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VII. Abuses in Thailand

There are at least 1 million ‘illegal’ people from Burma in Thailand outside the recognised refugee camps. Many of these are ‘economic migrants’, people who have gone to Thailand seeking work because their families can no longer subsist in Burma’s destroyed and corruption-riddled economy. A significant proportion of these ‘illegals’ would also have valid claims as refugees, but cannot go to refugee camps because there are no camps for them (only Karen and Karenni people presently have any possibility of admission to refugee camps) or because they do not want to go to refugee camps, either from fear or because they want to make money to take back home with them.

These people have no status or protection whatsoever, and are therefore regularly victimised by Thai police, corrupt officials, and their employers. Many are in bonded labour in sweatshops, brothels or Thai households, while others do underpaid labour on construction sites, in farm fields or fruit plantations. Their employers sometimes refuse to pay them for some time, then either throw them out in the street or pay the police to arrest them and take them away. Upon arrest, they face imprisonment in an Immigration Detention Centre, robbery and sometimes rape by the authorities, and summary deportation. In the past year the situation has become even worse, with the Thai government launching mass waves of arrests and deportations in Thai cities and border towns. Even in the midst of all of these threats, some of these people have told KHRG that the measly $1 a day they can make in Thailand (about 25% of Thai minimum wage) is much better than what they could make in Burma, and that "Even if we are arrested, life in a Thai jail is better than life in Burma - at least we get something to eat".

Photo #7-1: A migrant worker from Rangoon who found work in Bangkok. When he got sick, his Thai employer threw him out in the street. Unable to walk, he was rescued by some other Burmese who managed to get him to a refugee camp for treatment. [Photo: KHRG researcher]

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Photos #7-2, 7-3: Saw K---, age 23, from Papun District. He crossed into Thailand and found some work, but when he asked for his pay in August 1999 his Thai boss refused to pay, tied him up and tortured him with a hot knife, then took him to the Moei River, shot him and left him for dead. People who live there saw him and took him to a refugee camp for treatment. The photos show the slash and poke marks from the torture; note also the marks on his forearms from being bound. [Photos: KHRG researcher]

- [End of Photo Set 2000-A] -

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