Human rights group sounds alarm over Thai mass deportation plan

Feb 23, 2010, 8:16 GMT

Bangkok - The non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch on Tuesday criticised the Thai government's plan to deport migrant workers to neighboring countries if they miss a registration deadline.

Millions of workers from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar face forced repatriation should they fail to register as legal labourers by the end of this month.

'The process is based on an unrealistic deadline,' said Sunai Phasuk, the Thailand representative for the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW). 'The February 28th deadline needs to be postponed.'

The Labour Ministry has declared that migrant workers from neighbouring countries must obtain passports and register for Thai work permits by the deadline or face possible deportation.

To date, about 45,000 have managed to fulfill the requirement, raising international concerns about a possible mass deportation.

United Nations human rights expert Jorge Bustamante and Amnesty International also criticized the initiative last week.

Over 2 million migrant workers from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar live in Thailand, of whom about 500,000 have work permits and are considered legal.

The Thai government has yet to extend the February 28 deadline, although there are signs it will do so.

'We are waiting for all sides to expedite the verification process, and once we get to the deadline we have to see where we stand,' Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Thani Thongpakdi said.

Thailand is unlikely to follow through with a mass deportation, given the hue and cry it would raise in the international community, and the impact on its own economy of losing such a large workforce. The government drew stiff criticism from Western democracies in December when it deported some 4,000 Hmong refugees to Laos.

'This will be another serious blow to the reputation of Thailand, especially when Thailand is now seeking a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council,' Sunai said.

Registered and illegal migrant labour arguably form the backbone of the economy. Migrants find employment in agriculture, fisheries, construction, factory and maid work, which Thais increasingly shun.

HRW accused Thai authorities and employers of widespread abuse of migrant workers stretching back three decades, in a 124-page report released Tuesday, titled From the Tiger to the Crocodile - Abuse of Migrant Workers in Thailand.

'Those from Burma, Cambodia and Laos suffer horribly at the hands of corrupt civil servants and police, unscrupulous employers and violent thugs, who all realize they can abuse migrants with little fear of consequences,' HRW Asia director Brad Adams said.

It was partly to address those abuses that Thailand signed memorandums of understanding with Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar last year, imposing the controversial identification and registration requirements by February 28.

'Their legal status should enable the migrant workers to have greater access to better protection and facilitate orderly returns of these workers upon completion or the termination of their contracts,' said a Thai government statement on the issue.

But human rights advocates note that the registration process is unlikely to entice more workers into the legal fold unless Thai authorities actively extend the benefits of national labour laws to migrants, and prosecute those who abuse migrant labourers.

'The registration process won't work because migrants need an incentive not threats,' said Jackie Pollock, director of the Migrant Assistance Program. 'And incentives would be enforcement of labour laws. If migrants knew thy would be working in safe conditions if they registered and earning minium wage they would enter the process.'