Undocumented international migrant workers face occupational risk even before they arrive at work. Just the journey to their country of employment is dangerous, as they almost invariably rely on people smugglers, who often demonstrate reckless disregard for their safety.

In April this year, a tragic accident in Southern Thailand highlighted this seldom-discussed occupational hazard: the hazard of undocumented international migration for work. On 9 April 2008, 54 migrant workers suffocated in a truck transporting them to the resort island of Phuket. All were undocumented. Rather than assist the 67 migrants who survived, the Thai authorities had them detained and brought before a local court, where they were sentenced for illegal entry, fined and imprisoned when found unable to pay. The Thai government should be condemned not only for its inhumane treatment of the survivors, but also its failure to properly regulate the labour migration on which its economy is so dependent. On 22 April labour rights NGOs held protest actions in Bangkok and Hong Kong.

 

There are at least two million migrant workers currently in Thailand, 85 per cent of whom are from Burma. Migrant workers make up approximately 5 per cent of the total Thai workforce, but work in the most dangerous, dirty and demeaning jobs in the seafood, construction, agriculture and garment industries. The Thai government has acknowledged that a massive 75 per cent of migrants are unregistered, because of a failing, overly complicated and inflexible migrant registration system. These undocumented migrants are in very precarious positions at work, but also on the journey into Thailand. Because of the necessity to conceal their entry into the country, they rely on risky and often dangerous modes of transportation, organized through people smugglers who demonstrate reckless disregard for migrants’ safety. For employment, they often end up as bonded labour, in appalling working conditions. Industries have been set up in Thailand along the Burmese border. For example, in Maesot there are many garment factories that employ Burmese workers who are poorly paid and ill-treated. They stay in factories and have to work for more than 12 hours everyday with almost no break. Many of the workers without proper documents cannot even venture out of the factory, for fear of the police catching them and sending them back to Burma. Needless to say, as undocumented labour, they fall entirely outside of Thailand’s social security system.

A country such as Thailand that relies so heavily on imported labour has an obligation not only to guarantee protection of migrants at work, but also to ensure that those traveling to seek work can do so safely and with due process. The problems of illegal trafficking, smuggling and unsafe transportation of workers are directly related to the Thai government’s failure to regulate immigration. The country’s registration system for migrants must be immediately overhauled to make it more effective and transparent.

The Burmese military junta is also culpable for the perilous circumstances faced by Burmese migrants who emigrate for work. The junta has created a situation in Burma where large swathes of its population are leaving the country for their personal safety or more better economic prospects. The junta, however, refuses to acknowledge the crisis within its own borders, and therefore refuses to regulate the mass out-migration of its citizens. The junta turns a blind eye to trafficking and smuggling rings – some of which involve the government’s own officials.

 

On 9 April over 100 undocumented Burmese migrants set off for Thailand in a refrigerated truck usually used for carrying seafood. Without any proper ventilation, 54 of them died, including 36 women, 16 men, one eight year old girl and a young boy. Rather than assist the 53 migrants who survived, the Thai authorities had them detained and brought before a local court, where they were sentenced for illegal entry, and fined 2,000 baht (USD60). Only four were able to pay. The rest were imprisoned, with no access to lawyers.

 

Upon hearing about this case through the media, the Asian Network for the Rights of Occupational Accident Victims (ANROAV) mobilized its members to express solidarity for the victims of this case of blatant disregard for migrants’ safety. ANROAV compiled a petition targeting the Thai government, which was endorsed by 90 organizations and individuals globally. The petition demanded:

1.   The deportation of all surviving victims be halted until an inquiry into the incident is complete, to ensure perpetrators of this incident are brought to justice;

2.   Surviving victims of this incident and dependents of the deceased should be provided with immediate access to independent lawyers and adequate compensation for deaths and injuries;

3.   The Thai Government should immediately initiate an open and transparent inquiry into this incident in which the involvement of private companies as well as related State agencies in trafficking, smuggling and illegal transportation activities should in particular be explored;

4.   The government’s registration system for migrant workers must immediately be overhauled to make it more effective and transparent. In association with civil society and employers, the government must create a system that accepts the economic necessity and benefit of migrant workers for Thailand. The government must therefore cease to shortsightedly consider only national security aspects of migration and seek to limit opportunities for both its own officials, private individuals and the Burmese military junta’s to engage in trafficking, smuggling and illegal transportation operations.

On 22 April solidarity protest actions against the Thai government were held simultaneously in Bangkok and Hong Kong. In Bangkok, Thai labour and human rights groups met in front of the Thai Parliament to protest against the death of the Burmese migrants and demand justice for them. In Hong Kong, 20 people from eight labour, human rights and migrants’ rights organizations gathered at the Thai consulate to present ANROAV’s petition. On 21 April Immigration Bureau Chief Pol. Lt. Gen. Chatchawal Suksomjit said that an initial investigation had determined that the case was to be handled as one of human smuggling rather than human trafficking (The Irrawaddy, 22 April 2008).

 

Unfortunately, all survivors were deported back to Burma, in spite of the pleas by different human rights and labour organizations to the Thai government to stop their deportation of the survivors. 56 of them were deported on 19 May after spending a month in detention in Ranong province, and the remaining 10 survivors on 8 June. There were, however, small public relations efforts made to show the world that these economic migrants were taken proper care of. They were provided with some clothing and supplies by the World Vision Foundation on their departure to Burma, and various reports indicating ‘how happy they felt to go back to home’ even though they had risked their lives to come to work in Thailand in the first place (Bangkok Post, 9 June 2008).

The response included the drawing up a Memorandum of Repatriation on Myanmar Migrant Workers Survivors, which was agreed upon by the governors of Ranong (in Thailand) and Kawthoung (in Burma) provinces on 13 May. Interestingly, the Burmese officials disagreed with Item 3 in the memorandum, which stated that ‘the Myanmar government certifies that, once it receives those survivors back in Myanmar, it will not prosecute them under any circumstances and will provide protection and assistance in accordance with Human Right Base (basic principles of human rights).’ Item 3 was amended to read that the Myanmar government will ‘provide protection and assistance in accordance with the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.’ (Bangkok Post, 1 June 2008). Once back in Burma, there is no way of knowing what has happened to the survivors. Meanwhile everyday more and more Burmese are risking their lives crossing border in a hope to find work in Thailand and hope for a better life.