Migration

Informal migration for labor

Talk but no action? Cambodian workers in Thailand see a lot of room for improvement

Thai-Cambodian discussions at the recent ASEAN summit put labour issues on the table. Despite the pleasant chat, migrant workers in Thailand have yet to see what, if any, measures the authorities will adopt to help address their problems. In a bilateral meeting on the sideline of ...

Seoung Nimol

Thailand Sets Long-Awaited Rules for Vetting Asylum Seekers

Rights groups say the long-awaited rules Thailand’s government approved this month for screening foreigners seeking refuge from persecution in their home countries are likely to leave many worthy applicants in the lurch. The United Nations refugee agency says Thailand currently hosts about 5,000 “urban refugees and ...

Zsombor Peter

Thailand rolls out red carpet for wealthy foreign workers with 10-year visa, tax breaks

Thailand, called the “Land of Smiles,” is rolling out the red carpet for foreign workers, joining a bevy of countries looking to use the immigration route to boost their economies. Top professionals, eligible high-net-worth individuals and retirees can start applying online from Thursday to stay for ...

Bloomberg

Illegal job seekers caught in Kanchanaburi, Chiang Mai

Border patrols on Sunday arrested a total of 126 Myanmar people who illegally crossed the border into Kanchanaburi and Chiang Mai provinces. In Kanchanaburi, 38 men and 38 women were found by a patrol of the Surasee Task Force hiding in bushes beside a pineapple plantation ...

PIYARAT CHONGCHAROEN AND PANUMET TANRAKSA

Cambodia’s law leaves domestic workers unseen and unprotected

It has been ten years since Cambodia first imposed a ban on sending Khmer domestic workers to Malaysia following dozens of reports of abuse by Malaysian employers, including overwork, sexual harassment and verbal and physical assault.  Since then, the Cambodian government has taken several steps to ...

DOLPHIE BOU AND ANJU MARY PAUL

Thailand plans to reopen borders to foreign workers amid shortage

Thailand plans to reopen its borders to workers from neighbouring Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, a government official said on Tuesday (Nov 9), in a bid to ease a labour shortage that is hurting its export and tourism-dependent economy. Pairote Chotikasathien, from the Ministry of Labor, said ...

Reuters/aj

Thailand Migrant Workers Sign Contracts They Don’t Understand, Undercutting Efforts to Stop Abuses

Migrant workers from Cambodia and Myanmar are being asked to sign contracts they cannot read in order to work in Thailand’s fishing fleet, a new study has found, undercutting efforts to expunge abuses from a sector worth billions of dollars to the Southeast Asian country. Thailand ...

Vijitra Duangdee

Labor Rights Groups Urge Cambodian Government to Assist Illegal Migrant Workers in Thailand

Cambodian labor rights officials on Friday called on their government to address challenges undocumented migrant workers in Thailand face obtaining legal employment on the eve of a registration deadline that could see tens of thousands deported or imprisoned after months being idled by coronavirus restrictions. Thailand’s ...

RFA’s Khmer Service. Translation by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Epidemic Reconstruction Reveals Gambling and Trafficking of Migrant Workers are Major Sources of Ongoing COVID-19 Spread 

As many as 45 provinces have been infected by the infection cluster first exploding among migrant workers communities in Samut Sakhon, while several more have been added to the list by the clusters involving gambling dens and local gambling such as cock fighting The disease control ...

B.Tribune

Myanmar Migrant Worker Says His Seafood Market Boss Started Chain of COVID-19 Infections

A Myanmar migrant worker in Thailand who became infected with the coronavirus said Wednesday that he contracted the illness from his Thai employer in a huge seafood market compound in coastal Samut Sakhon province near the capital Bangkok. On Monday, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and ...

Nayrein Kyaw for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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