CURTAIN-RAISER / SYMPOSIUM ON MIGRA

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Subject: CURTAIN-RAISER / SYMPOSIUM ON MIGRATION: Keeping checks on the

migrants 
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                                              April 21, 1999 

    CURTAIN-RAISER / SYMPOSIUM ON MIGRATION

 Keeping checks on
 the migrants

 The poor will go wherever they can to get
 the money to buy food for their families,
 and the criminal will pay no heed to
 international borders if there's a baht to
 be made. Both cause problems affecting
 many countries of the region.

 Bhanravee Tansubhapol

 Thailand is hoping to secure the cooperation of regional states as the
 host of the international symposium on migration opening today to
 combat a problem aggravated by the economic crisis.

 The goal is to forge "practical" regional arrangements to deal with the
 smuggling of migrants and the trafficking in women and children, say
 officials.

 The three-day symposium, at the initiative of Surin Pitsuwan, the
 foreign minister, marks the first ministerial -level discussions among the
 18 countries making up the Asia-Pacific region and the Hong Kong
 Special Administrative Region.

 The 18 include the nine member states of the Association of Southeast
 Asian Nations, plus prospective member Cambodia, as well as Sri
 Lanka, South Korea, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, China, Japan,
 Australia and New Zealand. Asean groups Brunei, Burma, Laos,
 Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
 Vietnam.

 The Thai push for a regional solution comes in the absence of an
 Asean initiative on the problem and the failure of earlier initiatives to
 deal with it bilaterally.

 Like many other countries in the region, Thailand causes migrant
 problems, through the illegal export of workers, as well as suffers from
 them, as a recipient and transit country for illegal workers from
 neighbouring countries.

 According to figures compiled by the Labour and Social Welfare
 Ministry, there were 90,911 foreign workers in Thailand registered as
 of Jan 31 this year, including 79,057 from Burma, 10,593 from
 Cambodia, and 1,261 from Laos. But unofficial estimates are much
 higher, with the Burmese alone believed to number 1 million.

 In a bid to solve the problem of Burmese migrants, Thailand raised the
 matter at the Thai-Burma Joint Commission meeting in late 1997.

 But there has been no progress since that first step as Rangoon has
 not yet lived up to its pledge to set up a sub-committee to deal with
 the problem, said one official.

 The economic crisis which hit Asia after the collapse of the baht in July
 1997 has led to a marked increase in undocumented migrants in the
 region because foreign workers became the first target group for
 company lay-offs, according to a report compiled by Mahidol
 University serving as a basic document for the symposium.

 Kritaya.Archavanitkul and Philip Guest from the university's Institute
 for Population and Social Research have suggested short- and
 long-term strategies towards regional solutions, involving countries of
 origin and reception in the protection of migrant workers' social and
 economic rights.

 The short-term strategies call for:
-The setting up of focal points in 
each concerned country to deal with inflows and outflows of
 undocumented migrants,
-The sharing of burdens and responsibilities
 by countries of origin and reception,
-A strategy for identifying the
 nationality of a person,
-uA review and amendment of laws and legal
 procedures to permit victims of trafficking to stay in recipient countries
 while they are on trial, and
-The participation of non-government
 organisations and some international organisations in assisting
 undocumented migrants.

 For the long-term, the Mahidol team has proposed setting up a
 regional organisation to coordinate and gather information on issues
 related to migration, particularly undocumented migrants. They also
 suggested that the organisation identify the specific responsibilities of
 sending, recipient, and transit countries.

 The team also called for close and sincere government-to-government
 discussions on the import and export of workers in order to eliminate
 the problem of independent brokers who cheat workers.
 Governments should forge labour agreements which would help
 reduce undocumented migration.

 Thailand suffers from illegal migration in security, economic and social
 terms, notes the Thai Labour and Social Welfare Ministry.

 For security officials, the existence of a large population of migrants
 poses a problem similar to that posed by any minority group in the
 country which could club together to push demands.

 In economic terms, the migrant workers pose a threat by working for
 cheaper pay as well as by being consumers. Businessmen in the small
 province of Ranong, where there are as many as 50,000 Burmese, of
 whom 40,000 are illegal, confirm that they have come to depend on
 them.

 "If there were no Burmese workers, the business in many provinces,
 especially Ranong, would be worse," said one. The Burmese not only
 are employed for their manual labour but also as salesmen serving their
 Burmese customers.

 On the social front, Thai authorities are concerned about crime as well
 as health problems.

 The potential for crime lies in the fact that children born in Thailand of
 undocumented foreign workers cannot be provided with schooling,
 unlike legally registered children who are allowed formal education up
 to Prathom 6.

 Health concerns include the fear of spread to local Thai communities
 of diseases prevalent among alien workers such as malaria,
 elephantiasis, tuberculosis, syphilis and Aids.

 There also is the question of local authorities having to shoulder the
 burden of paying for migrants' health care, with Ranong spending 1.6
 million baht on this last year.

 To lighten the burden of local authorities, the government could require
 Burmese workers to buy health insurance cards, at 500 baht each, or
 ask for assistance from foreign governments or non-government
 organisations, suggested a health official in Ranong.

 Some problems are of Thailand's own making. One concerns a
 relaxation in 1994 of rules enabling Burmese to work legally in
 Thailand in order to ease shortages in certain sectors, notably the
 construction and fishery industries.

 The relaxation allowed Burmese to use Thai names when applying for
 work permits. When the work permits expire, and it is time for the
 workers to return home, Burmese authorities refuse to admit them,
 citing their Thai names as evidence of them being Thai. The result is
 that Thailand has to jail them as illegals and provide for their keep. Lack
 of unity among government agencies and corruption are other
 problems. If local authorities strictly obey the instructions of ministries
 in Bangkok, there would not be so many illegal workers in the
 country, said a labour official.

                                                       


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