"...Amnesty International is concerned about a variety of human rights which are systematically denied to civilians by the Myanmar government, particularly those belonging to ethnic minorities. The routine military interference with the exercise of human rights includes forced labour; forcible relocation; extortion of food, money and other personal possessions; house destruction; and the denial of freedom of movement. During May and June 2004, Amnesty International interviewed 115 migrant workers in seven locations in Thailand who were either working or searching for work. They were members of the Mon, Kayin, Kayah, Shan, Rawang, Tavoyan and Bama ethnic groups, and followed the Buddhist, Muslim, or Christian faiths. They were employed mostly in the fishing, manufacturing, agricultural, construction, and domestic service industries. The interviews were conducted confidentially with the assistance of an independent Bama ? English interpreter. Both the men and women who were interviewed were predominantly from rural areas, although some were from urban centres, including small towns, State and Division capitals, and Yangon. In the last decade hundreds of thousands of workers from Myanmar have migrated to neighbouring Thailand in search of jobs and other economic opportunities. Migrants interviewed by Amnesty International had left their homes in Myanmar for a variety of reasons, including the inability to find a job; confiscation of their houses and land by the military; and fear that if they remained they would be subjected to human rights violations, including forced labour. Many of the young people who were interviewed had come to work in Thailand in order to send money back to their families. However some of them could not save enough to send any money home, but were working in Thailand so as not to be a burden to their parents. Those who had fled from militarized areas in Myanmar were much more likely to have had direct experience of human rights violations at the hands of the Myanmar military. In some areas the vast majority of young people have left their villages in order to work in Thailand. One Mon man from Hpa?an township, Kayin State, told Amnesty International about the situation in his village: "Many people have been in Thailand for the last 15 years, and many more are leaving now. Prices are going up, the population is growing, people are having a hard time feeding themselves and have decided to leave."..."