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CURTAIN-RAISER / SYMPOSIUM ON MIGRA
- Subject: CURTAIN-RAISER / SYMPOSIUM ON MIGRA
- From: suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 04:36:00
Subject: CURTAIN-RAISER / SYMPOSIUM ON MIGRATION: Keeping checks on the
migrants
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April 21, 1999
CURTAIN-RAISER / SYMPOSIUM ON MIGRATION
Keeping checks on
the migrants
The poor will go wherever they can to get
the money to buy food for their families,
and the criminal will pay no heed to
international borders if there's a baht to
be made. Both cause problems affecting
many countries of the region.
Bhanravee Tansubhapol
Thailand is hoping to secure the cooperation of regional states as the
host of the international symposium on migration opening today to
combat a problem aggravated by the economic crisis.
The goal is to forge "practical" regional arrangements to deal with the
smuggling of migrants and the trafficking in women and children, say
officials.
The three-day symposium, at the initiative of Surin Pitsuwan, the
foreign minister, marks the first ministerial -level discussions among the
18 countries making up the Asia-Pacific region and the Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region.
The 18 include the nine member states of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations, plus prospective member Cambodia, as well as Sri
Lanka, South Korea, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, China, Japan,
Australia and New Zealand. Asean groups Brunei, Burma, Laos,
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam.
The Thai push for a regional solution comes in the absence of an
Asean initiative on the problem and the failure of earlier initiatives to
deal with it bilaterally.
Like many other countries in the region, Thailand causes migrant
problems, through the illegal export of workers, as well as suffers from
them, as a recipient and transit country for illegal workers from
neighbouring countries.
According to figures compiled by the Labour and Social Welfare
Ministry, there were 90,911 foreign workers in Thailand registered as
of Jan 31 this year, including 79,057 from Burma, 10,593 from
Cambodia, and 1,261 from Laos. But unofficial estimates are much
higher, with the Burmese alone believed to number 1 million.
In a bid to solve the problem of Burmese migrants, Thailand raised the
matter at the Thai-Burma Joint Commission meeting in late 1997.
But there has been no progress since that first step as Rangoon has
not yet lived up to its pledge to set up a sub-committee to deal with
the problem, said one official.
The economic crisis which hit Asia after the collapse of the baht in July
1997 has led to a marked increase in undocumented migrants in the
region because foreign workers became the first target group for
company lay-offs, according to a report compiled by Mahidol
University serving as a basic document for the symposium.
Kritaya.Archavanitkul and Philip Guest from the university's Institute
for Population and Social Research have suggested short- and
long-term strategies towards regional solutions, involving countries of
origin and reception in the protection of migrant workers' social and
economic rights.
The short-term strategies call for:
-The setting up of focal points in
each concerned country to deal with inflows and outflows of
undocumented migrants,
-The sharing of burdens and responsibilities
by countries of origin and reception,
-A strategy for identifying the
nationality of a person,
-uA review and amendment of laws and legal
procedures to permit victims of trafficking to stay in recipient countries
while they are on trial, and
-The participation of non-government
organisations and some international organisations in assisting
undocumented migrants.
For the long-term, the Mahidol team has proposed setting up a
regional organisation to coordinate and gather information on issues
related to migration, particularly undocumented migrants. They also
suggested that the organisation identify the specific responsibilities of
sending, recipient, and transit countries.
The team also called for close and sincere government-to-government
discussions on the import and export of workers in order to eliminate
the problem of independent brokers who cheat workers.
Governments should forge labour agreements which would help
reduce undocumented migration.
Thailand suffers from illegal migration in security, economic and social
terms, notes the Thai Labour and Social Welfare Ministry.
For security officials, the existence of a large population of migrants
poses a problem similar to that posed by any minority group in the
country which could club together to push demands.
In economic terms, the migrant workers pose a threat by working for
cheaper pay as well as by being consumers. Businessmen in the small
province of Ranong, where there are as many as 50,000 Burmese, of
whom 40,000 are illegal, confirm that they have come to depend on
them.
"If there were no Burmese workers, the business in many provinces,
especially Ranong, would be worse," said one. The Burmese not only
are employed for their manual labour but also as salesmen serving their
Burmese customers.
On the social front, Thai authorities are concerned about crime as well
as health problems.
The potential for crime lies in the fact that children born in Thailand of
undocumented foreign workers cannot be provided with schooling,
unlike legally registered children who are allowed formal education up
to Prathom 6.
Health concerns include the fear of spread to local Thai communities
of diseases prevalent among alien workers such as malaria,
elephantiasis, tuberculosis, syphilis and Aids.
There also is the question of local authorities having to shoulder the
burden of paying for migrants' health care, with Ranong spending 1.6
million baht on this last year.
To lighten the burden of local authorities, the government could require
Burmese workers to buy health insurance cards, at 500 baht each, or
ask for assistance from foreign governments or non-government
organisations, suggested a health official in Ranong.
Some problems are of Thailand's own making. One concerns a
relaxation in 1994 of rules enabling Burmese to work legally in
Thailand in order to ease shortages in certain sectors, notably the
construction and fishery industries.
The relaxation allowed Burmese to use Thai names when applying for
work permits. When the work permits expire, and it is time for the
workers to return home, Burmese authorities refuse to admit them,
citing their Thai names as evidence of them being Thai. The result is
that Thailand has to jail them as illegals and provide for their keep. Lack
of unity among government agencies and corruption are other
problems. If local authorities strictly obey the instructions of ministries
in Bangkok, there would not be so many illegal workers in the
country, said a labour official.
© Copyright The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. 1999
Last Modified: Wed, Apr 21, 1999
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