Reaching women migrant workers and their families in construction camps in Thailand

BANGKOK, Thailand (ILO News) – On Thursday 26 May 2022, the President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, His Excellency Collen Vixen Kelapile visited one of the construction camp sites supported by the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative Safe and Fair Programme. The visit took place in during the 78th session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific held in Bangkok.

Echoing one of the focuses of the 78th session of the Commission, the visit aimed to learnt about the ILO’s partnerships with private company and civil society organization, challenges and listen to the needs of migrant construction workers, especially women.

For over a decade, millions of migrant workers have contributed to the society and economy of Thailand and their countries of origin. According to the Department of Employment, there are currently 2.3 million migrant workers in Thailand, of whom around 1 million are women. Among those 2.3 million migrant workers, 600,000 are working in the construction sector with around 36 per cent of them being women. Despite their positive contribution, many women migrant workers in construction sector often face challenges when accessing public and private service provisions.

Realizing the challenges women migrant workers in construction sector and their family are facing, the ILO through Safe and Fair Programme under the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative, in partnership with the World Vision Foundation of Thailand, launched a project called "REACH" in May 2022 to improve migrant workers’ knowledge and understanding of labour and protection rights, recruitment processes, and existing support services such as health services for migrant women and grievance and remediation mechanisms from government and non-government agencies. The project will also contribute to ensuring women migrant workers in the construction sector are well aware of their rights and entitlements under the labour laws and are supported by local duty bearers such as provincial authorities, government and non-governmental service providers and their employers.

The REACH project will start with women migrant workers and their families living in 10 construction camps and working on 25 construction sites in Sansiri Public Company Limited’s supply chain in Bangkok, Samutprakan, Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani provinces, contributing towards systems strengthening through outreach and referral to government services, and the mainstreaming of women and child protection across Sansiri’s business model.

The direct target beneficiaries include 50 migrant worker volunteers (35 women, 15 men), who will be trained and improve their capacity and knowledge about migrants’ rights, women’s rights, children’s rights and protection, and vocational training skills. The trained volunteers will support migrant communities on awareness raising and assist in disseminating information in their communities. Intended beneficiaries will include 600 women and 400 men migrant construction workers, 200 migrant children living in construction camps, and 125 contractors active in 10 Sansiri’s construction camps across Bangkok, Samutprakan, Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani provinces.

The project further aims to develop a model of private sector–civil society–government partnership to ensure that migrant children and women can access education and health services and have their rights protected. The project will also be promoted for replication as a good practice model across Sansiri’s business model and to other property developers and construction companies.

The Safe and Fair programme is part of the Spotlight Initiative to eliminate violence against women and girls, funded by the European Union. The programme is implemented through a partnership between the ILO and UN Women, in collaboration with UNODC, with the overriding objective of ensuring that labour migration is safe and fair for all women in the ASEAN region.