CNI News
23 July 2024
Although over 80,000 undocumented Myanmar people were arrested in Thailand within one month, there are still many Myanmar people who are coming through illegal routes, those who are providing service for the affairs of migrant workers told CNI News.
The reason why a lot of Myanmar people are entering Thailand through illegal routes was not because Thailand persuaded them or the people did not violate the law but the Myanmar's poor governance has pushed to do so, U Aung Kyaw from the Labors' Rights Foundation (LRF) told CNI News.
" This is also because of our country's poor management. The conscription law that every grownup must do a military job is pushing youths to go abroad. The MoU system called G to G was good. According the system, youths could go to Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand freely through agencies. But now as those who will go abroad through agencies have been restricted, this is a push to make youths go abroad illegally." he said.
While the Thai authorities were examining the documents of migrant workers
The Thai authorities are implementing the 120-day special operation to arrest undocumented foreigners and checked the workplaces in many parts of the country and arrested over 100,000 undocumented workers.
Among those arrested, over 80,000 were from Myanmar, and over 10,000 from Cambodia, over 7,000 from Laos, over 1,000 from Vietnam and over 3,000 from other countries reportedly.
Although the Thai Ministry of Labor has announced that it will issue work permits for illegal foreign workers, because the exact date has not been stated,more and more workers from other countries are entering Thailand through illegal routes reportedly.
Most of those who arrived illegally are mainly staying and working on the Thai side in the border region and they have not fully got officially designated wages up to now, a person who is staying and working in Thailand told CNI News.
While seeing Myanmar migrant workers
"Because there is a demand for workers, the Thai employers are hiring new workers as able as they can. On the other hands, the Thai governments has imposed various laws relating to foreign workers. The laws are related to wages. Wages are designated, depending on the economic growth of a district. Daily wages are designated 363 Baht in Bangkok and Samut Sakhon and 322 Baht in the border areas. But workers have not enjoyed full wages designated up to now." he said.
Among those arrested, 473 Myanmar citizens would be prosecuted and punished because they illegally entered, worked without permission and worked in jobs where there was no rights for them to work reportedly.
The Thai authorities have officially released the 120-day plan that will take actions against migrant workers who don't have complete evidence and the actions contain arrests, fining and sending them back to their native countries.
The implementation of the plan was launched in June.
