addressing
labour migration policies head on. There
is clearly a pressing need to develop a
far-reaching, forward looking labour migration
policy that will benefit not just the economy
but people too – especially workers
from other countries who, at the end of
the day, are doing their fair share of helping
the country grow.
The ILO is already working with the Royal
Thai Government to help respond to the abuses
of migrant workers and to help develop a
better system of labour migration management,
prevent trafficking and related exploitation
of migrant workers within Thailand. As always,
we stand ready and willing to extend any
further technical support, as may be required,
to help bring to an end the exploitation
of all workers – regardless of national
origin.
Bill Salter
Director, Sub-regional Office for East Asia
International Labour Organization
For further media enquiries, contact:
English:
Allan Dow, International Labour Office,
Bangkok
Tel: +66 (0)2 288 2057 or Mob: + 66 (0)89
891 5003
Thai:
Jittima Srisuknam, International Labour
Office, Bangkok
Tel: 02 288 1739
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