Post Tsunami problems for Burmese migrant workers

[Yappofloyd]

The article below clearly reminds us that the ongoing effects of the Tsunami for some are particularly tragic. It seems that many around the world would not be aware of the difficulties faced by Burmese migrant workers. It is worth remembering that, as with migrant workers the world over, Burmese are paid minuscule amounts (often 50-80 baht a day which makes the Thai minimum wage, set by Province, of 165 – 190 look pretty decent!), often work very long hours and live in constant fear of being sent home by the employer. Many of the 'sweatshops' in the Tak area have been criticized having conditions more akin to involuntary servitude.

It was initially estimated that some 2000 Burmese migrant workers were killed in the Tsunami, (Source Bangkok Post and BBC 11/02/05) but the exact number will of course not be known and forensic identification will be near impossible. I wouldn't be surprised if there are a large amount of unclaimed bodies once the DVI identification process is complete as the article infers.

A UN mission in Feb. was sent to ascertain the extent of the problem and UN agencies are working with closely with Thai authorities to ensure relevant assistance is provided. Even NGOs, such as MSF and World Vision who have worked in the area for years, had problems in accessing and assisting the migrants. WV even had 3 of their thai staff, including a doctor, locked in a cage for several hours by local fishermen in Ban Thab Lamu village (Phang Nga) as the fisherman were worried that the Burmese workers were going to be repatriated by the WV staff and thus result in a shortage of workers(Source Bangkok Post, 13/01/05).

A useful website for more info. here (http://www.saydanatsunami.org/)

[Yappofloyd]

TSUNAMI AFTERMATH / HELP OR HURT? An uncertain future

Burmese migrant workers who survived the tsunami have not only been forgotten, they have also been treated as if they were criminals
Story by SANITSUDA EKACHAI , Bangkok Post, Outlook, 16/03/05

The children suffer most from the ethnic prejudices that force their parents to stay in hiding. He almost lost his life in the killer waves. He's been hiding in the hills, struggling with hunger for weeks. He is now jobless and doesn't know what the future holds. Yet he says he's lucky.

"My wife survived too," said Mo So Or, 42, a soft-spoken Burmese migrant worker at the Pakarang Jut, a badly-hit area in Phangnga province. "At least we can still be together."

The man's endurance may seem astounding, but when most people he knows are not only facing the same hardships but are also shattered by grief over the tragic losses of loved ones _ and without any opportunity to retrieve their bodies for religious ceremonies _ Mo So Or feels he has no right to complain.

The tsunami horror remains vivid in his mind. "I was working at the construction site by the beach at the Pakarang Jut," he recalled. After 18 years of working in Thailand as a construction worker, he spoke fluent Thai. "I was hit hard by the waves but I survived. At first we were afraid of new waves, so we hid in the rubber plantations on the hills _ some 200 of us in just one spot.

"We tried to return to our old work camp, but the police started rounding people up to send them back to Burma. I saw them arresting people with my own eyes. So we had to run and live in hiding again. We were afraid of the waves, of the police, of everything.


Migrant workers face hunger and joblessness after the tsunami tragedy.
"I really felt sorry for the small kids. We had no food, no water, no shelter, no medicine. We had to sleep under the trees, without any mosquito nets for the children.

"Some of us were in deep shock. Some were sick. Many lost their children, their wives, their husbands. They could not return to the sites to find the bodies of their loved ones, so they felt very sad, very depressed."

The deportation spree that forced migrant workers in Phangnga into hiding was triggered by rumours and news reports, based on ethnic prejudices, that Burmese migrant workers were looting tsunami-hit properties.

"Instead of arresting the culprits, the authorities treat all Burmese migrant workers as criminals, rounding them up for forced deportation although many of them are registered workers fully entitled to help like other tsunami victims," said rights activist Adisorn Kerdmongkol. "This is outrageous."

Before the tsunami, the worst-hit Khao Lak area was a booming tourist site as well as a big fishery spot in Phangnga province. It was also a haven of Burmese migrant workers who offered cheap labour to build the town, service the tourist industry and bring in the fishes from the deep seas.

Burmese come from their hiding places to receive donated food and other basic necessities. There were about 90 fishing boats in one village of Ban Nam Khem alone. Each boat carried about 30-40 Burmese crew members. In their Little Burma, many fishing crew members had their families with them. Many women worked on fish selection and cleaning to supplement the family income. Other young Burmese girls worked to entertain exhausted single crew members in a karaoke bar filled with Burmese songs.

On the morning of December 26, the whole community was swept away.
No one knows exactly how many Burmese workers perished that day, not only at Ban Nam Khem but also in the six tsunami-hit provinces. "I saw people dead all over the place," recalled Sa Meh, 25, who worked at Ban Nam Khem for nine years before the tsunami.

"I saw so many bodies of children. At least 200 of them. There were deaths in every family. When we went back to retrieve the dead bodies, the officials would not allow us to do so. They took all the bodies to the temples. We were too afraid to go there."

There are about 120,000 registered Burmese workers in the six tsunami-hit provinces. In Phangnga, the worst-ravaged province, there were about 30,000 registered workers. Some 7,000 worked in the severely damaged areas of Takuapa and Khao Lak.

A worker sits with his food stuff, which will last about a week.
Both the workers and rights activists said the number of registered workers make up only half of the real figure. Out of nearly 5,400 killed by the tsunami, some 3,000 Asian bodies remain unidentified. No one knows how many might be Burmese migrant workers.

While there are officially about 3,000 missing persons, rights activists say the figures do not include the missing Burmese because they cover only those reported by their relatives. The Burmese workers were in hiding at that time, too fearful to report their missing family members. (Cont. below...)

[Yappofloyd]

Cont....
According to the Human Rights Education Institute of Burma, which is helping migrant workers in Phangnga and Phuket, there are at least 700 to 1,000 Burmese dead. For the time being, the worst is over.

The authorities have stopped the arrest and deportation after rights groups brought the Burmese plight out into the open and pleaded for more humane treatment. Yet at least 2,000 had already been forcibly deported. Many complained of extortion from officials on both sides of the border.

After the arrests ceased, the Tsunami Action Group, a coalition of rights organisations, stepped up distribution of food and other basic necessities to migrant workers still scattered in various hiding places. "One of the things they asked for was a chance to perform religious ceremonies for their dead relatives," said Htoo Chit, coordinator of the Grassroots Human Rights Education and Development Committee (Burma). "We help them do that as part of their spiritual healing."

As things have eased up, many have started to return to their old sites seeking jobs. Mothers and children who survived the tsunami still face an uncertain future in Thailand. "Since many have lost their labour registration cards, we also helped them have their cards reissued," said Kanchana Dee-ut of the Tsunami Action Group.

It's been an uphill task. The majority of registered workers only have photocopies of their registration papers because the real ID cards were not yet ready. Bosses normally kept original papers to prevent workers from running away. Most workers, however, lost their documents in the killer waves. Many of their bosses also died so there was no way to retrieve the original papers.

Meanwhile, the authorities initially demanded that the workers come up with the 13-digit ID numbers on their papers _ a near-impossible request _ before the searching for their identification papers could begin. Thanks to an online database, the officials finally agreed to use the workers' name to search for their ID and to reissue registration papers. Lack of personnel and Burmese interpreters at the district office, however, has made the process extremely slow. So far, only 200 Burmese migrant workers have had their registration papers and their universal health care cards reissued.

"It's still a very small number," said Kanchana. "There are still a lot of workers out there who need their papers back. And there are still a lot of unregistered workers who are very vulnerable to labour abuse, arrest and extortion." Many who fled the tsunami scare to other districts or those who were forcibly deported are now facing more legal difficulties in their quest to return to work. According to the law, migrant workers who leave their designated areas automatically lose their legal status and right to stay.
"But the tsunami wasn't a normal situation, so the law should be relaxed and the migrant workers should be allowed to have their registration cards reissued," said Adisorn Kerdmongkol of Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma.

There is also little chance for migrant workers to retrieve the bodies of their dead relatives _ the authorities request DNA and dental records which the Burmese cannot produce. They also ask for embassy papers to prove their relatives' identities, which they also cannot produce, said Pranom Somwong of the Migrant Action Programme, an advocacy group.

"They are afraid of being arrested for crossing the border to work in Thailand," she explained. The hurdles seem endless. For the Burmese migrant workers, however, survival remains the name of the game.

After the killer waves receded, Sa Meh left Ban Nam Khem in shock, taking her four-year-old daughter back to her home village in Tavoy on the other side of the border. A few weeks later, she returned to find work although remnants of death and destruction were still everywhere at Ban Nam Khem.
"There is no choice," she says matter-of-factly. "There is no work at home, no way to support my family." But jobs are scarce and the Phangnga tourism-related industries remain in shock.

At a shoddy rowhouse surrounded by debris at Ban Nam Khem, Lu Huang, 28, breastfed her 10-month old baby, seemingly unperturbed by their uncertain future. A group of workers sat idly by, waiting to be called by any employer in need of their labour. They all agreed that life was bitter in Thailand, but that it was better than at home. "When I saw people donating stuff to help tsunami victims on TV, I felt so sad," said Sor, 18, from Moulemein. "Why haven't we received help too?"

Nearby, six-year-old Mo clung to his mother, Waen, 42, also from Tavoy. "I saved her life, you know," he reported proudly. "I saw the first wave _ it was so high and so dark _ so I ran to tell my mother to run."The boy added that he was still afraid of the sea.

Like other children of Burmese migrant workers, Mo has no chance of getting an education and will grow up to become the next generation of cheap labour. He does not seem to care. "I want to weave fishing nets for a living when I grow up. I don't want to go to school. I want to take care of my mother. She is weak. She needs me," said the boy as his mother lovingly caressed his hair. Life, said Mo So Or stoically, was never easy. "At home, we have no land, no jobs, no safety. The soldiers are terrorising us. Here, we at least have a chance to work, to save and send money to our poor relatives back home."

Mo So Or's tiny, sinewy frame makes him look like a prune _ the result of a lifetime of hard work. When he heaves a deep sigh, fearing for the uncertainties ahead, his body seems even smaller. "All we need now is work so that we can start to take care of our families," he said. "We also need safety. We need to know we can work and live here without fear. Just that, and we can struggle through."

[Yappofloyd]

Whilst it looks as though there may be another Tsunami in the area tonight I thought I'd just mention the following UN site, http://www.un.or.th/tsunami/, with many impact assessment reports (http://www.un.or.th/tsunami/assesmentreports.html) . The site is updated regularly and has many maps....

[Yappofloyd]

TSUNAMI AFTERMATH / GETTING LIVES BACK TOGETHER
Aid trucks on way to help Burmese migrants ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT
(BKK POST 06/04/05)

Two trucks carrying more than 14 tonnes of humanitarian aid left Bangkok yesterday to help tsunami-affected Burmese migrants in Ranong, Phangnga and Phuket provinces.

At least 7,000 Burmese migrant workers and their dependents, most of whom worked as hired hands in the fishing, construction and tourism industries, were affected by the tsunami, according to a joint technical assessment mission carried out by the International Organisation of Migration (IOM), the World Bank and UN agencies in January.

The 14.5-tonne shipment of donated goods and other basic essentials, including food items, clothes and medicine, will be distributed by the IOM under the Thai Migrant Health Project (MHP).

The US$1.4 million USAid-funded project, which uses a network of community health workers to reach migrant communities, was launched in 2003 and operates with the help of the Thai Health Ministry.

It responds to primary health care, reproductive health, communicable disease control and environmental sanitation needs of migrants and their Thai host communities on the Thai-Burma border.

Following the tsunami, the MHP received US$800,000 in new funding from the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Unocha), the World Health Organisation and Ireland to expand its scope into the tsunami-ravaged provinces of Ranong and Phangnga.

Yesterday's delivery of humanitarian aid to the area would be channelled through the project's migrant community health workers, who have access to the often marginalised and impoverished migrant communities.

While some 120,000 migrants in the three provinces are registered, many others are undocumented and may be working in Thailand illegally, the IOM said.

[soi_surfer]

this is my first message.

the maps of fault lines show the 'tsunami fault' to run from Sumatra to Nicobar islands to Andaman islands to Myanmar

the reported destruction along & around that fault is massave .. except myanmar.

i have seen no numbers or indicators of damage to the coastal regions of myanmar.

I am trying to ask about tsunami damage to the coastal region of Myanmar

[GWR]

Khunying Pornthip has been heavily critical of the hotel owners in Khao Lak. It seems they made little effort to come forward and try & help the ID of dead Burmese hotel and construction workers; despite many bodies being found in hotel uniforms and carrying hotel keysets.

Some estimates suggest that up to 2,500 Burmese may have perished in Thailand, although the official toll is less than half that. Those who remained alive were fearful of being labelled looters and being herded into camps. So they deliberatedly didn't go to hospital to have wounds treated.

One local VIP described it as scandalous to treat people in this manner, after they had contributed so much to the development of the resort.

[Yappofloyd]

^ Scandalous is perhaps a bit too kind a description in the circumstances.

Moken gypsies left alone without help. Survived tsunami, but now starving, sick ONNUCHA HUTASINGH BKK Post 25/04/05

More than 300 Moken sea gypsies on Lao Island in Ranong survived the Dec 26 tsunami, but have been left battling hunger and poverty alone without state help.This is because the villagers, despite being born on Thai soil, do not hold Thai nationality.

Today the villagers, who live only 3km from downtown Ranong, are starving and weak. Many are ill and dare not go to hospital for they have no money.
The Network for Restoring the Andaman Coastline repaired two of their fishing boats, and the Network of Catholics in Thailand donated rice weighing 5kg to each family. Apart from that, they say they have received little if any help.

``We asked for rice and dried food from the Muang Ranong district, but the officials told us we could come take it only once. That made us feel bad and we decided not to go see them again,'' said Naowanit Jaempit, a Lao Island villager who spoke for the sea gypsies, who can barely speak Thai.

The lack of help for them and negative reactions from state officials are believed to stem from their lack of nationality while the villagers have no idea about their rights. Each year, many Moken women run away from Ranong Hospital shortly after giving birth. Some leave even though they have not fully recovered, because they cannot afford the medical bills. This has led to premature deaths among many Moken mothers.

The infant mortality rate is also high in the community as a result of sanitary problems. Budeh, a Moken teenager here, has no money and has chosen not to see a doctor although he has two big pustules on one of his feet which has been infected for almost a month.

The teenager is among 60 Moken youths studying at Koh Lao School despite the fact they will not obtain certificates after graduation since none has Thai nationality. Mrs Naowanit said only about 10 Moken children attend school each day. Most Moken students are illiterate because their parents feel education is not important and want their children to help them with fishing.

Poverty and ignorance has pushed many Moken people into work for fishing trawlers running illegally in Burmese waters. Many have been shot dead and others incarcerated in Burmese jails. Those who managed to escape were later arrested and jailed in Ranong prison.

After the spate of shootings and arrests, the sea gypsies now dare not go fishing in Burmese waters and choose to earn their living by catching small oysters from the sea in their neighbourhood, which they sell for 30 baht a kilogramme.

Even so, Lady Luck seems to have turned her back on them. Rumours that marine animals ate the corpses of those killed by the tidal waves on Dec 26 have made it difficult for them to sell marine products.

This has forced many Moken people to live their lives as beggars.``I want to have an ID card, a boat and also rice to eat. Please help me. I'm a human being, too,'' said Diew, a representative of the sea gypsies on Lao Island.

The Moken tribe was seen in Burma and Thailand more than a century ago before King Rama VI granted Thai citizenship to all tribes who lived in the kingdom before April 10, 1913. The problem is many missed out from state registration.

Naruemol Arunothai, a researcher of Chulalongkorn University's Social Research Institute, said the Moken are really a primitive tribe. But they have no country or land of their own and live their lives on boats which travel between Burma and Thailand regularly.

Jiraporn Bunnag, deputy secretary-general of the National Security Council, said any Moken people who were born in Thailand must be Thai citizens by birth if the tribe is proven to be indigenous here. She said the Provincial Administration Department was trying to verify the status of all displaced people in the kingdom.

[soi_surfer]

there was another shake, 4.9, on the fault that gos directly up the delta that rangoon sits on.
epicenter was 115 KM from rangoon
epi seems to be directly upon the mouth of the ayeyarwaddy river delta.
http://wwwneic.cr.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_xma7.html
the hard hit andamans are less than 300 KM south on that fault
& yet no reports of significant damage out of the junta.

[Yappofloyd]

A small update at the end of an article on a quake yesterday....

Quake alert leaves Phuket in confusion
Tsunami not ruled out until over an hour later (BKK Post, 06/07/05)
ACHATAYA CHUENNIRUND & ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT

Phuket _ A lack of clear safety instructions after yesterday morning's earthquake warning left Phuket in a state of confusion while the National Disaster Warning Centre was heavily criticised.

(Main part of article deleted)

Meanwhile, donors and foreign agencies expressed their concern about the plight of tsunami-stricken groups including sea gypsies, migrant workers and orphans with Thai agencies at a co-ordination forum for post tsuanmi recovery yesterday, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

UNDP country director Hakan Bjorkman told the Bangkok Post that of concern were orphans and children who, after six months, remained vulnerable to various abuse and other tsunami victims and their families, especially those who were still unemployed or traumatised.

There was also a suggestion that loans and assistance be provided for the affected groups, including fishermen and SMEs for them to start up small businesses, said Mr Bjorkman.

[Yappofloyd]

The recovery needs the cheap labour...

RECOVERY 'NEEDS MIGRANT WORKERS'
Story by ANUCHA CHAROENPO (BKK Post, 12/07/05)

The fishing industry in tsunami-struck Ban Nam Khem wants the Burmese migrant workers who were rounded up and deported by Thai authorities after the Dec 26 catastrophe to come back. Fishing operators said the migrant workers do not pose a threat to national security, nor do they cause trouble for the community. In fact, they said the Burmese could play a vital role in bringing about economic recovery in areas devastated by the giant waves.

''Without them [Burmese migrant workers], we have no workers to go out to the deep sea to catch fish. As consumers, these workers also help generate income for the community, spending money on food and necessities in the market,'' said Manoch Theppithak, a fishing operator. He said Burmese migrant workers fill a gap left by Thais who have no interest in this kind of hard work.

There were about 1,000 Burmese workers living in the area before the tsunami. A few hundred have returned while the rest are unaccounted for.
''We're glad to see them coming back to the community,'' he said. Mr Manoch said he had about 100 workers before the tsunami, but now there are just 30. Of those, only four have re-registered for work permits while the rest are working illegally.

He said some used to work for him, but were deported after they lost their ID documents in the waves, and the authorities then categorised them as illegal migrants. Mr Manoch said he had yet to register the rest of the workers because the fee of almost 2,000 baht per person is expensive. He called on the government to halve the fee so more employers would be able to comply with the law.

Sompong Phumjan, a fishing operator, said the community has good feelings towards the migrant workers. Mr Sompong said the workers had never harmed Thai people in the community, adding that any quarrels occurred mostly among migrants themselves.

Bew, 24, a Burmese migrant worker who returned after forced deportation, expressed gratitude to the community and his employer for their warm welcome and good attitude toward Burmese. ''I have lived here [Ban Nam Khem] for five years. I feel Thai people are friendly, especially my employer. He is very generous, too,'' Bew said in broken Thai.

A group of Burmese children in the community were happy that they were allowed to return. Nine-year-old May, who came to Thailand at age two, said he got along well with Thai children in the community. ''However, I am still a little jealous of [Thai children] because I want to wear a student uniform and go to school every morning like them,'' he said.

[Yappofloyd]

TSUNAMI'S UNTOLD STORY
Burmese workers paid a high price; got second-class treatment
Story by ANUCHA CHAROENPO (BKK Post, 12/07/05)

Although it has been six months since the killer tsunami waves struck on Dec 26, surviving Burmese migrant workers in a once-bustling fishing village of Ban Nam Khem, one of the worst-hit areas, are still hopeful they will find the dead bodies of their loved ones. ''I still want to see the body of my eight-month-old baby. She was swept away by the tsunami waves while I was holding her in my arms,'' said Yao, a 24-year-old Burmese migrant who has been working in Ban Nam Khem for nine years. ''And I miss her all the time. My wife has cried everyday that she has been gone. The loss of our daughter has ruined our lives,'' he said in fluent Thai.

Yao spent many days walking around the village and area, hoping to locate the body of his baby daughter but the efforts were in vain. He did not dare to go and look for her body at Wat Yan Yao, where thousands of corpses had been kept for post-mortems and identification, because he had lost the ID card confirming his legal status in Thailand.

Critics say Burmese migrant workers who survived the tsunami have been treated unfairly by the authorities. They did not dare to report the disappearance of their loved ones following the disaster because they feared they would be arrested and deported. No one knows exactly how many Burmese migrants workers died in the Dec 26 disaster, but many believe that almost 1,000 Burmese migrants were killed that day in the six tsunami-ravaged provinces on Thailand's Andaman coast.

Recently, 65 Burmese migrant workers in Phangnga went to the one-stop Phuket disaster victim identification (DVI) centre to find out if their 110 missing relatives were among the thousands of bodies kept there. Centre officials took DNA samples from them to check if they matched any of the bodies still unidentified. The DNA testing is still in progress.

Wah, 24, who lost her mother and a four-year-old younger brother, was one of the 65 who contacted the DVI centre. She spent three days looking for them among the bodies kept at the centre but had no success. Then she was deported along with her husband and daughter to Burma's Kauthaung province. After two months in Burma, Wah and her family are now back in Ban Nam Khem. She said they could not find any jobs in their hometown.

[Yappofloyd]

FEAR DEEPENED WOES OF BURMESE MIGRANTS Vital papers washed away with dreams during tsunami Story by ANUCHA CHAROENPO (BKK Post, 18/07/05)

For 30-year-old Burmese migrant Soe Naing, the tsunami that hit the coast of Thailand on Dec 26, 2004 did not just wash away his job, it also left him with an uncertain future. The once healthy young man who entered Thailand illegally about a year ago now has a disability after doctors were forced to amputate his leg from below the knee due to an acute infection. The infection came about following wounds he sustained when the giant waves of the Indian Ocean tsunami struck Phangnga province. He is currently being treated at Takuapa Hospital.

According to doctors, the amputation would not have been necessary had Soe Naing decided to approach them earlier and receive proper medication. ``I dare not see the doctors at that time because of my illegal status. I did not have a work permit, or a health card. That barred me from having access to any of the government's social welfare programmes,'' he said.
Soe Naing had been working as a member of a fishing crew at the port of Tablamu in Phangnga's Muang district.

Instead of seeking help, he decided to try and take care of himself for several months for fear of being arrested and deported. He bought over-the-counter medicine which was inadequate for his medical condition. When his condition began to deteriorate, a group of his Burmese friends approached the Tsunami Action Group (TAG), a non-governmental organisation that provides assistance to Burmese migrant workers affected by the tsunami, for assistance.

His medical bills, which stand at about 90,000 baht, would be covered by Belgium-based Medicines San Frontieres. He only hope that keeps Soe Naing going is the chance to return to his wife and two children in the city of Tavoy in southern Burma. ``As soon as I get an artificial leg, I will go back home. I will find menial jobs or work in the rice fields there. The doctors told me I could leave hospital within two months, I miss my family and my home a lot,'' he said.

Soe Naing is among hundreds of Burmese migrant workers believed to have survived the tsunami catastrophe. Many, like Soe Naing, were injured but refused to see doctors. Most went into hiding as the authorities conducted a series of crackdowns and moved to deport them. ``We have tried to persuade these migrants to see doctors over the past six months but most of them don't dare to come out as they are still afraid of being arrested and deported. Only a few are willing to receive medication from doctors,'' said Sutthiphong Kongkhaphol, a TAG coordinator.

According to Mr Sutthiphong, many legal migrant workers are also facing problems. Although they were registered workers, they had lost their papers when the tsunami struck. Without their identification papers, they could not apply for a work permit, which would provide protection under labour law, had no right to the healthcare system, as well as having no right to stay in the country. ``If they come out without an ID card, they will immediately be classified as illegal migrants, will be arrested and then deported by police,'' he said.

The TAG has been helping such migrant workers to re-apply for their ID cards. So far, 330 workers in Phangnga have now received replacement cards, and have resumed their work. They also have access to the country's healthcare system. The agency also provides financial assistance to families of migrant workers who are jobless. Moe, 34, has to take care of his wife, who suffered serious head injuries after being hurt during the tsunami. She has been left unable to speak after suffering brain damage. She was not able to take care of the baby daughter she delivered just after the tsunami struck.

While her medical bills, totalling one million baht, are covered under labour law, Moe had become penniless as he was not able to leave his wife and go to work. The TAG provides him with a daily stipend to cover his expenses.
`` I must thank the Thai government for paying my wife's medical bills, which we could not afford to pay,'' he said. He plans to take his wife back to his hometown in Tavoy once her condition improves. Then he will return to try and find work again in Thailand, he said. ``There are no well-paid jobs in Burma. My family will starve to death if I stay in Burma,'' he said.

[Yappofloyd]

Helping to relive the suffering of others Sanitsuda Ekachai Bangkok Post 01/12/05

Nearly a year of hardship and anguish after the Dec 26 tsunami, Makwe, a Burmese migrant worker in his thirties, might soon have a chance to sooth his sorrow.If luck is on his side, Makwe might be able to retrieve the body of his wife Hla Hla Newe and to fulfill a husband's duty by giving her a proper religious send-off if the Thailand Tsunami Victims Identification Unit finally has a change of heart, that is.

Makwe was working for a fishing boat at Baan Nam Khem when the killer wave struck, which killed his wife and their little boy. Having lost all official documents and having been accused of being the tsunami looters by the media, fear for arrest and deportation prevented the Burmese workers from showing up in order to claim for the bodies of their loved ones.

Thanks to assistance from right groups, the tsunami victim identification unit has the fingerprints to prove that at least 72 bodies under its care are Burmese migrant workers. Makuai's wife is one of them. Yet he still has little hope of giving his wife a proper farewell.

The Thai authorities - in order to prevent the relatives' chaotic rush to reclaim the bodies during the early stage of the tsunami shock - has set up a rule requiring the relatives of foreign tsunami victims to provide documents from their embassies.

But Makwe and other Burmese workers are no ordinary foreigners. And the Burmese government is no ordinary government. Political repression and economic hardship in Burma has forced poor people to illegally cross the borders for a better life. The junta considers them criminals. There is no way for the Burmese workers to get the necessary embassy papers. No way to collect the bodies of their loved ones.

Now that the body identification unit in Phuket will be closed in mid-December, there have been positive signs from the authorities that they might consider relaxing the rules concerning embassy documents, specially for the Burmese workers, so the bodies can be released to their families. Makwe, for one, is praying for good news.

Nobody knows the exact number of Burmese migrant workers who perished in the Dec 26 tsunami. Early estimates put the figure at over 1,000, since there were about 120,000 registered workers in the six tsunami-hit provinces and 7,000 of them were in the worst-hit areas of Takua Pa and Koh Lak in Phangnga province.

According to Pol Col Khemarin Hassiri, head of the victim identification unit, there remain 966 unidentified bodies. Some 600 of them now await DNA test results from their Thai relatives, meaning that some 300 of them might be migrant Burmese workers. Rights groups, meanwhile, say they have a list of some 250 Burmese families who are looking for their relatives who were killed by the tsunami.

While fingerprints can be used to trace the identities of registered Burmese workers, the fact remains that many of their peers were illegal and undocumented. Lacking fingerprints and family data, only expensive DNA tests can help identify the remaining corpses. If their relatives live across the border, the chance of identifying and releasing the bodies are increasingly slim.

To make up for past heartlessness - what with our arresting and deporting the Burmese workers on sight instead of helping them after the tsunami - we must find better ways to help them retrieve the bodies of their family members. Incidentally, the court has ruled that the five Burmese workers who were arrested and slapped with the looting charge are not guilty. Despite the torment and long detention, they cannot receive their rightful compensation because the police immediately deported them although two of them are registered workers and have the right to stay. How to help these Burmese tsunami survivors? The answer probably lies not on questioning the quality of our rules, but that of our heart.

Sanitsuda Ekachai is Assistant Editor, Bangkok Post.

[Yappofloyd]

According to Pol Col Khemarin Hassiri, head of the victim identification unit, there remain 966 unidentified bodies. Some 600 of them now await DNA test results from their Thai relatives, meaning that some 300 of them might be migrant Burmese workers. Rights groups, meanwhile, say they have a list of some 250 Burmese families who are looking for their relatives who were killed by the tsunami.

The estimates of unclaimed bodies of Burmese migrants vary but I would hazard a guess that the majority of the 422 bodies being buried are Burmese.

Since the Post report from last Dec it would appear that the number from unclaimed bodies with DVI has fallen from 966 with some having been ID'd and others perhaps in the process. However, I would not assume that it is now only 422 as these are likely to be the cases where there is thought to be little prosepect of identification. Hence, the likelyhood that most are Burmese as no family member to provide DNA samples.

422 unidentified tsunami victim bodies buried - Bangkok Post 17/10/06

Phangnga _ The Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) Centre yesterday held a mass burial for 422 unidentified bodies from the tsunami tragedy at Ban Bang Muang cemetery in Takua Pa district. Pol Col Khemmarin Hassiri, chief of DVI, said the unclaimed bodies were embedded with microchips and kept in three-tiered coffins.

He said they were ready to be exhumed any time if relatives turned up to claim them and they had been identified. The burial process is scheduled to be completed by Dec 15 before the planned official opening of the 15-rai Ban Bang Muang cemetery on Dec 26. Pol Col Khemmarin was confident the burial ground would not have any environmental impact on nearby communities.

[Yappofloyd]

Last of the dead being laid to rest ACHATAYA CHUENNIRAN BKK POst 07/12/06

Phangnga _ The last group of 110 unidentified victims of the December 2004 tsunami are finally being laid to rest, with the burials expected to be concluded in Takua Pa district tomorrow. The deadly waves that killed around 5,400 people in Thailand and many more in neighbouring countries along the Andaman coast led to one of the kingdom's largest ever post-mortem tasks. Thai and foreign forensic experts joined forces to identify thousands of corpses.

Of the 410 unidentified bodies that were recovered, 300 have already been buried. The burial of the remaining 110 in a plot of land opposite Bang Maruan cemetery is underway and will be wrapped up tomorrow, said Nitinai Sornsongkram, manager of the police body identification unit under the Disaster Victim Identification centre (DVI).

However, another 97 bodies _ 73 Burmese nationals, 22 Thais, one Nepalese, and one Turkish citizen _ have now been identified and are being kept in freezer containers at the centre waiting for relatives to claim them.

Mr Nitinai said that even two years on since the deadly waves hit, bodies continue to be claimed by relatives. The body of one victim, Jiraporn Dasampong, was yesterday collected by relatives from Ubon Ratchathani.
Suwanee Tulme, 39, said she was at peace after finally finding some closure after a long search since her cousin went missing the day of the tsunami.
Jiraporn, 32, came to Phangnga from her home in Nong Khai to work at a spa in a Khao Lak resort that was devastated like so many others by the tsunami.
With no solid information on her cousin's fate, Mrs Suwanee said she decided to get herself a job in neighbouring Phuket so she could concentrate on the search.

She recalled seeing an apparition of Jiraporn at her house a week after the tsunami. ''I told her we would hurry to bring her back. I'm happy to be reunited with her today so she can finally be home,'' Mrs Suwanee said, adding she planned to quit her Phuket job now her mission was over.

The 15 rai of land opposite the Bang Maruan cemetery is also being turned into a tsunami memorial. The 36-million-baht memorial will officially open on Dec 26 which is the second anniversary of the tragedy, said Mr Nitinai. Officials said the DVI will also be turned into a disaster mitigation centre for Phangnga, which would also provide forensic training for police and officials.

[Yappofloyd]

The process slowly goes on without help from the Burmese govt....

Disaster brings focus Bkk Post 28/08/07 Just as the tsunami exposed Thailand's lack of early warning systems and disaster management plans, it also illuminated the immensity of the region's migrant population and the many issues that affect them, writes ERIKA FRY

Travelling along Phang Nga's main road, one passes construction projects, reopened hotels and a stubbornly still-beached Navy vessel that was tossed ashore with the tsunami's big wave. Not far from there is Bang Maruan cemetery, another memorial to the 2005 disaster, where two and half years later work is still not quite complete. The cemetery doubles as the small headquarters for Royal Thai Police's Thai Disaster Victims Identification (TDVI) programme, which keeps the 460 bodies - in stainless steal containers, 1.5 metres underground - that have yet to be identified or claimed by the family (the case for 69 of them).

Nitinai Sornsongkham, manager of TDVI (he also designed the cemetery), suspects that of the 391 bodies that are still unidentified, the majority belonged to migrants that were working in Thailand's fishing industries. Both he and Dr Nigoon Jitthai, the International Organisation for Migration's (IOM) Migrant Health Programme Manager say the bodies remain unclaimed either because families have moved away or because they fear deportation or other consequences for their unregistered status if they come forward for the body.

Just as the tsunami exposed Thailand's lack of early warning systems and disaster management plans, it also illuminated the immensity of the region's migrant population and the many issues that can follow from the presence of such a large, unregistered community. Dr Nigoon remarks that this was especially true in Phang Nga, where there was little awareness of migrants in the province until they washed up in such great number with the tsunami.

Many advocates credit the tsunami and the migrant issues that surfaced in the tragedy for inspiring the new attention being paid to the health of the migrant population in Phang Nga, and for forwarding debate at the national level (see related article). Nonetheless, in the weeks following the disaster, authorities orchestrated a round-up of unregistered individuals in the province - an exercise that complicated the situation of many migrants who had lost, often in addition to family members, their documents and proof of registration in the tsunami. To help with these issues, IOM provided migrants the physical and financial assistance needed for the re-issuance of registration documents and in the process to identify, claim and cremate the bodies of their family members.

As of May 2007, IOM had received 138 requests for assistance from the families of missing migrant victims, and through coordination with TDVI, discovered the remains of 76 of them. A total of 212 migrant victims had been identified through their work TDVI, 155 of whose bodies had been released to employers and relatives. Nitinai added that many of the bodies had been identified as Burmese, but that TDVI has been unsuccessful in its negotiations with the Burmese government to claim the bodies.

Matching is performed by the TDVI staff, who before burying the bodies earlier this year, collected DNA samples and other appropriate records - up until then, unidentified remains had been stored in the TDVI's temperature-controlled vaults, a method that after two years was concluded to be costly and no longer effective. IOM also assisted 58 families with cremation services and another 12 in collecting the 20,000 baht compensation they were entitled to as families of a registered migrant.

Dr Nigoon mentions that in most large disasters, a 5% rate of unidentified victims is standard, making Thailand's efforts with the tsunami - especially in light of lack of precedent and established protocol - "quite good." Even so, the efforts of TDVI to find family and identities for the remaining victims will of course continue. Until then, the bodies will remain buried in Bang Maruan, each marked by a simple coded headstone.

[Yappofloyd]

This article is not directly on post-tsunami issues but really highlights the ongoing problems for nearly all migrant workers insofar that they are considered cheap and disposable labour with little or no protection.

A load of bad breaks - Migrant labourers in Thailand risk life and limb while making a valuable contribution to the economy, all for little pay and no respect, writes ERIKA FRY Bkk Post 28/10/07

When Min had his arm lopped off while making motor brakes in a Samut Sakhon factory last year, his employer shooed him off the factory floor. He was sent to the hospital on the back of a motorbike, never compensated for the injury, and having lost the arm, also lost his job. 17-year-old Sai Htun died his 5th day on the job. He was smothered to death in June, on the banks of Chiang Mai's Ping River, working on a government riverbank defence project for 170 baht a day.

For the price of silence, his employer, a sub-contractor, promised - but 4 months later has still not paid - 50,000 baht in compensation and funeral costs to Sai Htun's family. Sai Htun's uncle, a gardener who lives an hour outside of Chiang Mai and speaks little Thai, has given up tracking down the employer, having already lost several days of work to attend appointments that the sub-contractor hasn't shown up for. "I'm upset and disappointed, but I can't do anything. If I want to fight the employer it's too difficult to work. I have to work too," he says.

Less than two weeks ago in Chiang Mai, three migrant workers died in three separate accidents in a single day (at one site, a fall from a roof and at the other, a fall from scaffolding and a worker buried in cement). They happened as such incidents tend to: quietly, quickly, and without inspection or report. By noon the next day, two of the bodies had been burned. I learned of the cases only because I happened to be in Chiang Mai, spending the day with the team at Making Migrant Safety at Work Matter (MMSAWM), a Human Rights Development Foundation (HRDF) project that does outreach work there.

The swift and silencing way migrant employers deal with these cases is what makes Andy Hall, project coordinator of MMSAWM, suspect that even at the well-networked foundation they learn of only the "tip of the iceberg" in terms of such events. Because these cases are not reported, they are not investigated, and research and understanding of the situation, particularly on a national level, is sorely lacking, adds Hall. Though such cases are not centrally recorded, anecdotal evidence of occupational accidents suffered by Thailand's migrant workers is as abundant as it is grisly, and not surprisingly so.

Thailand has an estimated 2 million migrants, the majority of whom perform the hardest and most hazardous kinds of labour. (Labour activits refer to it as the 3Ds, for difficult, dangerous, and dirty and/or degrading). "They are being underpaid to work in very poor conditions at great risk to their life and body, while making a very big contribution to the Thai economy," comments Somchai Homlaor, secretary-general of the HRDF. Those that study the subject agree that the economic benefits brought by the Thailand's migrant workforce are consistently underappreciated, or more often, completely unrecognised in society.

Human security
Dr Surin Pitsuwan, a Board Member of the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security, and the future Secretary-General of Asean, agrees with Somchai and speaks of the need to think beyond national security, and of human security when it comes to Thailand's migrants. "There are some jobs Thais won't do. Migrant workers are making an enormous impact on our economy. It's important we take care of them in return for their contribution."

Yet, though Thai labour law mandates job training and safety standards, just as it mandates minimum wages and overtime laws, these laws are regularly ignored and rarely enforced in the fields, factories or construction sites that are powered by migrant workers. "These workers are expected to work after having just 5 or 10 minutes of instruction on machines they've never seen before," says P, a Burmese foundation worker based in Bangkok who has done outreach work with the migrant work community for more than a decade. "He just told me to go and get started," Sai Pon says of the day he began building "mansions" at a housing estate ouside of Chiang Mai a year ago.

Meanwhile, protective equipment - like the gloves, boots, helmets, and safety glasses that would prevent countless injuries on construction sites - are usually not supplied unless purchased by the low-earning migrant workers themselves. Though there are few cases where employers supply protective gear, Win, a Burmese NGO worker in Bangkok, has visited construction projects where the employer will buy workers alcohol, as a bribe to make them work longer.

Breaks, other than for lunch, and even in rain and extreme heat are usually not allowed, making workers more vulnerable to conditions and fatigue that lead to accidents. At Sai Pon's work site, the employer (who he and other workers call a relatively "decent" boss) even roves about with a camera and will dock the worker half a day's pay if he gets a shot of them resting. When accidents do happen, employers - especially those employing unregistered workers - would rather have the cases settled quickly, then have them reported.

At best, this means usually covering the cost of private treatment or a small compensation payment and telling the migrant to return to work when they can. Oftentimes, this is amenable to migrants, too, who may be unregistered, simply unaware of their rights, or without the financial security to pass up an immediate monetary offer. Nigoon Jitthai, Program Manager of International Organisation of Migration's Thailand Health programme, explains that even a number of registered migrant workers, entitled to care under the government health scheme, are so accustomed to discrimination and exploitation by authorities that they are afraid to go to public hospitals.

Employers will also hold their workers' registration cards, and refuse to give them to workers should they want to seek medical care, says P. She knows of one man that was deported after being arrested on his way to the hospital; he was carrying a photocopy of his registration papers because his employer would not give him the real thing.

Yet the situation is far worse for workers that are undocumented and have no papers at all. Win, who in his work with Bangkok's Burmese migrant community, has come across "many, many" cases of construction site accidents and fatalities, laughs when asked if the victims receive compensation. He explains that employers deal with the police, not to help the worker but to save themselves from accident reports or more trouble for using illegal workers. It's not unusual for the injured worker to be arrested, for deportation, at the same time, he says.

P has encountered scores of occupational accident victims that having dismembered arms, fingers, and other limbs, can no longer work and need help in getting back to Burma. Never has she seen a victim get compensation through official channels. This may also be because in many places around the country - from Chiang Mai to Songkhla - there is evidence that when migrant workers have sought out assistance from SSO, "they are always denied," explains Somchai. In some cases, they are told that as migrants they have no right to workers compensation.

Other times, "officers try to convince and persuade them to negotiate with their employer, without the involvement of the government," says Somchai.
Whether this pattern has resulted from officials' ignorance of national policy or deliberate discrimination, that Nang Noom is the first migrant worker to contend her right to access official workers compensation is an alarming and illuminating sign of an all too common migrant story. "They are employees here, they get in an accident here, they contribute to the economy here," says Somchai. "Migrant workers have become victims of exploitation and it's the policy of the government that is not protecting them."

"Lots just go home because they are injured and scared," says P. Of course, not everyone's that lucky. Sai Htun was given a small cremation ceremony. Afterwards his relatives and a group of monks visited the riverbank construction site where he died, so they could send the 17-year-old's spirit to a better place.

[Yappofloyd]

FAILED SAFETY NET - The exploitation of a Burmese migrant worker involved in a precedent-setting appeal for compensation did not end when she became an accident victim, writes ERIKA FRY from Chiang Mai BKK Post 28/10/07

Thirty-six-year-old construction worker Nang Noom has spent her last 11 months in a Chiang Mai hospital bed. On bad days, she thinks about suicide; on the slightly better ones, she thinks of all the places to which she can no longer walk. If she looks forward to anything, it's to the infrequent visits of her husband Sai Boon, who she fears will become unfaithful, and to whom she fears she is a burden.

She is paralysed - stranded miles away from her home and family in Burma's Shan state and stuck at the centre of a worker's compensation case that even with the backing of national and international law and a corps of human rights workers battling on her behalf - has, in its 11 months, moved almost nowhere. She finally got a wheelchair, last month. It was a hand-me-down from a former Thai hospital patient; a donation which has provided Nang Noom with the mobility her employer, the Social Security Office (SSO), and the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security - citing her lack of proper passport at the request - would not.

Nang Noom was severely injured - almost killed - last December when she was struck by a piece of a 300-kilogramme mould that fell from the 12th floor of the Shangri-la Hotel she was helping to construct. She doesn't remember anything about the day of the accident, only waking up two months later in a hospital ward and hearing doctors talk about her spinal injuries, and how she could no longer walk. The blow also left her with broken bones, internal bleeding, and throat damage that prevented her, for two months, from speaking.

Migrants make up the majority of the workforce at a number of Thailand's construction sites. She had been working at the Chiang Mai construction site since June, hired to move materials and collect scrap metal around the site for 130 baht a day, 20 baht less than the city's minimum wage. Though she found construction work physically difficult, and much tougher than the domestic work she had done for the first three years after migrating from Burma, she had entered the industry "out of love," wishing to work alongside her husband.

During her time there, she witnessed accidents involving cranes, saw a worker fall from scaffolding, and watched many others step on nails; but she didn't worry about her own safety. She had purchased boots and gloves - the protective equipment few employers supply and few of the migrant workers can afford. "I was careful, I didn't think it could happen to me."

Nang Noom is one of 200,000 registered Burmese migrants in Thailand, and each year since 2004, she had paid the associated costs of such status - 1,900 baht for a work permit and the 1,900 baht that entitled her to health care under the government scheme. The greater share of Thailand's estimated 2 million migrant workers are unregistered (and excluded from the government health scheme); largely because there has not been a registration mechanism open to Burmese migrants since 2004, but also because the system is confusing and extremely restrictive for workers.

While Cambodia and Laos have struck agreements with Thailand to formalise the migrant labour system, Burma has been uncooperative in working to establish a similar process. Yet, while Nang Noom is registered - fees paid, fingerprints taken, data entered into the Ministry of Interior's system - her 11-month battle for disability compensation has proven that, even with that status, she is not protected from discrimination, nor the obfuscation and incompetence of government bureaucracy.

Immediately after her accident, her employer claimed he would take care of all costs until she had recovered and returned to work. He also owed Nang Noom and Sai Boon several weeks of unpaid wages, which he agreed to pay.
When he still had not made good on his word weeks later, Sai Boon approached the employer who this time offered to give the couple 30,000 baht, and 10,000 baht for transport, if they went back to Burma. As this was neither particularly fair nor feasible, Sai Boon made his first of many trips to the Chiang Mai Social Security Office for assistance.

Begrudging compensation
Thai labour law (along with obligations under a number of constitutional, regional, and international documents) guarantees all workers, regardless of nationality, compensation for work-related accidents and disability. The mechanism for this is the Workmen's Compensation Fund (WCF), which is managed by the SSO and to which all employers in Thailand must contribute a risk-based premium. The fund is intended as a system of insurance for both workers and employers - a safety net should occupational calamity strike. A spokesman for Surin Jiravisit, secretary-general of the SSO, echoed this compensation-for-all interpretation as well when he said in a phone interview earlier this week, "that all people who are working are entitled to the WCF scheme. If someone is injured at work, there is an obligation to look after that worker."

Or so it seemed. "Of course they must be legal," he added with a chuckle (to be fair, maybe a nervous one). He explained that if they are "illegal", the employer - and not the WCF - has duty to look after them. The SSO has a role only in that it "can force the employer to pay the worker." This explanation helps to explain why, in the 11 months since the accident, Nang Noom has received 17,260 baht - compensation that has been paid by her employer, not the WCF - slowly, begrudgingly, and only after being mandated, also slowly and begrudgingly, by the SSO (the first installment was ordered 8 months after her accident).

It seems that while Nang Noom has been battling for this compensation, the SSO and Nang Noom's employer have been battling about which of them should not have to pay it. It is this dispute - which oddly is being contested now, only for the first time (see related article) - over who should be responsible for paying migrants compensation when they are injured or killed at work, that lies at the heart of Nang Noom's case.

SSO says, in this case at least, they are not, and they have given a range of flimsy reasons as to why. These justifications - outlined at a meeting regarding Nang Noom's appeal of the SSO's decision, earlier last week - have run from Nang Noom's lack of proper travelling document (which is equated with illegal entry into Thailand) to the fact that Nang Noom's employer had not paid the required premium to the WCF (which SSO is nonetheless, supposed to enforce) to the difficulty involved in identifying and documenting Burmese workers, because they have no last names. At the meeting, SSO also clarified that in "illegal", they count both registered and unregistered migrants that lack "nationality verification", or a proper travelling document, like a passport.

cont....

[Yappofloyd]

cont...

Because of the situation in neighbouring countries - particularly Burma - obtaining such documents is a near impossibility and the majority of Thailand's migrant workforce, in SSO's eyes, is "illegal". Somchai Homlaor, secretary-general of the Human Rights and Development Foundation, finds such semantics and excuses "ridiculous". "200,000 Burmese migrant workers are registered with the Ministry of Interior. The Ministry of Labour issued them a work permit card. So why does the government not accept this? Can they not trust their own information system? Why did they issue an ID card? There is more than one way to identify a person."

He adds that such policy "is very discriminatory towards the country's Burmese migrants," adding that another country's politics shouldn't relate to the way Thailand treats its workforce. It should be noted that before the SSO settled on this position, it had given those involved with Nang Noom's case 6 different interpretations of the WCF policy (both favourable and unfavourable to Nang Noom) and engaged in considerable foot dragging.

SSO spent four months investigating the validity of Nang Noom's "disability"; a process SSO made infinitely more complicated in its insistence to correspond only with Nang Noom (as opposed to hospital workers or her lawyer) via standard post. Yet, while the SSO cleared itself of its own obligations, in passive-aggressive consolation to Nang Noom, it also ruled that she was entitled to 15 more years of compensation, at 60% her daily wage (the same that she would receive from the WCF) - it's just the employer would have to pay it.

Nang Noom's employer paid her less than minimum wage - rarely in a timely fashion. He had failed to contribute to the WCF and to report Nang Noom's accident - all violations of SSO's own labour laws. Yet, when it came to ordering him to compensate Nang Noom, SSO simply ordered him to compensate her, in honour code fashion, with no formal monitoring or follow-up system to enforce it. Stranger still, the SSO refused to inform Nang Noom or those working on her behalf, as to when and for how much she would be compensated, saying that information was between the SSO and employer.

Only when pressured, was this information revealed to her - and with it, the discovery that the employer had not in fact compensated Nang Noom to the extent ordered by the SSO. Somchai finds SSO's employer-compensates solution as flawed as the reasoning that underlies it. "They say they can order employers to pay, but it's hard to enforce and not secure."

Even with honest employers, he says the solution is impractical because of the basic nature of the migrant worker. "To truly secure migrant workers that have been in accidents fair compensation, they should be getting it from the WCF." More than anything, he argues the matter should be handled this way, as a simple matter of human rights. "Migrant workers have become victims of exploitation," and the laws meant to protect them go "unenforced because of prejudice, discrimination and corruption," he says.

Waiting on a decision
If Nang Noom's case has revealed gaps in national policy, it has more strikingly illuminated the lack of humanity she has been shown through the ordeal. Even after having had her life shattered through hard labour - for a hotel that come Dec 2007, will generate considerable income for the country - she has been treated as a problem for her employer, and a burden to the SSO. The exploitation Nang Noom endured as one of Thailand's 2 million migrant workers did not end when she became an accident victim. "There are obligations under international and Asean agreements, as well as Thai law. We will fight on with many cases, including that of Nang Noom, until the government admits that migrants fall under the Workmen's Compensation Act," vows Somchai.

The WCF Appeals Committee has said it will finalise its review of the case and announce its final decision as to whether Nang Noom has rights to access the WCF next month. If she's denied those rights Somchai and other case workers say they'll be ready to take the issue to court and fight for what should be a precedent-setting case with regards to migrant rights.

Unfortunately for Nang Noom, that would also mean more time, which is something, as the hospital pressures her to move out and the days on her work permit run down, she doesn't necessarily have (if that were to happen, and she had to go back to Burma, it's even less likely she could count on SSO-ordered compensation coming from her employer). For now, though, she'll wait for November, trying to forget the uncertainty of the future as she learns to climb in and out of her new wheelchair.

This is the first of a series on occupational safety for migrant workers.

[Yappofloyd]

Health care for migrant workers working in the Tsunami affected areas.

AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION Bkk Post 13/01/08
Thai employers want migrant workers' cheap labour but most won't take responsibility for their health care. This is not only unfair, it constitutes a direct challenge to public health in the general population, writes SUPARA JANCHITFAH

It was still early in the morning, but a large crowd of people were already waiting to see doctors at a local hospital in Phangnga province, Win Win (not her real name) and her husband were among the crowd. They could feel the stares of Thai locals, and perhaps could understand some of the murmuring about Burmese workers coming to use Thai health care services. "There are not enough doctors and nurses for us. Why should these Burmese be able to come use our hospital?" asked one local. A more thoughtful local replied that they might harbour fatal diseases that if untreated could spread among the general population.

The discussion in the hospital emergency ward went far beyond health care, and touched on a number of prejudices commonly held against migrant workers.Areerat, from Kuraburi district in Phangnga, said that in Kuraburi hospitals Burmese sometimes made up more than 50 percent of the total number of patients. She complained that some Thai people who were born on Phrathong island, but hold no Thai ID cards because they were never issued birth certificates, get less benefits. "Some of us have to pay in full, while Burmese pay only 30 baht," she said.

It is not only members of the general public who play on unfounded fears and stereotypes to make the case that these undocumented workers are taking away health care services from native Thais. At a meeting recently organised by Medicins San Frontiers on the third anniversary of the 2004 tsunami, many participating public health officials expressed some similar biases. "We treat these Burmese better than Thais," one said, to widespread agreement. Many came up with similar complaints against both registered and non-registered migrant workers. Perhaps this is understandable, as these public health officials have to work harder while making the same amount of money providing services for many more people who may not even pay taxes.

One official explained that the head count for hospital budget and personnel purposes was based on the number of Thai citizens in an area, regardless of the number of Burmese who also use the hospitals. He said that ethics would not permit them to turn away the foreigners, but the central government is uninterested or unaware of their predicament. Yet another official from the Phangnga Provincial Public Health Department said that in 2007, three million baht of the allocated budget went to all local hospital in Phangnga to care for migrant labourers.

Migrants' contribution
Many Thai employers are all too eager to hire Burmese workers for jobs they might have trouble filling otherwise, but health care insurance is usually not considered part of the bargain. Nevertheless, in contrast to the perception held by many Thais that migrant workers are taking advantage of Thai government health services, registered migrants or their employers must pay 1,300 baht each year for heath insurance and 600 baht for a medical check-up when they renew their work permits.

According to the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, there were 826,796 registered migrants in 2006, declined from 841,277 in 2005. Granted, this is less than half of the estimated 1.8 million migrant workers in Thailand, but it is likely that most migrants would register if they had the chance. The government has not allowed new registration in recent years.

What's more, according to report from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) late last year, Thailand's migrant workers earned $2 billion in wages last year, but may have contributed $11 billion, or 6.2 percent, to the gross domestic product. The report goes on to say that about 75 percent of the migrant labourers came from Burma, with most of the rest coming from Laos and Cambodia. Many business operators in Phuket and Phangnga provinces can attest to the migrants' contribution to local economies.

A commercial pick-up driver in Phuket said that he relied mostly on Burmese workers for his income. "Now many Thais are getting well off. They have their own cars or motorcycles and they no longer use my services. I have to wait for Burmese workers to hire my car," the driver elaborated. The owner of a barber shop in Phangnga's Takua Pa district said he owed the survival of his shop to Burmese workers. Grocery shop owners in many districts had similar comments. "Most of our local (Thai) people go to shop at big supermarkets in the cities. We make our living from the Burmese, who cannot go too far," said one.

Both registered and unregistered migrant workers in Phangnga and Phuket provinces most often rely on state hospitals for their medical care, but some are turning to nonprofit organisations such as Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) and other NGOs which set up operations after the tsunami. MSF, for example, has two mobile health care units which regularly visit fishing ports, rubber plantations and construction sites where large numbers of migrants are working to provide health education and care. Up to 10,000 workers have access to the mobile units.

Min Min (not his real name) is infected with HIV and cannot speak Thai. MSF provides him with medication and also a translator. He came to Thailand when he was 16 years old and worked on fishing boats for 10 years for 1,800 baht a month. Until recently he was unaware he has HIV. Although still very frail, the medication provided by MSF has probably saved his life. "I can't go home, there is no medicine back there," he said.

Barriers to treatment
There are many thousands of Burmese workers deep in the forested mountains along the Andaman coast tapping para-rubber trees, living in simple row houses. They get better pay and working conditions in comparison to those working in construction and fishing jobs.

Some plantation owners pay attention to their workers' health care, but most do not. The younger workers seldom get sick, so it may not be much of an issue to them. It is more important to the older workers and those with children. Those who have just come to Thailand, or who have lost their status as documented workers because of a change of employers, are not eligible for public health care.

Many of the undocumented workers do not come to the hospital no matter how sick they are. "We might be arrested," one said, adding that this would mean deportation. Some workers said that the distance between the plantations and the hospitals is a barrier. Others worried about the cost and still others about the language barrier.

Inna (not her real name) said most workers on the plantations try to find the means for a cure among themselves. "When someone has an accident and needs his wounds stitched up, we cannot send him to a hospital as he probably has no money and no health card. So we do it ourselves," she said. She added that most women also choose to have their babies at the plantation because it is safer (no worry of being arrested) and cheaper. They can also pay the midwives by installment.

Some said they want to register even though the process is complicated, but as mentioned there is as yet no new policy to allow newcomers to register. "We are willing to pay for the health insurance and want to be registered," was a common refrain at one para-rubber plantation. Many workers said registering would allow them to travel without fear and be sure of getting proper care. "Last year, a Burmese worker died because he did not know he had malaria. When he was sent to the hospital his condition was beyond cure," said Suksri Saneaha, a nurse who works for MSF.

Suksri said most workers at present only go to hospital as a last resort, if they are really sick and can no longer tolerate the pain and sickness. "Some workers thought they had an ordinary fever, but actually they had developed dengue. Only when they felt they could not handle it by themselves would they risk seeing a doctor." She added that she knew of persons infected with TB who had decided to go home without the taking the full course of medication for the disease, in the belief they would die soon anyway. "This will only spread such disease in their home country," she said.

cont. next post...

[Yappofloyd]

cont.....

Improve access
On International Migrants Day (December 18), MSF asked the Thai government to put more effort into improving access to health care for the migrant workers living in Thailand. Kannikar Kijtiwatchakul, MSF Access to Essential Medicine Campaigner, said: "If employers still need their cheap labour, these migrants will remain here, but they present a huge risk for Thai people when they do not receive proper medication for TB and other infectious diseases. Therefore, employers should not deny their responsibility to take the matter of health care seriously."

Richard Veerman, MSF migration coordinator for Thailand, said that all migrant workers should possess health cards. "Without the card, they have to pay full cost for medical care, but most can't afford it as they make very little." In order to improve migrants' access to health care in all provinces, MSF strongly recommends that the registration process be opened up again and that it be made simpler and cheaper, and that all migrants be made eligible for a health card regardless of their registration status.

Dr Charnwit Tharathep of the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) said that progress in allowing undocumented workers to register would depend on employers and also on whether or not the workers were perceived as a security threat. "Some employers might be afraid that their money would be wasted if their workers change jobs," he said. Dr Charnwit added that the MoPH is proposing a policy to allow workers to purchase a health card even if they are not registered, but it's still in the process. He also said the health care insurance proposed by the MoPH was the "cheapest in the world".

Dr Charnwit said that as a matter of principle all hospitals must take in the sick and uphold the physicians' credo of doing no harm. "I want to emphasise that it is not in the business of public health officials to file charges against these undocumented workers when they gave birth or otherwise seek assistance at a hospital," he said, adding that hospital officials will cooperate with other state agencies only if they seek information directly related to an ongoing criminal investigation. He said the MoPH has initiated a number of progressive schemes to facilitate migrant workers, such as providing volunteer translators. Registered workers are also given a medical check-up and some vaccinations are provided.

Dr Charnwit said the 1,900 baht collected yearly from migrant workers is usually enough to break even, but sometimes the MoPH has to shoulder higher costs for their care. To him, this falls under the philosophy that "an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure". He says the ministry provides primary health care to the workers partly because it "is for the safety of all Thai as well".

Face the reality
Three years after the tsunami, Phangnga province is undergoing an impressive economic recovery in the tourism, agriculture and fishery industries. It cannot be denied that migrant workers have made a major contribution to the resurgence. Certainly there are some disadvantages in having so many migrant labourers inside Thai borders. For example, a very small percentage of them engage in criminal activities such as trafficking in drugs and people.

As described in the opening paragraphs, immigration can become a social issue as well. Perceptions that migrants get undue benefits can raise tensions and hostilities. However, the reality is that in jobs which are essential if economic growth is to continue, migrants make up the majority of workers. This includes most construction projects and at many hotels. A number of hotels in Phangnga province which were severely damaged by the tsunami have resumed operations in the past year and a half, and last month hotel occupancy was more than 90 percent.

The contributions of the migrant workers are seldom acknowledged but well recognised. "Without these labourers, the cost of construction would be higher and the process would be slower," said a manger of a construction site who asked not to be named, pointing to some workers on the top floor of a building-in-progress. Yet lingering prejudices continue to make their hard lives even harder. Last year, authorities from different provinces issued many regulations to restrict the movement and freedom of migrants, such as prohibiting them from owning a mobile phone or gathering in groups outside their living compounds.

For the Thai locals who fear that children of migrant workers growing up in Thailand get better health care services than their own, it might be helpful to consider the predicament of Thai workers overseas who are denied equal access to health care. Kannikar recently conducted research in Japan and found some poignant examples. "A Thai worker got really sick but was refused treatment at eight hospitals, until the 9th decided to admit her. Another woman was very ill with HIV and wanted to come home, but she was detained at immigration for two weeks without care. "In 2001, a man with no means to health care died in front of the Thai embassy in Japan. "

Kannikar stressed that the more migrant workers were prevented access to health care, the more consequences there would be for Thailand in the future. For example, a limited knowledge of reproductive health would lead to unwanted pregnancies, which would further tax the Thai health care system, and lack of vaccinations will facilitate the spread of disease among the general population. "Access to treatment for migrant workers, apart from being a basic human right that must be protected regardless of nationality or legal status, is closely interrelated with the public health of the host country. This is due to the fact that disease does not respect nationality or recognise borders," added Kannikar.

[Yappofloyd]

You have to really feel for the est. 1m Burmese migrant workers currently in Thailand at the moment given the cyclone tragedy. Not only are they subjected to appalling treatment here but the uncertainty of the fate of family members must be overwhelming. Of course no help from the Burmese Embassy in BKK.

It was very good of the Post to publish such a long letter 2 days ago. There is an International Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers but it is yet to enter into force as virtually no State has signed it.

PostBag - BKK Post 07/05/08 : Open letter to Asean Labour Ministers
We, migrants from Burma, who currently live and work in Malaysia and Thailand, have recently met and discussed the situation of migrant workers. We work as construction workers, domestic workers, factory workers, fisherfolk, migrant health workers and plantation workers. We, the migrant workers of Asean, have contributed to the building of Asean communities but our voices are rarely heard. Today, on behalf of the millions of migrants from Burma in this region, we ask Asean to listen and act upon our concerns.

We call for an immediate end to corporal punishment, including whipping, and all forms of torture and cruel and degrading treatment. We regularly suffer such inhumane treatment just for migrating for work within the Asean region.

We are particularly concerned that state-sponsored bounty hunters such as RELA (Volunteer People's Corps) in Malaysia and community informers in Thailand (through the Employment Alien Act 2008) divide the communities, incite hatred and violence and bring about other negative consequences. We also fear that such actions will have adverse effects on the security of the region. We call for the immediate abolition of RELA and the repeal of the relevant article in the Employment Alien Act of Thailand.

Our experiences as migrants have clearly shown us that increased border controls and travel restrictions force migrants to rely on brokers, smugglers and traffickers. In order to reach our worksites we have to travel in highly dangerous conditions, as witnessed by our brothers and sisters who suffocated in a container truck in Ranong on April 10. Therefore, we call for Asean to honour our inherent right to freedom of movement.

Migrants within Asean are living and working in sub-standard conditions. For the health, safety and well-being of all Asean communities, we call for national labour standards to be strictly enforced and for those standards to be upgraded to fully comply with international standards. Asean should also put into place mechanisms for the prompt response to workers' concerns and complaints, especially for high-risk occupations which include construction work, fisherfolk, steel manufacturing and saw mills. In order for us to be able to make such complaints and to improve our working conditions, we call for the fundamental right of association due to all workers.

As a long neglected group of workers, we support the domestic workers' call to be recognised as workers throughout Asean and to receive equal protection and benefits as all workers. Particularly, we call for the immediate provision of one day's paid leave a week for all domestic workers. Since far too many migrant workers in Asean continue to suffer labour abuses in their workplace, we call for the right and access to timely legal redress for migrant workers. This must also include the right to live and work in the country of destination during legal procedures, for example during labour cases for non-payment of wages, unfair dismissal and breach of agreement.

We wish to remind Asean once more that we, who migrate to work, are people, not commodities. We are not only workers but people with the right to a whole range of services. It is unacceptable for Asean's caring community to deny newborn babies birth certificates, to refuse migrant children education and to exclude migrants from national healthcare systems. Therefore, we urge Asean to immediately implement policies which will redress these discriminatory practices.

Finally, everyone is entitled to national identity, but many Asean peoples' rights to nationality has been denied; we abhor the governments which fail to acknowledge and protect their citizens.
MIGRANT COMMUNITIES, MAP Foundation aaa@mapfoundationcm.org