The challenge of debt bondage in Thailand

Migrant workers who fall prey to human traffickers often avoid reporting their cases to Thai authorities for fear of being incarcerated, leaving them unable to earn money to send home or pay back debts to brokers... Migrant workers from Myanmar and also Cambodia commonly borrow money to pay recruitment fees to illegal brokers to be smuggled into Thailand or to registered brokers for the paperwork to go legally... Once they start their jobs, they are often not paid for several months as their salaries are used to pay those debts, leaving them vulnerable to trafficking and broker exploitation... agency, recruitment and corruption costs, can cause migrants to rack up debts from $400 up to $1,200 just to get started working in Thailand...

"Fear of incarceration hamper Thai fight against human trafficking: activist," Reuters, 28 April 2016

Will child labour increase in Myanmar?

VOA on a potential increase in child labour:

After 50 years of economic isolation, observers fear that Myanmar children might be forced to work before they can complete schooling in a booming economy... Experts say about twenty percent of children in Myanmar between the ages of 10 and 17 work instead of going to school. They work in factories, tourism and many other businesses. They work in cities and in rural areas... Children younger than age 13 are not permitted to work in shops or factories in Myanmar. If they do work, they may only do so for up to four hours a day. But experts say businesses do not obey the law, and the government does not punish them for ignoring it.

"Economic Growth Could Increase Child Labor in Myanmar," VOA, 5 May 2016

Andy Hall on the MoU system of migrant employment in Thailand

Andy Hall offers some excellent critiques of the fraught MoU system for employment of migrants in Thailand, which facilitates debt bondage and other constraints on migrants changing employers.   

The system had failed in that it obliged migrant workers to stick to an assigned workplace as indicated in the contract. Worse, the system grants the right to agencies without workplaces to accommodate the workers. With such a (MoU) system, those who want -- or are forced to -- to change workplaces, have no other choice but to throw away the official documents, despite their financial and psychological worth, and instead opt for the pink card, which enables them to change workplaces. However, holders of this semi-regular migrant worker card are at risk of being deprived of social security benefits. With the pink card, workers have limited freedom of movement and could face deportation.

"MoU system still exploits workers," Bangkok Post, 8 April 2016

Myanmar Times: NLD takes first steps on migrant policy

Nyan Lynn Aung and Htoo Thant report:

In its first, tenuous start toward a policy on migrant workers, the National League for Democracy is drawing up a bill to address the millions of citizens outside the country. The Pyithu Hluttaw International Relations Committee has een tasked with drafting the legislation after assessing the needs of the workers. “We are now making observations for the bill. I think it will take three months to complete the observations,” said committee member U Myo Zaw Aung, a lower house representative for Sagaing Region’s Kawlin township. He did not say which aspects of migration the bill would aim to address. But rights groups that have met with the new government have stressed the need for long-term policy planning to replace the current capricious system that relies on temporary and only semi-legal identification documents. U Myo Zaw Aung acknowledged that problems with Myanmar’s economy – particularly the lack of job opportunities in rural areas – need to be addressed so that workers are not compelled to leave in the first place.

"NLD takes first steps on migrant policy," The Myanmar Times, 7 April 2016

Update on migrant registration in Thailand

My favourite Myanmar Times' journalist Nyan Lynn Aung provides a detailed report on the ever-changing registration situation for migrants in Thailand:

Passport-holding migrant workers in Thailand are furious over a new policy that will see them slide into a legal grey zone, and be levied with a barrage of fees along the way. Over 1 million temporary passport holders will not be allowed to renew their expiring residency documents, issued between 2009 and 2013 as part of a national verification process. Instead, they are being told to forfeit their legal status, and apply for “pink cards” that leave them vulnerable to arrest and deportation.

Thailand to Myanmar spatial fix?

A brief comment on which we might speculate about a Thailand to Myanmar spatial fix:

There are some bright spots – several Thai garment manufacturers have relocated to Yangon citing lower wages and production costs – bearing in mind generators and other self sufficient energy resources needed to be installed. However, at present, despite its allure, Myanmar remains a difficult country at present to do business. The new Government needs to take stock, produce a sustainable foreign investment culture, and then look at raising funds to secure much needed infrastructure development investments. Manufacturing meanwhile will in time be a possibility – but not until a better quality of education and training in skill sets can be introduced on a mass level.

"Cambodia, Laos & Myanmar – 2016 Foreign Investment Outlook," Asia Briefing, 1 April 2016.

Su Su Nway rearrested

Labour and land activist Su Su Nway was arrested last week for giving an "educational talk" critical of exploitation of squatters:

Police arrested land rights activist Su Su Nway yesterday for an educational talk she held in Hlaingthaya Township, Yangon, in 2014. She has been charged under Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law. “At that time, I didn’t talk about anything political, except ward affairs. I talked about not taking profit from squatters by renting houses and systematically constructing bathrooms. I committed no offences,” said Su Su Nway. “She was taken to Insein Prison after deciding not to appeal. She knew she didn’t commit any offences, and so she didn’t appeal for bill,” said her husband Markee. Su Su Nway was sentenced to 21 days in prison by a Bago Region court for helping farmers and charged under Section 18 by the Pyin Oo Lwin Township court.

"Activist Su Su Nway arrested for educational speech," Eleven Media, 29 March 2016.