Our labour minister's cruel policy

If Labour Minister Chalermchai Sri-on has his way, all pregnant migrant workers will be deported to their home countries.

What would you do if you were one of these migrant women?

Imagine, when you have little bargaining power to ensure protected sex with your partner. Imagine, when life is dominated by oppression and fear makes you vulnerable to all sorts of sexual abuse and violence. When you cannot afford to raise a child, and returning home means facing hunger, harsh poverty and even political persecution.

Under these circumstances, what would you do if you became pregnant?

Strange, isn't it, that Mr Charlermchai's policy has come amid the public rage against abortion, following the gruesome discovery of some 2,000 foetuses at a temple morgue. Yet, the morally righteous people who are furious with women who seek abortion, see nothing wrong with Mr Chalermchai's move, which will cause a bigger rush to abortion clinics! Why is that?

Undoubtedly, the deportation policy will force countless women to face life-threatening risks from unsafe abortion. Many of them will suffer serious health complications. Many will die.

Yet we don't care. Why?

Mention abortion, and our usual tendency is to blame the women who end their pregnancies as being morally decadent and sexually loose. Using religion to condemn abortion as being a sin, we refuse to open our hearts to consider these women's difficult life situations. We also refuse to give any help in the belief that loose women should be punished.

Meanwhile, we embrace a myriad cultural values, social practices, and state policies which force women to choose the painful path.

Mr Chalermchai's deportation policy for pregnant workers is a case in point. Like him, many of us believe that migrant workers are a threat to our society. That their children _ if allowed to be born here to enjoy life's opportunities _ will overwhelm our society with social problems.

So we agree with Mr Chalermchai. But when our endorsement ends up pushing more women to seek abortion, does it mean we also have blood on our hands?

No, this deportation policy is not about our ethnic prejudices only. The problem runs deeper than that. It is about gender oppression which cuts across cultures. Women, Thai nationals or migrant workers, are trapped in the same sexual double standards which rob women of control over their life, their sexuality, their body.

That is why despite all the statistics showing how our draconian anti-abortion law has caused the deaths of many women and injury and pain to others, they have failed to stir our hearts and trigger change. It is estimated that around 400,000 women seek an abortion each year, judging from the number of women who seek hospitalisation for abortion-related complications. About 300 out of 100,000 women die from complications. This means illegal abortion _ as a result of the lack of safe and legal services _ causes 1,000 women to die every year.

But who cares?

It does not matter if family planning statistics show that only 1% of men use condoms, which explains the high rate of HIV infection among women as well as the higher incidence of unplanned pregnancy.

The fact is that 70-80% of women who need abortion are those who risk losing their jobs if they are pregnant, or are too poor to feed another mouth. Yet, the focus is always on "loose" teenage girls whose libido must be contained; the blame is never on the schools' heartlessness, on inhumane business practices, or on the lack of state services to give pregnant women more options.

In our gender-oppressive worldview, women will be bad if given the chance. That is why teenage pregnancy statistics are played up. The same with the number of aborted foetuses: the higher the better, to portray women's cruelty and the need to keep women under control.

Abortion fury over the temple morgue tragedy cannot make us see the cruelty in Mr Chalermchai's deportation policy. Can it still change the abortion policy?

Not when the blame is still put on the women.

Now that the headlines have moved on to "how to tame" the foetuses' haunting spirits, the coverage is drawing to a close. The shock has failed to shake the draconian anti-abortion law and sexual double standards _ just like a wave that hits the shore, only to subside, leaving nothing behind.

Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/208015/our-labour-minister-cruel-policy

In the current slave trade, Indonesia the largest exporter

Upon hearing the news of the murder of an Indonesian housemaid and of another who was severely tortured, both in Saudi Arabia, the nation went through somewhat predictable motions. The government lodged protests with the Saudi ambassador and the public went into a frenzied outrage - fueled by a barrage of media reports about the ordeal that many poor Indonesian women working overseas go through.
Typically, all of the responses demanded the same thing: better deals and better protection for these women working abroad. No one — not the government, not the politicians and not even the activists in advocacy groups that help these women — are suggesting that the practice of sending housemaids be stopped completely.
The stakes are just too high, in terms of employment opportunities and the billions of dollars of foreign exchange earnings these housemaids send home. The nation has just too much to lose from phasing out what is essentially a 21st century version of the slave trade.
Live-in housemaids — whether in Jakarta, Surabaya, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Riyadh, Dubai, Hong Kong, Taipei or anywhere else in the world — essentially work under arrangements not unlike the slavery system of old.
The contract that a maid signs is unenforceable the moment after she steps into the house. She becomes a slave and the employers become her masters. The masters can disregard contracts, international conventions and national and international laws. There is nothing that she, the slave, can do. The only law applicable inside the house is what master says. Like the old slavery system, the maid a piece of property owned by the masters.

Don’t be misled when a maid tells you that she is treated kindly, like a member of the family. That is precisely the bond that evolves between servants and masters, instead of the professional or contractual kinds of relationships found in most other areas of employment.
While most maids may work for benevolent families, some unfortunate women have violent employers, such as Sumiati, who is now nursing severe wounds in a Saudi hospital after abuses allegedly inflicted by her employers, or worse, allegedly murderous employers, such as the family who employed Kikim Komalasari.
Nobody knows for sure how many others are there like Sumiati and Kikim — not only about Saudi Arabia, the Middle East or Malaysia, but also here in Indonesia, where the bulk of the Indonesian women work as housemaids.
The few cases that do surface are just the tip of the iceberg. Out of fear stemming from the master-servant relationship, most cases of abuse in Indonesia and elsewhere go unreported.
The whole point of the slavery-like system is that there is not much that the law or the government can do to protect maids from being abused  – except to take action after the fact (and then only if maids have the courage to report their employers to the police, assuming they were still alive). There is no mechanism that can prevent the employers from abusing their maids if they want.
Another factor that makes housemaids comparable to slaves is the absence of free will. Like olden-day slaves, these women are condemned to this kind of life by abject poverty and a lack of educational opportunities. Most are destined to such work by circumstance. Being a housemaid was never their choice.
Unfortunately, the nation’s attitude is not helping them. Instead, everyone seems to want to maintain this slavery system.
Indonesian households are the biggest beneficiaries of modern day slavery, so they have no interest or incentive in phasing out the system. Just listen to the complaints that housewives make two weeks every year when their pembantu take annual leave for Idul Fitri. Some families are so dependent on housemaids that they check into five-star hotels in their absence.
Indonesians, first and foremost, need their housemaids. Those sent abroad are just a surplus that the country has decided to generously share with other countries in the world.
The government, which should take the initiative to phase out the slavery system, is instead glorifying housemaids as “heroines of foreign exchange”. But officials are only interested in the forex receipts and commissions they get from labor exporting agencies. The way these vulnerable housemaids are harassed after their return shows the contradiction between what the government says and what it does.
More than 65 years after Indonesia’s founders proclaimed independence, it is disheartening to see that the nation, with the government in the lead, is deliberately perpetuating a system which keeps part of the nation in perpetual poverty and ignorance  —  ultimately to work as slave labor for others, at home and abroad.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/11/24/in-current-slave-trade-indonesia-largest-exporter.html

[RAP: Brilliant, angry, forthright and clear commentary. More like this please. If only the Indonesian government recognized the importance of this issue.

In this comment "Don’t be misled when a maid tells you that she is treated kindly, like a member of the family. That is precisely the bond that evolves between servants and masters, instead of the professional or contractual kinds of relationships found in most other areas of employment." RAP is reminded of the "house-negro" (as opposed to the "field negro") spoken of by Malcolm X, only with Indonesian Domestic Workers they're already called "house"-maids. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEruHQ2N9WM&feature=related )

It is irrelevant how pleasant life might be with her owner, domestic workers have rights and must be respected or brought home. No third option.]

Migrant Workers under attack in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 11/23/2010 12:21 PM | 

Mbak Sumiati's Injuries

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should go to Saudi Arabia to directly handle the latest abuse cases involving two Indonesian migrant workers there to avoid incidents like these occurring again, the Regional Representatives Council said.

Council deputy chairman Laode Ida said in his address to the its plenary session Monday that overhauling the labor export procedure would not be enough to end abuse against Indonesian maids in Saudi Arabia.

He said the President needed to talk with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to have the kingdom promise that the brutal torture against Indonesian maids there would not happen again. Government officials, council members and civil society groups have flown to Saudi to settle the case, but Laode said he was pessimistic about lobbying against the Saudi government to push for a thorough investigation into the two cases and taking concrete action against the perpetrators.

“Yudhoyono is the first and main official held responsible for the two cases and therefore he has to show strong commitment to protect all Indonesian citizens abroad,” he said, adding the two cases were a strong slap in the face for the government and a humiliation to the nation.

The torture of Sumiati, a migrant worker from Dompu, West Nusa Tenggara, who was in intensive care in Jeddah after being tortured by her employer and the murder of Kikim Komalasari, another domestic worker from Cianjur whose body was discovered at a rubbish spot in Abha, Saudi Arabia, recently, has sparked strong reaction from numerous sides at home, including the council and the House of Representatives.

Istibsyaroh, chairwoman of Committee III on labor, health and social affairs at the council, said that based on her committee’s report, the plenary session agreed to ask the government to temporarily suspend the labor supply to countries that had no political commitment to protecting Indonesian migrant workers while overhauling the labor export procedure.

The government’s decision to continue supplying workers to Saudi Arabia goes against the 2004 Labor Export and Protection Law, which allows labor export only to countries that have labor agreements with Indonesia, she said.

“The government must take a moratorium until the two countries make sure that both will comply with the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and sign a labor agreement with Indonesia,” she said.

Indonesia suspended labor supply to Malaysia from July 2009 following similar cases of Indonesian migrant workers in the informal sector and the neighboring country’s reluctance to sign the bilateral labor agreement, which sets monthly minimum wages and a weekly one day off for Indonesian workers.

Saudi Arabia is home to more than 1 million migrant workers from Indonesia, while Malaysia is home to more than 2 million workers and mostly have been employed as domestic workers with a monthly wage of around Rp 1.5 million (US$160).

Domestic workers in the two countries have been prone to abuse in their work place because they are not protected under their labor law as have been treated as part of their employers’ families. The two countries have been closely monitored by the Asian Human Rights Watch for the rampant abuse of foreign workers.

Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said in a coordination meeting with officials from the Foreign, Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection and Home ministries, as well as the National Agency for Labor Export and Protection that the government would revise the labor contract to help provide protection for Indonesian migrant workers. “The government will review the labor contract between workers and their employers to prevent any labor abuse in the future,” he said.

( http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/11/23/dpd-calls-tougher-diplomacy-over-abuse.html )

By NINIEK KARMINI (AP)

 She arrived in Saudi Arabia a high-spirited 23-year-old, eager to start work as a maid to help support her family back home. Four months later, Sumiati was Indonesia's poster child for migrant abuse, alone and staring vacantly from a hospital bed, her face sliced and battered.
 

Mbak Sumiati in hospital

But while public anger has forced President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's government to acknowledge the problem for the first time, few expect any firm action to be taken.
Gruesome images snapped of Sumiati, now recovering in the Saudi city of Medina, have been splashed on the front pages of local newspapers and led television newscasts for more than a week.

Her employer — who has been taken in for questioning by police — is accused of cutting off part of her lips with scissors, scalding her back with an iron, fracturing her middle finger, and beating her legs until she could hardly walk.

"It's hardly the first such case," said Wahyu Susilo, a policy analyst at Indonesia's advocacy group, Migrant Care. "Again and again we hear about slavery-like conditions, torture, sexual abuse and even death, but our government has chosen to ignore it. Why? Because migrant workers generate $7.5 billion of dollars in foreign exchange every year."

Workers from Asian countries dominate service industries in the Middle East and there have been many reports of abuse — including allegations in recent days that an employer in Kuwait drove 14 metal pins into the body of a Sri Lankan maid.

"The wanton brutality alleged in these cases is shocking," said Nisha Varia, senior women's rights researcher at the New York-based Human Rights Watch, which called on authorities to investigate claims promptly and bring those responsible to justice.

She and others called cases like that of Sumiati the "tip of the iceberg. "But countries that export labor have a responsibility as well, Nisha said. Though Indonesia sends more than 6.5 million workers abroad every year, it has drawn much criticism for failing — despite repeated promises — to ratify a 1990 U.N. convention on the protection of migrant workers. It also has not signed a bilateral agreement with Saudi Arabia that would give workers a legal basis to challenge employers.

But Oon Kurniaputra, an adviser to Indonesia's Minister of Manpower and Transmigration, argued Tuesday that the problem is not the fault of governments.
It is with profit-hungry recruitment agencies that lure young men and women overseas without ensuring their safety when they get there, he said.

Sumiati's case prompted President Yudhoyono to call a Cabinet meeting late last week to discuss ways in which the government could — and would — do more. It turned out to be a public relations disaster.
It emerged during the talks that another Indonesian maid, 36-year-old Kikim Komalasari, had allegedly been tortured to death by her Saudi employer, her body found in a trash bin on Nov. 11 in the town of Abha.
"It's shocking to hear this ... it's beyond inhumane," said Yudhoyono, as the government sent a team of diplomats to the scene to investigate. "I want the law to be upheld and to see an all-out diplomatic effort."
Some lawmakers suggested a moratorium on sending domestic workers to Saudi Arabia, something that is considered unlikely given the close economic and political ties between the predominantly Muslim countries.
It also comes at a sensitive time, with hundreds of thousands of Indonesians in Saudi Arabia performing in the annual hajj pilgrimage.

Yudhoyono, meanwhile, had a proposal of his own: Give all migrant workers cell phones so they can call family members or authorities if they need help. "It just shows how little he understands the problems domestic workers abroad are facing," scoffed Rieke Dyah Pitaloka, an opposition lawmaker who is dealing with labor and domestic workers affairs. "Their employers are locking them up and taking away their passports ... they aren't going to let them keep a phone."

Most people believe little will change until girls are better educated and prepared for better jobs in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelagic nation of 237 million people, where the average wage is less than $300 a month.
Sumiati, a recent high school graduate from a fishing village on Sumbawa island, was bouncing with enthusiasm when she left for Saudi Arabia on July 18 with the help of a local recruitment agency, according to family and friends.

She saw it as a chance to be able to help her three younger siblings through school.

End Brutality Towards Domestic Workers

When the family — together with the rest of the country — first saw the cell phone picture of their little girl on television, they "went crazy."
"Her mother ... started crying hysterically and lost consciousness," Sumiati's uncle, Zulkarnain, was quoted as saying in the English-language The Jakarta Globe.

When they got Sumiati on telephone in the hospital, she said in a voice almost unrecognizable: "Please come in the form of angels and take me back home to my village."

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9373991


Associated Press= JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) —

Extra Reporting: http://liranews.com/mdgs-en/2010/11/16/sadistic-housemaid-viciously-tortured/

http://news.okezone.com/read/2010/11/16/337/393881/kemenlu-juga-fasilitasi-keluarga-sumiati-ke-arab (Bahasa Indonesia)

[RAP: RAP supports the calls for strong diplomacy between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia on this issue. We have been present at the agency offices and departure points, when young women and men leave for uncertain, overseas experiences and the vulnerability that comes with it.

It is common practice for migrant workers to have their passports taken off them, to be denied access to phones and money, to be denied their right to adequate rest and reasonable work loads. The Indonesian government is negligent in allowing Indonesians to go overseas, unprepared and with no means of asking for help without cast-iron guarantees from overseas governments to protect and defend them. It is crucial for these safeguards to be put in place now, before the next murder takes place. Halt the flow of labour to the countries in which the abuse is taking place until those countries can demonstrate their determination to stop the abuse.]

Pattaya Draft Declaration on Sex Work in Asia and the Pacific 2010

Please have a look at the PLRI link below for the full text of the draft declaration.

Preamble

Recognising that:

Sex workers of all genders are subject to violence, both in their personal lives and at work. This violence is a manifestation of stigma, discrimination and judgemental attitudes.

International and national trafficking law and policy has resulted in increased violence against and oppression of sex workers.

United Nations organisations and specialised agencies have previously agreed that criminal and other laws that lead to dangerous settings for commercial  sex and limit access to services must be repealed.

In many parts of the world, sex workers are amongst the most vulnerable to HIV and STIs.

Twenty years of experience has shown that effective HIV prevention, treatment, care and support for sex workers is possible only with their meaningful and active involvement.

Collective organising and community mobilisationand community led processes are key to ensuring that sex workers benefit from HIV policies and programmes.

Building capacity within sex worker networks and communities must be understood as part of the commitment to the respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of sex workers.

Sex workers who are socially included, have better economic and social status and are less vulnerable to human rights abuses and HIV.

It is necessary to provide and scale up access to rights based HIV programming for sex workers and their clients of all genders, HIV positive or negative.

Successful rights based interventions that have been shown to reduce HIV and STIs among female, male and transgender sex workers and clients must be strengthened and scaled up.

Coercive efforts to control or reduce sex work are contrary to human rights. Mandatory medical treatment or procedures, raids, forced rehabilitation, or programmes implemented by police or based upon detention of sex workers are all examples of coercive programming and in some circumstances may constitute torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment

To be effective, HIV programming needs to be devised in true partnership with sex workers, and be dynamic, participatory, non-coercive and must address the diverse realities of human sexuality and sexual expression.

http://plri.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/pattaya-draft-declaration-on-sex-work-in-asia-and-the-pacific-2010/
http://iac.nswp.org/

Burmese migrants indifferent to looming vote

From: Dan Withers at DVB

As Burma prepares to hold its first elections in two decades, the world’s media has trained its fickle gaze on this military-ruled Southeast Asian nation. But, in neighbouring Thailand, most Burmese migrant workers have little interest in polls they believe will do nothing to improve life in their home country.
The Bangkok Post last week claimed more than 2,000 Burmese migrant workers were queuing at the national verification office in Tachilek opposite Mae Sai in Chiang Rai, Thailand, hoping to obtain a temporary passport. “These migrant workers are eager to get their passports so they can travel more freely back to cast a ballot and then return to work in Thailand,” an unnamed source told the Post.
But with estimates of the number of Burmese working in Thailand ranging up to three million, these people are just a tiny fraction of the migrant worker community. Most migrants are in Thailand illegally – and have no intention of risking the journey home to vote in an election widely dismissed as a sham aimed at keeping the military in power.
“I don’t believe in this election,” said Aung Aung, a 22-year-old hospitality worker in the Thai-Burma border town of Mae Sot. “Than Shwe wants to win. I think he will cheat. They’ve been cheating for 20 years up to today.”
Moe Swe, of Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association, said most Burmese in Mae Sot weren’t interested in the polls. “They know the election is not for them,” he said. “They won’t get any benefit… The Burmese people know the election is just about selecting Burmese generals.”
The vast majority of Burmese migrants come to Thailand for economic reasons, working in factories, construction and the fishing industry in the south. Moe Swe said he had talked to Burmese in Phuket and Phang Nga, many of whom had been in Thailand for several years and knew very little about the polls.
“They haven’t been given any information about the parties,” he said. And what they do know, they don’t like: “The NLD is not in the election; Aung San Suu Kyi is not in the election, so migrant workers are not interested. They will not return to Burma to vote,” he said.
In fact, according to advocacy body Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma, many migrant workers are unaware the elections are even taking place. The TACDB recently surveyed 200 people studying at a migrant worker school in Thailand. Of those that responded, just 15.7 percent knew that Burma was holding general elections on 7 November.
Myint Wai, deputy director of TACDB, said there were probably more than two million Burmese migrant workers in Thailand. Of these, less than 200,000 have obtained passports through the Thai-Burmese “nationality verification scheme”. Those with passports are supposed to be able to vote in advance of the polls at the Burmese embassy, but the government has done nothing to inform these people of how to do this, he said.
Jackie Pollock, of the Migrant Assistance Program based in Chiang Mai, said the mainly Shan migrants her organisation works with are also uninterested in the elections. With the polls cancelled in many parts of Shan State, workers felt like the election lacked credibility. “They feel there’s a lot of exclusion anyway. Other ethnic people aren’t allowed to vote, so they feel like it’s not an election that’s inclusive.”
The criticism came as New York-based rights watchdog Human Rights Watch released a damning assessment of the election process, four days before the polls.
“Burma’s November 7 elections are being conducted in a climate of fear, intimidation, and resignation,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “These elections are about elite military transformation, not democratic transition, and offer little change to Burma’s deplorable human rights situation.”
There were “growing reports of voting irregularities and inducements to vote for the military-backed parties,” HRW added. Foreign media are forbidden from entering the country to cover the elections, and election watchdogs have been barred from observing them.
Author: DAN WITHERS

http://www.dvb.no/elections/migrants-indifferent-to-looming-vote/12544

SBY warns Australia ahead of meeting

From Jakarta Post:

Just a day before talks with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told Australia to stay away from the Papuan torture issue, vowing to bring to justice those involved in the torture.“There’s no need to pressure Indonesia. We have conducted an investigation and are ready for a trial or anything that is required to uphold justice and discipline,” he told a press conference on Monday.
Gillard arrived in Jakarta on Monday morning, and will have lunch with the President on Tuesday before heading to Yogyakarta to visit victims of the Mount Merapi eruption.
Indonesia, which just received the ASEAN chairmanship from Vietnam last week, has long been proud of its democracy and human rights record. Under Yudhoyono, the country wants to set an example in upholding human rights and democratic principles. 
The video posted online last month by the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission that showed Indonesian Military (TNI) members allegedly torturing Papuans has tainted Indonesia’s image, with local and international human rights organizations immediately expressing condemnation.
New York-based Human Rights Watch urged Gillard to “press for the accountability of abusive Indonesian security forces” through a letter it sent to Australia’s House of Representatives last week.
“The trial will happen soon, and it will be a just trial. If there is a mistake then we will punish the perpetrators. There will be no impunity,” Yudhoyono said.
The President, however, said the presence of the TNI in Papua was inevitable, “although the world doesn’t believe it, there are in fact separatist movements in Papua.”
The issue of the torture of Papuans suspected to be part of separatist movements, however, has overshadowed other Australian interests, such as the handling of human smuggling and the fate of its citizens on Indonesia’s death row.
Prior to Gillard’s attendance at the ASEAN Summit in Hanoi, she said she would suggest that leaders set up regional refugee centers.
“Certainly I will raise the issue of human smuggling and the movement of people,” Gillard told ABC Television. “The dialogue has been continuing.”
Gillard’s trip follows a tour by Immigration Minister Chris Bowen, who went to Indonesia, Malaysia and Timor Leste, which Australia has nominated as a potential home for the regional center.
Timor Leste has agreed to discuss the proposal, but remains cautious of the plan that would see asylum seekers held in the country while their refugee claims are assessed.
On a possible plea to let Australian citizens, including Schapelle Corby and the Bali Nine, off the hook, Gillard has said she would make it private with Yudhoyono.
Gillard told ABC News that it would be inappropriate to discuss if she would lobby Yudhoyono on behalf of the Australians.
“Clearly, Australia does not support the death penalty — that is our position as a nation,” she said.
“But when it comes to advocacy on behalf of individuals, it’s certainly in the best interests of those individuals to be doing those discussions privately, rather than publicly, and I intend to.”



http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/11/02/sby-warns-australia-ahead-meeting.html

No Forced Repatriation: Thai FM

Mae La Camp in Mae Sot

Thailand will repatriate Burmese refugees staying on the Thai-Burmese border only when peace prevails in Burma, said Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya.
He made the statement on Friday when he visited Mae La refugee camp in Tak Province where some 40,000 Burmese refugees are staying.
Speaking to a camp committee, Kasit said the Thai authorities would not send the refugees back by force, but will only send them back if political situation in Burma gets better after the general elections on Nov. 7.

“We will be repatriated voluntarily when the situation in Burma is secure for us,” a committee member said, adding that they would not be sent back if there was still armed conflict in their home areas.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=19809

Burmese Refugees in Thailand: Welcome withdrawn

"If carried out, Thailand’s repatriation of Burmese nationals would top off what has been a less-than-stellar few years in its treatment of refugees. There have been widely corroborated accounts that in December 2008, the Thai navy towed into to deep waters a convoy of un-seaworthy boats carrying hundreds of ethnic Rohingya who had been fleeing Myanmar and Bangladesh. Many on board those vessels are believed to have perished. In December 2009 Bangkok deported thousands of ethnic Hmong back to Laos, where right groups expect them to face harsh retaliation for the Hmong’s historic opposition to the Laotian government. Earlier this year thousands of ethnic Karen who had fled to Thailand to escape fighting in Myanmar returned home across the border; their advocates say they were driven by harassment from the Thai army.

But Thailand’s longer record on Burmese refugees has been admirable, says David Mathieson, the head of research on Myanmar for Human Rights Watch. Thailand has for decades borne the brunt of refugee exoduses from South-East Asian conflicts, including wars in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. “You put that in context and Thailand actually has been very tolerant in its refugee policy towards Burmese.” But Mr Kasit’s recent proposal is deeply dangerous, he says—and vague, too. “It’s unclear who exactly this would apply to and how it would be carried out.” In the meantime, he adds, “it has made hundreds of thousands…if not millions of Burmese in Thailand very nervous.”

http://www.economist.com/blogs/asiaview/2010/10/burmese_refugees_thailand

Global Doors Slam Shut On Immigrants

http://www.truth-out.org/global-doors-slam-shut-on-immigrants64057

Photo From Original Article: Truth Out

"Contrary to popular perception, anti-immigrant sentiment today isn't just about rich nations shunning the mass arrival of migrants from poorer ones. It is poor nations sending their huddled masses to other poor nations. It is rich countries sending people to other rich ones. It is countries acting as transit corridors – switching stations of humanity. According to the UNDP, only about one-third of migrants move from a developing country to a developed one."

A great discussion of the issues and some of the "issues" that are used to conceal them.

Phuket pow wow over illegal alien workers

http://www.phuketgazette.net/archives/articles/2010/article9191.html

Legal registration of all alien workers was the only real solution to the problem

Emboldened Burmese Workers Press for Change

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=19472

Bangkok’s migrant labour policy shift stemmed from an endless stream of reports in the media and by labour and human rights organizers shedding light on the scale of abuse the undocumented migrant workers were subjected to by Thai employers and Thai officials, including the police.

Karen Doctor Sees Little End to Humanitarian Crisis in Eastern BurmaKaren Doctor Sees Little End to Humanitarian Crisis in Eastern Burma

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Karen-Doctor-Sees-Little-End-to-Humanitarian-Crisis-in-Eastern-Burma-103235659.html
"The local Mae Sot community also looks after a growing population of abandoned children. The clinic and a network of 62 community schools already educate 12,000 children from migrant workers and refugees in the provincial Mae Sot area. Dr. Muang says as people lose livelihoods children are being left behind."