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Appeal to Thai PM to extend work permits
Irrawaddy - January 18, 2010
Lawi Weng – Thirty-six human rights organizations in Thailand have sent an open letter to Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva expressing concern about the possible mass deportation of migrant workers if the government fails to renew work permits scheduled to expire soon.
In an open letter on Monday, the groups asked the prime minister if his government will deport or renew work permit to migrants workers.
"We would be most concerned if your government decides to adopt a policy to not renew work permits and deport migrants," said the letter.
Andy Hall, the director of the Migrant Justice Programme based in Bangkok, said "The Thai government should extend the policy because of the need within the Thai economy and also for the security of migrant workers based on fundamentally human rights."
According to the rights groups, there are more than 2 million registered migrant workers in Thailand and 90 percent are Burmese workers.
One group of 61,543 Burmese migrant workers have permits that will expire on Jan 20. A second group of 1.4 million workers have permits that will expire on Feb. 28.
The Thai government has not announced whether it will deport or renew work permits to the Burmese migrant workers. The right groups said that migrants must wait to see if a cabinet resolution is issued to formally extend the permits.
The Thai government announced in December 2008 that migrants who have not yet completed the nationality verification process by Feb. 28 would be deported.
Rights groups said that would lead to a mass deportation of migrants because many Burmese migrants did not take part in the national verification process. There are only 10,000 Burmese migrant workers in Thailand who have qualified for the new work permit passports, according to reports.
The rights groups have urged the Thai government to allow two more years for migrant workers to go through the nationality verification process, which involves a complex process of returning to Burma and other difficult steps
To verify their Burmese nationality, migrant workers have to submit detailed biographical information to the Burmese military. Many fear for their safety and repercussions against family members in Burma if they turn up at military government offices for nationality verification registration.
Many of the Burmese migrants are from ethnic minority groups such as the Mon, the Karen and the Shan, and have fled from Burmese army oppression and human right abuses.
The right groups say the Burmese migrant community has little public information about the national verification process and its benefit, both for migrant workers and employers.
The right groups have called on the Burmese government to send officials to Thailand to verify migrants' nationalities in order to encourage migrant workers to register. Due to a lack of information and awareness about the national verification process, many migrant workers have chosen to stay away from the process.
Cambodian and Lao governments officials have come to Thailand to complete the process in previous years. However, the Burmese government has refused such requests and wants all migrant workers to go to one of three border points – Myawaddy, Tachilek or Kawthaung – nationality verification registration.
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