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Myanmar migrants risk arrest as they flee to Thailand

Thai authorities continue to take a hard line in their campaign to keep them out of the country
Myanmar migrants risk arrest as they flee to Thailand

Myanmar refugees, who fled a surge in violence as the military cracks down on rebel groups, rest after crossing a river on the border in Thailand's Mae Sot district on Jan. 15. (Photo: AFP)

Published: March 11, 2022 05:02 AM GMT
Updated: March 11, 2022 05:11 AM GMT

Migrants fleeing Myanmar for safety and work in Thailand remain at risk of arrest and deportation with local authorities continuing their campaign to keep them out of the country.

In one incident alone on March 10, a group of 53 migrants from war-torn Myanmar were arrested after the bus they had been travelling on was stopped and searched in the central province of Ayutthaya.

Police said an informer had tipped them off about the migrants aboard the bus.

The migrants told police they had each paid between 26,000 baht (US$785) and 28,000 baht ($845) to a broker in Myanmar who promised them jobs in Thailand.

Since a military coup in Myanmar in February last year, hundreds of thousands of people from the war-torn country have entered Thailand illegally, or tried to enter, in search of safety and work.

In response, Thai authorities have stepped up border control measures, arresting migrants and processing them for deportation back to Myanmar.

"Migrant workers live on the edge of society, afraid to do wrong, so whatever their bosses tell them, they will pay"

However, even migrants who manage to stay in the country after entering illegally may face hardships as they toil in low-paid and labor-intensive jobs where exploitation is rife.

Labor rights advocates have long been warning that migrant workers in certain lines of work such as food processing, fishing, agriculture and construction are at risk of being abused and forced into various forms of servitude.  

“Migrant workers live on the edge of society, afraid to do wrong, so whatever their bosses tell them, they will pay,” said Sa Saroeun, a member of the Raks Thai Foundation, a legal aid charity.

“[These] workers mostly get their information from the employers and brokers who take advantage of them and profit by keeping a percentage of their pay.” 

Despite the risks of becoming indebted to brokers and exploited by employers, large numbers of underprivileged people in Myanmar, as well as Cambodia and Laos, seek to work in Thailand where wages and employment opportunities are superior to those available back home.

Last year some 80,000 illegal border crossers, most of them from Myanmar, were caught in Thailand, according to Adisorn Kerdmongkol, a migrant rights advocate.

However, a far larger number of them are believed to have managed to evade local authorities.

Thailand relies heavily on migrant workers for low-skilled jobs. As many as 4 million worked legally in the country before the pandemic and millions more did so illegally.  

Thailand is facing a shortage of some 800,000 migrant workers in manufacturing, the service industry and the tourism sector, according to the Federation of Thai Industries.

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