MAPs Statement on Travel Restrictions: Migrants Forced to

Stay on the Border

MIGRANTS FORCED TO STAY ON THE BORDER
Employers in Tak have managed to persuade the authorities to slap travel restrictions
on all migrants registered to work in five border provinces. Even migrants who are
holding Temporary Passports which should allow migrants to travel freely
throughout the country are now facing restrictions.
According to the Department of Employments Memo of the 5th June, 2012,
Guidelines to Check the Documents of Migrants who entered the country illegally
Who Travel Outside of the Province, the Federation of Thai Industries (Tak Chapter)
reported that there is a shortage of workers because migrants are escaping to other
areas of Thailand. What they did not say was that the conditions and pay in the Tak
border areas are so bad that migrants leave to find better working conditions
elsewhere.
Migrants in Mae Sot have long complained that they have been put last in the queue
to receive these documents, with migrants working in other areas of Thailand
receiving their documents ahead of those based in Mae Sot. Now that they have
received them, they are being treated differently from migrants registered in other
areas of Thailand. They are still being restricted from travelling, despite the national
regulation that migrants holding Temporary Passports can travel freely. Migrants are
now reporting that they are being stopped and turned back at Huay Hin Fon check
point even if they are holding a Temporary Passport, a valid visa and a valid work
permit. For others, they are being asked to pay money in order to continue on their
journey. The new restrictions are not only counter to the national policy but are also
providing more opportunities for corruption and brokers.
Officials at the Huay Hin Fon checkpoint have been instructed to only allow migrants
with temporary passports to travel if they have all the documents necessary to
change employers. Migrants are thus relegated once more to the same status as
holding the migrant workers card. Migrants have invested time, energy and money
to navigate the various procedures and steps to change their status to a legal status
holding a passport, visa and work permit. They are surely asking themselves, why
they bothered? What do they have to show for their investment? They are still paid
much less than the legal minimum wage, they are still working in sub standard
conditions, they are still not allowed to travel freely. They are still being called
migrants who entered the country illegally, they are still being blamed for the
borders problems instead of being celebrated for the economic development of the
border backwaters.
These restrictions on travel of migrants holding temporary passports should be
immediately lifted.
The real cause of the problem of the shortage of workers in Mae Sot is the appalling
working conditions. The solution is simple, the Department of Employment and the
Federation of Thai Industries instead of making recommendations to immigration
and exerting authority beyond their mandate, should instead instruct all employers
in the five border districts of Tak to clean up their act and follow the law : pay
minimum wages, improve working and safety conditions and show a little respect
for the workers who have made them so comfortable for so long.
For more information please contact:
Ms Pranom Somwong: +60192371300 and 0831887600
Ms Jackie Pollock: 0860904118
Mr Stephen Campbell :087 3066635
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Ms Jackie Pollock n: 0860904118
Mr Stephen Campbell n:087 3066635