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January 16, 1998:ILLEGAL LABOUR
- Subject: January 16, 1998:ILLEGAL LABOUR
- From: suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 03:11:00
January 16, 1998
ILLEGAL LABOUR
300,000 to be
repatriated
Move to create job vacancies for
Thais
Atotal of 300,000 illegal foreign workers will be repatriated
within six months, says Labour and Social Welfare Minister
Trairong Suwannakhiri.
He said the action would start within the next two weeks and
agencies would give Thais those jobs made vacant.
The Foreign Ministry will be responsible for the repatriation
while police and soldiers would make the arrests.
Illegal workers would be sent to repatriation centres in Chiang
Rai, Tak, Kanchanaburi and Ranong before being deported.
Mr Trairong said he would make sure human rights and
international laws were not violated.
He said he was thinking about allowing illegal workers to work in
border provinces near Laos, Burma and Cambodia but they
would not be allowed to stay overnight in Thailand.
National security chiefs have also agreed unanimously to plans to
deport nearly two million illegal alien workers to free up jobs for
recession-hit Thais.
Army Commander-in-Chief Gen Chettha Thanajaro yesterday
said representatives from concerned agencies attending a recent
meeting with the National Security Council have agreed to the
proposed deportation of alien workers, mostly from Burma,
Cambodia and Laos.
The Interior Ministry and police authorities have been told to
crack down on illegal workers and deport them.
As for the army, it will put its troops on full alert along its borders
to stop foreigners from illegally entering the country, said the
army chief.
He said the presence of illegal workers posed a threat to national
security.
Thousands of Thais are already jobless and more than two
million are expected to be out of work by the end of the year.
The NSC decision will be submitted to Prime Minister Chuan
Leekpai on Monday for a final decision on whether to expel the
workers.
Hundreds of thousands of workers from poorer countries in the
region flooded into Thailand during the boom years of the 1980s
and 90s.
Commenting on the government's decision to allow the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to take charge of
refugees living in Thai camps, the army chief said the military had
no problem with it. However, he feared the repatriation of
refugees, particularly Cambodian villagers who had fled fighting
in their country, would be delayed.
A labour union leader yesterday attacked previous governments
for allowing the influx of cheap labour and associated social
problems.
Suvit Hathong, president of the Labour Congress of Thailand,
said it had been wrong to allow alien workers to work in fields
such as construction, fishing and farming.