News summary: January - March 2013

Due to a near three month lapse in posting, the following are some articles from January to March 2013 dealing with Myanmar workers in Myanmar or abroad.



"Abused Burmese Workers Make EU, US Products: Report," 21 January 2013, The Irrawaddy

"Two tuna factories and a fruit-processing plant in Thailand that supply the US and EU markets are suspected of seriously violating migrant workers’ human and labor rights, Finnish non-profit organization Finnwatch said on Monday. The factories are using “forced and child labor, unlawfully low wages and long hours,” and are involved in human trafficking, the group said. "

"Govt to aid returning Myanmar temporary workers from Thailand," 26 January 2013, Eleven News

"The government also has plans to issue temporary passports with a 3-month duration to the temporary workers and migrant workers. However, the workers are being overcharged when applying for the temporary passports... The government has issued temporary passports to 1.3 million workers in Thailand. Over three million Myanmar migrant workers are now living in Thailand and most of their daily income is between 4,000 kyats to 8,000 kyats."

 "Myanmar workers keen to stay," 30 January 2013, Bangkok Post

"High wages in Thailand are likely to keep the majority of Myanmar migrant workers here over the next three years, a labour researcher says... 30% of the respondents said they earn 10,000 baht or more a month. Forty-six percent said they earn between 5,000-10,000 baht, and 24% said they earn less than 5,000 baht per month."

"Myanmar urges the speeding up of migrant worker registration as deadline approaches," 10 February 2013, The Nation

"Some 1.2 million migrant workers from Myanmar have been registered so far. Myint Thein estimated that 1 million more have no documents... It is estimated that migrant workers in Thailand are accompanied by some 200,000 children, he said, noting that half of them are of school age... The Myanmar minister said the expense of obtaining documentation in Thailand was too high for Myanmar migrant workers. Many of them have to pay as much as Bt15,000, according to Myanmar Ambassador to Thailand Tin Win... "This process is not expensive for the workers, but many of them have to pay private brokers... We don't know how private brokers intervene in the process and take such a large amount of money from the workers."

"Myanmar to train migrate workers about their rights," 12 February 2013, Eleven News

"S. Korea to recruit more workers from Myanmar," 11 February 2013, Eleven News

"China Arrests Five for Trafficking 200 Burmese," 1 March 2013, The Irrawaddy

"Kidnapped Karen Girl Enslaved By Cruel Thai Couple," 12 February 2013, Pattaya Daily News
"Myanmar workers protest against lack of healthcare at factory in Jordan," 19 February 2013, Eleven News

"Burmese Workers in Jordan Strike for Better Pay, Conditions," 28 February 2013, The Irrawaddy

"Burmese Workers in Jordan Prepare to Sue Factory," 4 March 2013, The Irrawaddy

"Myanmar workers continue strike at supplier of Ralph Lauren in Jordan," 7 March 2013, Eleven News

"Myanmar to send experienced labor officials to Jordan," 13 March 2013, Eleven News

"Many falsely identify themselves as Myanmar nationals," 2 March 2013, The Nation

"some 50,000 Chinese and Vietnamese illegal migrants falsely identified themselves as Myanmar citizens during the nationality-verification process... 733,603 alien workers have already undergone a nationality-verification process. About 167,991 others have already registered themselves with Thai authorities, but their nationality has yet to be verified. These figures are in addition to the 93,265 alien workers who have come to Thailand under the memorandums of understanding (MoU) signed between the Thai government and neighbouring countries... most Myanmar, Laotian, and Cambodian workers in Thailand were unskilled labour... there might be some 3.5 million alien workers based in Thailand at present."

"Burmese women molested by men claiming to be Thai police,"

"extortion and abuse of migrant workers by law enforcement officials and people claiming to be law enforcement officials is systematic and prevalent, particularly in areas with high concentrations of non-Thai nationals."

 "Myanmar migrant workers become jobless while officially documented," 15 March 2013, Eleven News

"Many of Myanmar migrant workers with official documents in hand in Thailand are becoming jobless, suggesting that Thai companies preferred undocumented workers."

"10 Percent of Burmese Work Abroad: Migration Expert," 15 March 2013, The Irrawaddy

"10 per cent of Myanmar's population is migrant workers overseas," 15 March 2013, Eleven News,

"Around 10 % of Myanmar's population is estimated to be migrant workers overseas... Most of them in million are found to be ethnic nationals and women... only 130,000 Myanmar migrant workers have been officially sent overseas to work since 1999 through overseas employment agencies in the country... International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated that around five million migrant workers from Myanmar are now working overseas."

"Thailand Rescues Trafficked Burmese Fishermen," 25 March, The Irrawaddy

"Official figures show that 1.2 million Burmese migrants have been issued with temporary passports, while nearly a million workers are still in the process of obtaining legal documents. However, labor rights groups estimate that there are between 2.5 and 4 million Burmese migrants working in Thailand, many of them illegally."

 "Burmese Migrant Workers in Thailand Protest Exploitation," 28 March 2013, The Irrawaddy