Burma-related legislation and human rights issues in Thailand

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Websites/Multiple Documents

Description: This page provides information on the procedures of the Human Rights Committee, the treaty body which administers the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It also has a link to the text of the Covenant.
Source/publisher: United Nations
Date of entry/update: 2004-08-18
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English, Francais, Espanol, Russian, Arabic, Chinese
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Description: Many of the victims of human rights violations in Thailand are refugees and migrants from Burma
Source/publisher: Amnesty International
Date of entry/update: 2003-08-22
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: Various Thai laws and links to other sources
Source/publisher: Law Library of Congress
Date of entry/update: 2005-02-23
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: This document forms part of the reports of Thailand to UN treaty bodies.
Source/publisher: United Nations
Date of entry/update: 2004-08-18
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Individual Documents

Description: 1997, 2006 and 2007 versions
Source/publisher: Govt. of Thailand
1997-10-11
Date of entry/update: 2010-11-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "...There are an estimated 200,000 Burmese children living in Thailand, many of whom are working, with 20% of the migrant workforce thought to consist of children aged 15 to 17 years of age. It was seen to be a standard practice for parents to send children out to work, especially once they have reached the age of 13 years and seen to be physically capable of bringing in extra income for the family. Children may voluntarily leave or be taken out of school to work alongside their parents in the factory or fields, as domestics or as service workers in shops and restaurants. Researchers have found that children working in Mae Sot factories and the agricultural area are subject to the worst forms of child labour, working long hours and being exposed to hazardous chemicals and conditions that are in direct violation of Thai labour law. The difficulty of obtaining registration and the work permit makes for a tenuous existence. Consequently, young people can be coerced or forced into bad employment situations... As parent?s lives are consumed by the need to work and make money, children can be denied the love, care and guidance essential to their healthy growth and development and may be separated from or even abandoned by parents. Some parents abuse and exploit their children by telling them not to come back home if they cannot earn a fixed amount per day. Consequently these children go out on the streets looking for daily work to survive; this can include begging, collecting recyclable rubbish and carrying heavy loads. This pressure is seen to change the moral character of children with some turning to stealing. Children who are unemployed, neglected, abandoned, or orphaned can end up permanently on the streets. Being out of school and on the streets increases the risk of being trafficked and recruitment by gangs, who physically threaten and may even kill children who try to escape... Statelessness is a real risk for children who are unable to receive identity registration in Burma and for those born in Thailand of migrants, especially unregistered parents. Despite the ratification of conventions, such as the United Nation?s Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 (CRC), and the International Convention of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) that stipulate birth registration of all children born in Thailand, in reality only registered migrants who hold a work permit can register their child?s birth. A change in the Civil Registration Act, effective from the 23rd August 2008, will allow all children born on Thai soil, regardless of their status, to register their births and obtain a birth certificate; however it remains to be seen how this will be implemented. In the meantime the Committee for Promotion and Protection of Child Rights (Burma) (CPPCR), a Burmese CBO established in 2002, provides a registration service for children from Burma that in some cases, has been recognized by some Thai schools and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)..."
Source/publisher: Committee for Promotion and Protection of Child Rights (Burma)
2009-02-00
Date of entry/update: 2009-11-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 3.39 MB
Local URL:
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Description: "Migrant children in Mae Sot are faced with excessive working hours, lack of time off, and unhealthy proximity to dangerous machines and chemicals. They also endure the practice of debt bondage and the systematic seizure of their identification documents. Indeed many of these children in Mae Sot can most accurately be described as enduring the "worst forms of child labour, prohibited by the International Labour Organization's Convention No. 182 - a Convention that the Royal Thai Government ratified in February, 2001. These child workers reported that they were virtually forced to remain at the factory due to restrictions placed on their movements by factory owners, and by threats of arrest and harassment by police and other officials if they were stopped outside the factory gates. Put succinctly, Mae Sot has perfected a system where children are literally working day and night, week after week, for wages that are far below the legal minimum wage, to the point of absolute exhaustion..."
Creator/author: Philip S. Robertson Jr., Editor
Source/publisher: International Labour Organisation
2006-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2007-04-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 4.46 MB
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Description: CONTENTS: A. Background: Birth registration and the Hill Tribes, Burmese migrants and trafficking... 1) Vulnerability of children lacking birth registration in Thailand; 2) Birth registration of hill tribe communities in Thailand ; 3) Extracts on Thailand from "Lives on Hold: The Human Cost of Statelessness”; 4) Extracts from ?No Status: Migration, Trafficking & Exploitation of Women in Thailand”; 5) Extracts from an NGO document on Burmese migrants; 6) An article from the Bangkok Post on birth registration; 7) UN and NGO letter on birth registration and trafficking to the Minister of Foreign Affairs... Thai Government Proposals: 1) Stateless People: Govt. to revamp processing of nationality applications; 2) Registering babies is just a start in life... B. Analysis: Birth Registration of Migrant Children Born in Thailand... C. Suggestions for the List of Issues... Annexes: A) Relevant Thai legislation (links to selected texts): 1) Thailand?s Nationality Act; 2) The Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand; 3) Immigration Act of 1979; 4) Links to other Thai legislation... B) Thailand?s initial report to the Human Rights Committee - The section on Article 24 (paras 612-623)... C) The Committee on the Rights of the Child: its concerns about birth registration in Thailand: 1) Thailand?s reservation on Article 7; 2) The CRC on the reservation; 3) Discussion of the reservation in Thailand?s 2nd report to the CRC.
Source/publisher: Burma Peace Foundation
2005-04-00
Date of entry/update: 2006-08-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 320.3 KB
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Description: "This preliminary collection of documents is submitted to the Human Rights Committee in advance of its examination of Thailand?s initial report, to raise the issue of the groups in Thailand whose children, in violation of Article 24 of the Covenant, tend not to be registered at birth, and are thus exposed to statelessness and many forms of difficulties and abuse... CONTENTS: A. Background: Birth registration and the Hill Tribes, Burmese migrants and trafficking; 1) Vulnerability of children lacking birth registration in Thailand; 2) Birth registration of hill tribe communities in Thailand ; 3) Extracts on Thailand from "Lives on Hold: The Human Cost of Statelessness”; 4) Extracts from ?No Status: Migration, Trafficking & Exploitation of Women in Thailand”; 5) Extracts from an NGO document on Burmese migrants; 6) An article from the Bangkok Post on birth registration; 7) UN and NGO letter on birth registration and trafficking to the Minister of Foreign Affairs... Thai Government Proposals: 1) Stateless People: Govt. to revamp processing of nationality applications; 2) Registering babies is just a start in life... B. Analysis: Birth Registration of Migrant Children Born in Thailand... C. Suggested orientation of the question(s) for the List of Issues... Annexes: A) Relevant Thai legislation (links to selected texts); 1) Thailand?s Nationality Act; 2) The Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand; 3) Immigration Act of 1979; 4) Links to other Thai legislation... B) Thailand?s initial report to the Human Rights Committee -- The section on Article 24 (paras 612-623)... C) The Committee on the Rights of the Child: its concerns about birth registration in Thailand; 1) Thailand?s reservation on Article 7; 2) The CRC on the reservation; 3) Discussion of the reservation in Thailand?s 2nd report to the CRC.
Source/publisher: Burma Peace Foundation
2005-03-00
Date of entry/update: 2006-08-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 320.98 KB
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Source/publisher: United Nations
2006-01-04
Date of entry/update: 2006-01-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Source/publisher: United Nations (CCPR/CO/84/THA)
2005-07-28
Date of entry/update: 2005-12-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: The list of issues the Committee sent to the Thai Government. The response to these questions will be the starting point for the July examionation of Thailand's report to the HRC.
Source/publisher: United Nations (CCPR/C/84/L/THA.)
2005-04-13
Date of entry/update: 2005-05-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Source/publisher: ?Nationality & Statelessness” Vol. II, IBHI Humanitarian Series, 1996
1992-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2005-02-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : htm
Size: 73.84 KB
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Description: "Angry Thai factory owners are ?out to kill me? says a Burmese labor leader in Thailand. Moe Swe must die! That?s the chilling message this outspoken champion of Burmese workers? rights in Thailand says is being put about by angry Thai factory owners..."
Creator/author: Kyaw Zwa Moe
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 12, No. 6
2004-06-00
Date of entry/update: 2004-10-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: These Summary records of the 3 meetings contain: 3 in Spanish, 2 in English, 1 in French. The main URL is the 1st meeting (English version). The date given is for the last meeting.
Source/publisher: United Nations
1998-10-02
Date of entry/update: 2004-08-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English, French, Francais, French, Espanol, Spanish
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Description: Thailand?s Second Report On The Implementation of the Convention On the Rights of the Child Submitted to The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child... by The Sub-committee on the Rights of the Child; The National Youth Commission; The Office of Welfare Promotion, Protection and Empowerment of Vulnerable Groups; Ministry of Social Development and Human Security... Contents: Introduction; 1. General Measures of Implementation; 2. Definition of the Child; 3. General Principles; 4. Civil Rights and Freedoms; 5. Family Environment and Alternative Care; 6. Basic Health and Welfare; 7. Education, Leisure and Cultural Activities; 8. Special Protection Measures.
Source/publisher: United Nations (CRC/C/83/Add.15)
2004-06-07
Date of entry/update: 2004-08-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 923.83 KB
Local URL:
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Description: I. Executive Summary; II. Introduction; III. Thailand: Background. IV. Burma: Background. V. Project Methodology; VI. Findings: Hill Tribe Women and Girls in Thailand; Burmese Migrant Women and Girls in Thailand; VII. Law and Policy ?€? Thailand; VIII. Applicable International Human Rights Law; IX. Law and Policy ?€? United States X. Conclusion and Expanded Recommendations..."This study was designed to provide critical insight and remedial recommendations on the manner in which human rights violations committed against Burmese migrant and hill tribe women and girls in Thailand render them vulnerable to trafficking,2 unsafe migration, exploitative labor, and sexual exploitation and, consequently, through these additional violations, to HIV/AIDS. This report describes the policy failures of the government of Thailand, despite a program widely hailed as a model of HIV prevention for the region. Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) findings show that the Thai government?s abdication of responsibility for uncorrupted and nondiscriminatory law enforcement and human rights protection has permitted ongoing violations of human rights, including those by authorities themselves, which have caused great harm to Burmese and hill tribe women and girls..."
Creator/author: Karen Leiter, Ingrid Tamm, Chris Beyrer, Moh Wit, Vincent Iacopino, . Holly Burkhalter, Chen Reis.
Source/publisher: Physicians for Human Rights
2004-07-14
Date of entry/update: 2004-07-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: This site has articles and reports in Thai and English about the human rights situation in Thailand. Many victims of these violations are refugees and migrants from Burma.
Source/publisher: Asian Human Rights Commission
Date of entry/update: 2003-08-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Thai, English
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