Thai Government Must Urgently Reform Burmese Migrant Worker Nationality Verification Process Before it Fails
For more information on this joint statement, please contact:
• Mr. Somchai Homlaor (Secretary General, Human Rights and Development Foundation - HRDF): +66 818 995476 (Thai/English)
• Mr. Sawit Keawan (General Secretary, State Enterprise and Workers Relations Confederation - SERC): +66 863 361110 (Thai)
• HRDF’s Migrant Justice Programme (MJP)
1. Mr. Andy Hall (Director, MJP): +66 846 119209 (English)
2. Mr. Hsein Htay (Field Staff, MJP): +66 830 139736 (Burmese/Thai)
The Alien Workers Management Committee (AWMC) will meet tomorrow to finalise revisions to Thailand’s nationality verification (NV) policy. NV is meant to legalise 2-3 million “irregular” migrants from Burma working in Thailand, but in one year only 3, 000 workers have completed the process. SERC, HRDF and the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee (TLSC) request the AMWC to urgently act to increase the legitimacy of the NV process by tackling systemic corruption befalling it and ensuring more effective dissemination of information on NV to migrant communities. If the AMWC fails to recommend a revised NV process that results in reduced costs and simplified processes for migrants and employers,
the NV policy will likely fail and an important opportunity to formalise status of Burmese migrants in Thailand be wasted. In addition, the Royal Thai Government’s (RTG) credibility will be shattered, leaving few to believe it can effectively manage its own migration challenges.
Sawit Keawan, General Secretary of the State Enterprise and Workers Relations Confederation (SERC), today said: “SERC agree NV can improve the lives of millions of migrants from Burma in Thailand. On completing NV, we envisage migrants’ more formal status will assist them to increasingly access fundamental rights to which they are currently denied. However, most migrants and employers remain unaware of what NV entails, as officials have not yet published simple materials on the process for them. Instead, brokers linked to government officials are exploiting an overly complex 13-stage process and this complete lack of information to demand unreasonably high fees to ensure migrants complete NV successfully. The RTG’s failure to simplify the system and reduce costs places the entire process at risk of major failure.”
Somchai Homlaor, Secretary General of the Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF), today said: “As the 28th Feb. 2010 deadline for completion of NV approaches, the RTG has begun to talk of mass deportation of migrants who remain confused by the process or who are refusing to take part in it. But NV remains a sensitive issue for migrants as they must return to Burma where there is serious political and ethnic conflict occurring. Migrants who won’t go through NV for humanitarian reasons cannot simply be deported, as many from Burma’s plethora of ethnic groups must be provided for in line with RTG’s international and humanitarian obligations. In addition, Thailand’s economy will continue to be reliant on migrants from Burma for the foreseeable future whilst no means to formally bring these workers into Thailand is yet in place. The RTG should move from laying down unrealistic timelines and threatening migrants to ensuring NV succeeds at least cost to workers and employers and with reduced corruption involved.”
Recommendations
SERC, HRDF and TLSC request the AMWC to consider the following recommendations for revising the NV process:
1. The RTG should itself, and with assistance from ASEAN, urge Burma’s State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) to set up NV centres in Thailand. This would avoid unnecessarily high costs for NV being borne by migrants, increase safety, speed up the process and reduce unnecessary use of brokers;
2. The RTG should urgently create a more effective awareness raising strategy to ensure migrants and employers understand the NV process and the benefits which accrue once NV is complete. Awareness raising should be carried out in liaison with the SPDC, in all of Burma’s ethnic languages and in Thai, and must be of a kind which is particularly accessible for migrant workers themselves;
3. The NV process must be simplified as the existing 13-step process being propounded by RTG agencies is not possible to navigate independently. “One-stop” NV centres should then be set up;
4. If brokers are required in the NV process, RTG should strictly regulate them to reduce exploitation. Existing brokers’ fees are unreasonable and must be capped as the NV process should not provide an opportunity for excessive profit making, whilst existing corruption between NV brokers and Thai/Burmese officials must be seriously tackled. In addition, migrants using unregulated brokers to head to remote borders can create a situation of increased risk of smuggling or trafficking, especially for women and children. RTG has international obligations to prevent trafficking in persons;
5. The RTG has yet to disseminate its policy on measures to ensure children of migrants in Thailand are not adversely affected by NV. A strategy must now be drawn up, given children cannot go through NV;
6. The RTG has finally accepted that completion of the NV process by 28th February 2010 is unrealistic. When considering extension of this deadline, RTG must seek to engage all stakeholders to ensure the chosen date can this time be adhered to;
7. The RTG should immediately consider, together with all relevant stakeholders, a coherent strategy to address the needs of migrants from Burma who refuse to go through NV, for fear of persecution at the hands of the SPDC. RTG has international and humanitarian obligations to adhere to in this regard;
8. RTG shall continue to recognise and promote the human rights of all migrants and their families, irrespective of whether their nationality has been verified or not by the SPDC.
Background on the Nationality Verification (NV) Policy
Most of the 2-3 million migrants currently working in Thailand entered ‘illegally’ from Burma. In 2003, the RTG and the SPDC signed an agreement on NV so these migrants could become ‘legal.’ The process stalled when the SPDC insisted NV take place in Burma, whilst the RTG maintained it should take place in Thailand, as is the case with Laos and Cambodian migrants. The stalemate continued until late 2008 when RTG agreed NV could take place in 3 Burmese border towns. RTG then announced no migrants would remain ‘illegally’ in Thailand after 28th Feb. 2010 as all must complete NV before this time or be deported.
NV for migrants from Burma commenced in late August 2009 when Thai brokers began to arrange tour buses to carry migrants to border processing centres in Thailand. Migrants crossed to Burma and returned to Thailand at varying costs with temporary Burmese passports, and then applied for Thai visas and work permits. Information about NV continues to spread informally in migrant communities as the RTG has not conducted any effective public relations campaign with migrants. The only official information on NV disseminated to workers has been from Burmese officials about processes in Burma. Rumours have become rife, with many migrants persuaded not to go through the NV process or provide personal information because of apparent land confiscations, taxation, physical violence and even imprisonment at the hands of the SPDC.
In late Aug 2009 NV “brokers” sprang up and, relying on “recommendations” from government officials to migrants and their employers, began providing services to successfully navigate migrants through complex NV process at unreasonably high costs. On 18th Oct. 2009, the RTG reduced the 2-year visa fee for migrants who complete NV from TB2, 000 to TB500, so together with the SPDC passport fee of TB100, the formal costs are now only TB600. Broker fees remain high however, at between TB3, 000 to TB8, 500.
Until recently, only around 3, 000 of the millions of Burmese migrants in Thailand had completed NV. Despite this, the RTG continued to insist all remaining migrants must complete NV by 28th Feb. 2010 or face mass deportation. Tomorrow’s AWMC meeting is expected to recommend an extension of the 28th Feb. 2010 deadline for several years, to allow those migrants who have expressed their “willingness” to enter the NV process to avoid deportation and remain in Thailand until they complete the process. The fate of those migrants who refuse to enter into the NV process remains unclear and is a serious cause for concern.
*SERC is a national confederation of 43 state enterprise unions in Thailand representing over 170, 000 registered members and affiliated to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). HRDF is a registered Thai Foundation working to strengthen standards on human rights, democracy and peace in Thailand. The Thai Labour Solidarity Committee (TLSC) is a committee of 24 labour federations, unions and NGOs campaigning on labour issues in Thailand.
***migrantjustice@hrdfoundation.org***
For Immediate Release: 20th December 2009
Thai Government Must Urgently Reform Burmese Migrant Worker Nationality Verification Process Before it Fails
For more information on this joint statement, please contact:
• Mr. Somchai Homlaor (Secretary General, Human Rights and Development Foundation - HRDF): +66 818 995476 (Thai/English)
• Mr. Sawit Keawan (General Secretary, State Enterprise and Workers Relations Confederation - SERC): +66 863 361110 (Thai)
• HRDF’s Migrant Justice Programme (MJP)
1. Mr. Andy Hall (Director, MJP): +66 846 119209 (English)
2. Mr. Hsein Htay (Field Staff, MJP): +66 830 139736 (Burmese/Thai)
The Alien Workers Management Committee (AWMC) will meet tomorrow to finalise revisions to Thailand’s nationality verification (NV) policy. NV is meant to legalise 2-3 million “irregular” migrants from Burma working in Thailand, but in one year only 3, 000 workers have completed the process. SERC, HRDF and the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee (TLSC) request the AMWC to urgently act to increase the legitimacy of the NV process by tackling systemic corruption befalling it and ensuring more effective dissemination of information on NV to migrant communities. If the AMWC fails to recommend a revised NV process that results in reduced costs and simplified processes for migrants and employers,
the NV policy will likely fail and an important opportunity to formalise status of Burmese migrants in Thailand be wasted. In addition, the Royal Thai Government’s (RTG) credibility will be shattered, leaving few to believe it can effectively manage its own migration challenges.
Sawit Keawan, General Secretary of the State Enterprise and Workers Relations Confederation (SERC), today said: “SERC agree NV can improve the lives of millions of migrants from Burma in Thailand. On completing NV, we envisage migrants’ more formal status will assist them to increasingly access fundamental rights to which they are currently denied. However, most migrants and employers remain unaware of what NV entails, as officials have not yet published simple materials on the process for them. Instead, brokers linked to government officials are exploiting an overly complex 13-stage process and this complete lack of information to demand unreasonably high fees to ensure migrants complete NV successfully. The RTG’s failure to simplify the system and reduce costs places the entire process at risk of major failure.”
Somchai Homlaor, Secretary General of the Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF), today said: “As the 28th Feb. 2010 deadline for completion of NV approaches, the RTG has begun to talk of mass deportation of migrants who remain confused by the process or who are refusing to take part in it. But NV remains a sensitive issue for migrants as they must return to Burma where there is serious political and ethnic conflict occurring. Migrants who won’t go through NV for humanitarian reasons cannot simply be deported, as many from Burma’s plethora of ethnic groups must be provided for in line with RTG’s international and humanitarian obligations. In addition, Thailand’s economy will continue to be reliant on migrants from Burma for the foreseeable future whilst no means to formally bring these workers into Thailand is yet in place. The RTG should move from laying down unrealistic timelines and threatening migrants to ensuring NV succeeds at least cost to workers and employers and with reduced corruption involved.”
Recommendations
SERC, HRDF and TLSC request the AMWC to consider the following recommendations for revising the NV process:
1. The RTG should itself, and with assistance from ASEAN, urge Burma’s State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) to set up NV centres in Thailand. This would avoid unnecessarily high costs for NV being borne by migrants, increase safety, speed up the process and reduce unnecessary use of brokers;
2. The RTG should urgently create a more effective awareness raising strategy to ensure migrants and employers understand the NV process and the benefits which accrue once NV is complete. Awareness raising should be carried out in liaison with the SPDC, in all of Burma’s ethnic languages and in Thai, and must be of a kind which is particularly accessible for migrant workers themselves;
3. The NV process must be simplified as the existing 13-step process being propounded by RTG agencies is not possible to navigate independently. “One-stop” NV centres should then be set up;
4. If brokers are required in the NV process, RTG should strictly regulate them to reduce exploitation. Existing brokers’ fees are unreasonable and must be capped as the NV process should not provide an opportunity for excessive profit making, whilst existing corruption between NV brokers and Thai/Burmese officials must be seriously tackled. In addition, migrants using unregulated brokers to head to remote borders can create a situation of increased risk of smuggling or trafficking, especially for women and children. RTG has international obligations to prevent trafficking in persons;
5. The RTG has yet to disseminate its policy on measures to ensure children of migrants in Thailand are not adversely affected by NV. A strategy must now be drawn up, given children cannot go through NV;
6. The RTG has finally accepted that completion of the NV process by 28th February 2010 is unrealistic. When considering extension of this deadline, RTG must seek to engage all stakeholders to ensure the chosen date can this time be adhered to;
7. The RTG should immediately consider, together with all relevant stakeholders, a coherent strategy to address the needs of migrants from Burma who refuse to go through NV, for fear of persecution at the hands of the SPDC. RTG has international and humanitarian obligations to adhere to in this regard;
8. RTG shall continue to recognise and promote the human rights of all migrants and their families, irrespective of whether their nationality has been verified or not by the SPDC.
Background on the Nationality Verification (NV) Policy
Most of the 2-3 million migrants currently working in Thailand entered ‘illegally’ from Burma. In 2003, the RTG and the SPDC signed an agreement on NV so these migrants could become ‘legal.’ The process stalled when the SPDC insisted NV take place in Burma, whilst the RTG maintained it should take place in Thailand, as is the case with Laos and Cambodian migrants. The stalemate continued until late 2008 when RTG agreed NV could take place in 3 Burmese border towns. RTG then announced no migrants would remain ‘illegally’ in Thailand after 28th Feb. 2010 as all must complete NV before this time or be deported.
NV for migrants from Burma commenced in late August 2009 when Thai brokers began to arrange tour buses to carry migrants to border processing centres in Thailand. Migrants crossed to Burma and returned to Thailand at varying costs with temporary Burmese passports, and then applied for Thai visas and work permits. Information about NV continues to spread informally in migrant communities as the RTG has not conducted any effective public relations campaign with migrants. The only official information on NV disseminated to workers has been from Burmese officials about processes in Burma. Rumours have become rife, with many migrants persuaded not to go through the NV process or provide personal information because of apparent land confiscations, taxation, physical violence and even imprisonment at the hands of the SPDC.
In late Aug 2009 NV “brokers” sprang up and, relying on “recommendations” from government officials to migrants and their employers, began providing services to successfully navigate migrants through complex NV process at unreasonably high costs. On 18th Oct. 2009, the RTG reduced the 2-year visa fee for migrants who complete NV from TB2, 000 to TB500, so together with the SPDC passport fee of TB100, the formal costs are now only TB600. Broker fees remain high however, at between TB3, 000 to TB8, 500.
Until recently, only around 3, 000 of the millions of Burmese migrants in Thailand had completed NV. Despite this, the RTG continued to insist all remaining migrants must complete NV by 28th Feb. 2010 or face mass deportation. Tomorrow’s AWMC meeting is expected to recommend an extension of the 28th Feb. 2010 deadline for several years, to allow those migrants who have expressed their “willingness” to enter the NV process to avoid deportation and remain in Thailand until they complete the process. The fate of those migrants who refuse to enter into the NV process remains unclear and is a serious cause for concern.
*SERC is a national confederation of 43 state enterprise unions in Thailand representing over 170, 000 registered members and affiliated to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). HRDF is a registered Thai Foundation working to strengthen standards on human rights, democracy and peace in Thailand. The Thai Labour Solidarity Committee (TLSC) is a committee of 24 labour federations, unions and NGOs campaigning on labour issues in Thailand.
***migrantjustice@hrdfoundation.org***
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