Thailand Criticized for Treatment of Migrants, Refugees
- In: Regional
- Published Date
- By Daniel Schearf/RFA
A United-Nations-commissioned report criticizes Thailand for its treatment of migrants and refugees. Thailand is a major destination for Southeast Asian migrants, most of them from Burma.
In a report released Tuesday, the International Organization for Migration says Thailand has more than two million migrants in the country, most of them working in manual labor.
But, despite their contributing more than $2 billion, annually, to the Thai economy, many migrants still face discrimination and exploitation.
Gwi-Yeop Son, the United Nations' resident coordinator in Thailand, says the country has good laws for protecting migrants, but that they are not enforced well.
"Migrants often don't receive the minimum wage prescribed by Thai labor law," she said. "On the other hand, migrants often don't dare to complain about their treatment, out of fear of dismissal, arrest, and deportation."
About two-thirds of migrants in Thailand are here illegally.
The U.N.-commissioned report says Thailand's migrant registration process is becoming more restrictive, so the numbers of undocumented migrants who are easily exploited is increasing.
An author of the report, Rosalia Sciortino, says there is a false perception that migrants take jobs from Thais.
"Those jobs are too low or considered too bad paid by Thai workers. So, this is something important to consider, because there will be more pressure for sending migrants home with the argument that Thai workers are without a job," said Sciortino. "This is not proven by past history."
U.N. Resident Coordinator Gwi-Yeop Son says as many as 80 percent of Thailand's migrants are from Burma, where thousands of refugees have fled persecution and poverty.
{mosgoogle}Thailand has sheltered 150,000 refugees from Burma in border camps and worked with the U.N. to help resettle them abroad.
The United States has accepted the largest number of refugees from Thailand. From 2004 to 2007, more than 30,000 Burmese and Lao Hmong received U.S. resettlement.
The report criticizes Thailand for limiting U.N. access to some refugee groups, such as the Shan, Hmong, Rohingya and North Koreans.
The United Nations is encouraging Thailand to ratify international conventions on protecting migrant workers and refugees and to allow the U.N. refugee agency to independently meet with and assess potential refugees.