The Nation: Burma Labels repatriati

[suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Burma Labels repatriation ' Pitiful '     
Agency France-Press

RANGOON - Authorities in Burma have described as "pitiful" the repatriation of hundreds of their workers from Thailand and accused Bangkok of double standards.
"It is rather pitiful that [Burmese] nationals, legal or otherwise, once welcomed in Thailand, are now being sent back home," the report in the state-run New Light of Meaner newspaper said yesterday.

Thailand is cracking down on illegal worker and recently deported about 500 Burmese workers found not tohave visas.

Thailand, desperate to alleviate its mounting unemployment problems, has said it will repatriate about 300,000 illegal workers over the next six months, many of them from Burma or Cambodia.

However, the report in Rangoon accused Thai businessmen of knowingly employing illegal workers while Thai authorities turned "a blind eye' to the issue.

"While millions of Thais seek better paid jobs outside of their country, [Burmese] people go to work at places in Thailand where Thais do not want to work,' the report said.

It denied allegations that workers were fleeing human-rights abuses at the hands of the military regime in Rangoon, saying they had left for no other reason than monetary gain.

Burma's ruling junta has been widely condemned for human-rights abuses such as the use of forced labour and political persecution.

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