By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Apr 24 2003 (IPS)

As the Thai government’s harsh crackdown on the drug trade draws to an end, the country’s law enforcement officials have named a new group to face the heat of a similar high profile ‘war’ – undocumented migrant workers.

The government’s next cabinet meeting, on Apr. 29, is due to reveal if the administration of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will heed this call for a crackdown led by Thawatchai Pailee, the deputy national police chief.

Thawatchai has already singled out when such a ”war on illegal foreign workers” should be launched – May 1, the day marked globally to celebrate labour rights.

”Such calls are not a surprise. It is typical of them not being sensitive to the labour movement,” says Junya Yimprasert, coordinator of the Bangkok-based Thai Labour Campaign, a non-governmental organisation (NGO). ”Migrant workers in Thailand are the most vulnerable.”

Last year, in an effort to mount an offensive against undocumented migrant workers, the government created a special task force, bringing together units of the police, the army and immigration officials.

The law and the implementing force are in place to go after undocumented foreign workers, says Sunai Phasuk, an analyst at Forum Asia, a regional human rights watchdog. ”Immigration officials also want the government to announce a special, high-profile campaign against the migrant workers.”

Currently, the bulk of Thailand’s undocumented migrant workers, estimated at over one million, are from neighbouring Burma, to the north, while the rest are from eastern neighbours Cambodia and Laos.

More than 1.1 million Burmese are in Thailand, followed by 88,000 from Cambodia and 111,000 from Laos, states the Hong Kong-based Asian Migrant Centre (AMC) in a study on the region’s migrant flows in 2002.

In 2001, when Bangkok initiated an open registration drive for migrant workers, some 568,000 undocumented workers registered with the labour authorities. Of them, nearly 460,000 were from Burma, while the rest were evenly divided between Cambodians and Laotians.

”In some border provinces, the agriculture sector is dominated by migrant workers,” says Farooq Azam, regional representative of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), an inter-governmental body. ”The Thai fisheries sector will have to close down if you throw out the migrant workers.”

Like in other countries that receive undocumented labour, in Thailand, too, the migrant workers are found in occupations labour rights activists describe as the ”three Ds” – dirty, dangerous and difficult.

Last year, for instance, there were 69,716 registered Burmese male and female migrant workers employed on farms, while 58,794 worked in the fisheries sector and 30,845, as construction workers, according to the AMC.

Registered Burmese women workers, on the other hand, dominated the 47,359 people employed as domestic help.

”These are jobs that do not attract Thais, and the employment conditions are dangerous,” says Azam. ”The workers are always at the mercy of the employers.”

In the agriculture sector, migrant workers tend to earn about 50 baht (1.1 U.S. dollar) per day, while as construction workers they can earn up to 150 baht (3.50 dollars) per day, according to available record.

For human rights activists, the push to mount a ”war on illegal migrant workers” will be attractive to the Thaksin government in the wake of the many high-profile populist campaigns it has launched over the past two years.

In 2001, for instance, the ruling Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thai) government triggered a social order campaign, under which all entertainment venues had to close by 2 a.m. It was aimed at controlling the nightlife of the country’s youth.

In February this year, the government launched its ”war on drugs” to crack down on the rampant narcotics trade and consumption in the country. Since the anti-drug campaign, which is due to end Apr. 30, began, over 2,270 alleged members of the drug trade have been killed.

The drive to deport undocumented workers has happened before and it always results in mass deportations, says Jackie Pollock of the Migrant Assistance Programme, based in the northern city of Chiang Mai. ”But it is an impossible objective to achieve – getting rid of illegal migrants.”

What is more, the Thai authorities cannot guarantee any safety for the deportees, she adds. ”It is putting people in fear. Migrant workers are being used and abused.”

Burma’s military rulers impose harsh conditions on citizens who have violated the country’s migration laws, of leaving without official permission. Violations can result in fines and six months to five years imprisonment.

Military rule in Burma and the country’s weak economy will continue to force people to escape in search of jobs across the border, says Pollock. ”Thailand’s economic success is a major draw. Even after being deported, the migrants return.”

Furthermore, the long porous border that the two countries share has also enabled Burmese workers to slip into Thailand, even if at great risk. ”The migrants will come, even if they have no rights and even if they have to work in fear,” adds Pollock.

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