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Burmese workers 'unpaid captives'



Sorry if double posted.

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST - Saturday, November 13, 1999
THAILAND
Burmese workers 'unpaid captives'
WILLIAM BARNES in Bangkok
Some Thai factory owners on the Burmese border have refused to release or pay their Burmese workers amid a government crackdown on illegal labourers.  Human rights workers said the action showed how the Burmese had become pawns in a cynical, political tussle.
"The factory owners claim they are forced to keep many workers in their dormitories because the border is closed," said a foreign refugee official in the border town of Mae Sot.
"The truth is many of them are prisoners. Some can't leave even if they want to."
If the factory owners are hoping the Government will reverse its policy, they are likely to be disappointed.
Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai reiterated yesterday that all but a select few workers in the underground economy must go.
Scores of textile and garment-making businesses are facing bankruptcy after being forced to suspend operations 10 days ago.
Their vulnerable, mostly young and female workers are often not being paid.  About 300 Burmese gathered outside the Kings Body Concept clothing factory in Mae Sot this week to demand the two months' salary they claim to be owed.
Some 1,000 employees of the nearby TK Garment factory made similar demands.
Burma has broken with normal international behaviour by refusing to take back many of the refugees because it is angry with Thailand for what it perceives as the soft treatment of five dissidents who seized its Bangkok embassy for 25 hours a month ago.
Rangoon swiftly closed the border after Thailand allowed the five to slip away into the border jungle.
"The expatriated migrants usually have no option other than to return to Thailand, where they are often deported again," said the Chiang Mai-based Images Asia human rights organisation.
"As a result of these revolving-door detentions and deportations, migrants are being placed at great risk."
The bodies of eight Burmese who were forced to cross the Moei River have so far been found.
Five Thai border police raped a woman and molested others on a river bank near Mae Sot, according to an opposition official who witnessed the attack.
In what Images Asia describes as a climate of fear, even Burmese classified as "persons of concern" by the United Nations refugee agency and opposition officials have been ejected.
Amnesty International said it was deeply concerned over the disturbing reports, especially since many deportees were given no chance to claim political asylum.