**ABC News (Australia) from Mae Sot,**
Burma has sent a team of officials to investigate allegations that militia border guards are committing extortion, rape and assault against Burmese people being deported from Thailand. The Thai government is under heavy criticism over the allegations because it's a Thai crackdown on illegal Burmese workers that's causing them to be sent home.
-->MARK COLVIN: Burma's junta has sent a team of officials to investigate allegations that militia border guards are committing extortion, rape and assault against Burmese people being deported from Thailand.
The Thai government is under heavy criticism over the allegations because it is a Thai crackdown on illegal Burmese workers that’s causing them to be sent home.
Some deported Burmese people say they've faced beatings and even conscription into a Burmese militia army.
South East Asia correspondent Zoe Daniel reports from Mae Sot on the Thai-Burma border.
ZOE DANIEL: It's a depressing daily ritual at this immigration detention centre on the Thai-Burma border.
Hundreds of mostly Burmese migrant workers, in Thailand illegally, are being sent back.
"Before we only had one to two hundred people per day", immigration police colonel Montree Manjit tells me, "but now we have about six or seven hundred people per day".
ZOE DANIEL: Thailand's government is implementing a new crackdown on illegal migrants from Burma.
Fifteen thousand went through this centre alone last month. They were then trucked to the border and deported.
(Sound of trucks)
ZOE DANIEL: Burmese are the biggest migrant group in Thailand. About 900,000 have legitimate work permits but even they're being sent back.
They're now required to apply for passports to legally work in Thailand, and they have to go back home to get them.
Passport brokers help them with the process but they're only accessible to those with money.
"There are so many companies doing this kind of job, not only our company" says Namfon the broker." There are about 10 companies. The fee's about 5,000 baht, that's about $175 Australian dollars.
But there's something much more sinister going on here than profiteering.
Those with letters from bona fide employers who are seeking passports cross at the official border gate.
But paperless illegal workers with few means are facing extortion and worse when they get to the other side of the river.
Labour activist Moe Swe.
MOE SWE: Yes I must say 95 per cent of peoples are facing that problem. Everybody is extorted at the checkpoint yeah.
ZOE DANIEL: The informal checkpoints are run by the Burmese junta's proxy militia, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.
They impose a fee of just over $40 on the deportees before they enter Burma and most don't have it.
This young woman who was working illegally in Thailand has just been released after being caught and deported by Thai authorities.
"I was sleeping in the afternoon when I heard a boy shouting ‘Police are arresting, police are arresting!’ and I ran away" she says. "It was the border police and I got caught by them. They took us away."
After she crossed the border, she was held in a cell by the militia until a friend came to pay the fee.
She left others behind who were told they'd be conscripted into the militia force if they didn't find the money.
Labour activist Moe Swe says it's a common story. And there's even the suggestion that corrupt Thai officials are making money as well.
MOE SHWE: Sometimes some of the migrants promise or they try to negotiate with the brokers (inaudible) so that the broker told them all the money they didn't get it; they have to share with the Thai immigration, they said like that.
ZOE DANIEL: The Thai government crackdown is being criticised by human rights groups after some deportees have reported being beaten and even raped.
Police Colonel Montree Manjit from the Immigration Police says "Most of the Burmese migrants that we arrest we send them back the safe way. We worry about their security because they're human like us”.
Despite the risks the border remains a revolving door for impoverished Burmese who take great risks crossing back and forth to work.
Thai authorities expect to deport 300,000 people in the next three months.
On the Thai-Burma border this is Zoe Daniel for PM.
**http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2010/s2961489.htm**
** migrantjustice@hrdfoundation.org**
**(Zoe Daniel reported this story on Thursday, July 22, 2010 18:22:00)**
**ABC News (Australia) from Mae Sot,**
Burma has sent a team of officials to investigate allegations that militia border guards are committing extortion, rape and assault against Burmese people being deported from Thailand. The Thai government is under heavy criticism over the allegations because it's a Thai crackdown on illegal Burmese workers that's causing them to be sent home.
-->MARK COLVIN: Burma's junta has sent a team of officials to investigate allegations that militia border guards are committing extortion, rape and assault against Burmese people being deported from Thailand.
The Thai government is under heavy criticism over the allegations because it is a Thai crackdown on illegal Burmese workers that’s causing them to be sent home.
Some deported Burmese people say they've faced beatings and even conscription into a Burmese militia army.
South East Asia correspondent Zoe Daniel reports from Mae Sot on the Thai-Burma border.
ZOE DANIEL: It's a depressing daily ritual at this immigration detention centre on the Thai-Burma border.
Hundreds of mostly Burmese migrant workers, in Thailand illegally, are being sent back.
"Before we only had one to two hundred people per day", immigration police colonel Montree Manjit tells me, "but now we have about six or seven hundred people per day".
ZOE DANIEL: Thailand's government is implementing a new crackdown on illegal migrants from Burma.
Fifteen thousand went through this centre alone last month. They were then trucked to the border and deported.
(Sound of trucks)
ZOE DANIEL: Burmese are the biggest migrant group in Thailand. About 900,000 have legitimate work permits but even they're being sent back.
They're now required to apply for passports to legally work in Thailand, and they have to go back home to get them.
Passport brokers help them with the process but they're only accessible to those with money.
"There are so many companies doing this kind of job, not only our company" says Namfon the broker." There are about 10 companies. The fee's about 5,000 baht, that's about $175 Australian dollars.
But there's something much more sinister going on here than profiteering.
Those with letters from bona fide employers who are seeking passports cross at the official border gate.
But paperless illegal workers with few means are facing extortion and worse when they get to the other side of the river.
Labour activist Moe Swe.
MOE SWE: Yes I must say 95 per cent of peoples are facing that problem. Everybody is extorted at the checkpoint yeah.
ZOE DANIEL: The informal checkpoints are run by the Burmese junta's proxy militia, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.
They impose a fee of just over $40 on the deportees before they enter Burma and most don't have it.
This young woman who was working illegally in Thailand has just been released after being caught and deported by Thai authorities.
"I was sleeping in the afternoon when I heard a boy shouting ‘Police are arresting, police are arresting!’ and I ran away" she says. "It was the border police and I got caught by them. They took us away."
After she crossed the border, she was held in a cell by the militia until a friend came to pay the fee.
She left others behind who were told they'd be conscripted into the militia force if they didn't find the money.
Labour activist Moe Swe says it's a common story. And there's even the suggestion that corrupt Thai officials are making money as well.
MOE SHWE: Sometimes some of the migrants promise or they try to negotiate with the brokers (inaudible) so that the broker told them all the money they didn't get it; they have to share with the Thai immigration, they said like that.
ZOE DANIEL: The Thai government crackdown is being criticised by human rights groups after some deportees have reported being beaten and even raped.
Police Colonel Montree Manjit from the Immigration Police says "Most of the Burmese migrants that we arrest we send them back the safe way. We worry about their security because they're human like us”.
Despite the risks the border remains a revolving door for impoverished Burmese who take great risks crossing back and forth to work.
Thai authorities expect to deport 300,000 people in the next three months.
On the Thai-Burma border this is Zoe Daniel for PM.
**http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2010/s2961489.htm**
** migrantjustice@hrdfoundation.org**
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