Refugee, Migrant and Labor Rights

Although I have only been working here for a few weeks now, I have taken a keen interest to the issues of refugee/migrant labor rights. Thus far I have been to the Burma border a couple of times and every time I am sitting at the edge of the muddy river, which separates the two very different countries, I notice children and women traveling across the river on an inter-tube under the guarded bridge. The border is heavily protected and the issues of Burmese refugees and migrants are still a very sensitive with the Thai government, so at first I did not understand why the border officials are simply allowing these people to cross borders without going through customs. Initially, I was not too bothered with what I was witnessing because I knew these people probably had a legitimate reason for trying to leave Burma and that Thailand would probably be a better place for them.

Later in the week, I was walking to my favorite place for lunch, just outside of my office in the outskirts of Mae Sot. It was a hot day, so most of the buildings had their windows open and their fans running. I passed an extremely nice truck that looked somewhat out of place, which was parked in front of a little building. As I looked further, the building’s garage door style opening was up, and inside were dozens of ethnic Karen (Burmese minority group) women and children working behind rows and rows of sewing machines. It turns out this is just one tiny example of hundreds of sweat shops in the region, many of which are isolated and guarded compounds.

Upon returning back to work I had the chance to investigate the issue further because we were currently working on the section of migrant labor rights in the 2007 yearbook. These factory owners are so dependant on the exploitation of cheap labor that they pay off border officials to look the other way when there are illegal border crossings. The newly arrived immigrants cannot get a legitimate job, due to their undocumented status, so they end of falling victim to the prey of sweatshop factory owners, who promise the laborers maybe a dollar a day, which is a tiny fraction of what is paid to a legal resident. At first this may seem like a good option to the Burmese laborers, however, the workers are literally forced to work for a minimum of 16 hours per day, while they are not allowed to leave the compound. Women are occasionally allowed to leave for a few hours on Sundays. The workers are forced to comply with these inhumane and degrading conditions too, because if they complain, the factory owners will just turn them into Thai authorities, at which point the laborers will be sent back to Burma, where they WILL face prison, extortion, torture, or even death for leaving the country illegally. Sending the migrants back to Burma, to be persecuted because of their ethnicity or politically beliefs is also a violation of customary international law, under the principle of non-refoulement.

Because Thailand is not a signatory of the 1951 Refugee Convention, the Thai government gives little access to the appropriate UN bodies to monitor the rights of refugees and migrants in the country. Therefore, there is really nothing to hold Thailand, let alone Burma, accountable for the allowance of these human rights violations to exist. Thailand depends on the sweat shop labor for a strengthening economy and the factory owners have too much leverage within the bureaucracy for some grassroots NGO to come in and disturb system of exploitation. For example, if my organization obtained some controversial information that linked the Thai government to the human rights violations being committed in the sweat shops, we would have to pass it along to a larger organization like the International Labor Org. because we are too small to possess any type of leverage against the Thai pol/economic machines. This is why, from I have perceived, international labor rights and the rights of refugees/migrants must be enforced from a large international institute when there is so much political and economic turmoil at stake.

So once again, after just a few weeks I have taken a major interest in protecting the rights of refugees/migrants and laborers. Working here has made me realize how these two issues are compatible, but yet how complicated these issues are too. As time goes on I hope to grasp a greater understanding of the complexity of this issue and of any available means to seek justice for the countless victims. However, now I think it is important to see first hand what the human cost is for a cheap candle or pillow case. No one deserves to have the ultimatum that many of these migrant workers face everyday. Either way they loose.

I just wanted to raise a few points about a topic that I have become very interested in and if anyone else has any points to make or comments on the issue, please do so. Other then all of this and work, my days and weekends have been full of eating deliciously spicy food and exploring with many of the new friends I have made. Actually, in about an hour, I am taking off for a long weekend with a couple of buddies to go to Cambodia. I will be sure to let you know how the trip goes, as I am sure we are going to see some amazing sights.

Take care, talk to you soon, and most importantly, HAPPY 4th of JULY! We are so blessed to be residence in such a privileged country.