25 December 2012
Washington--Thailand is warning it will expel 1.5 million illegal
workers from the country, a move that could affect around 160,000
Cambodians.
Rights workers in Cambodia say the migrant laborers deserve assistance
from both Thai and Cambodian authorities to help them work and travel
legally.
Migrant workers earn around $200 a month in Thailand, working long
hours in poor conditions on construction projects, farms, fishing boats
and other enterprises.
Thai authorities pushed back a Dec. 14 deadline to deport undocumented
workers, but Cambodian officials and labor activists say Thailand will
not give permits to workers any longer if they do not have passports.
Thai officials say the measure is meant to curb human trafficking and
exploitation of workers. But many Cambodian workers say they have little
choice and are willing to take risks to illegally work in Thailand.
Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong is scheduled to meet with his
Thai counterpart next week, for wide-ranging talks that could include
the migrant worker question.
Rights groups say Cambodians won’t be able to afford their own
passports and other documentation if they want to continue to work in
Thailand legally.
Meas Saneth, a labor advocate for the group Caram, said the deportation
will affect Thailand’s economy and the living standards of workers.
“We think there will be a new procedure to allow them to extend or
continue their work” in Thailand, he told VOA Khmer. But new paperwork
will also take the cooperation of employers, he said.
“Workers should use a legal and governmentally recognized company
before going to work abroad,” he said. “So when they arrive in that
country, they have the right to healthcare access, and their rights are
protected.”
Other advocates for greater documentation say they should be made free of charge.
“Because the workers do not really save money,” said Moeun Tola, a
labor advocate at the Community Legal Education Center. “What little
backbreaking money they have they sent back home.” And many of the
workers are illiterate and easily cheated abroad, he said.
In 2011, the Thai government said it would stop issuing work permits
for Cambodians with only certificates of identity and pushed for
Cambodia to get passports to its workers. In a speech last week, Prime
Minister Hun Sen said this would require a lot of work, “so let’s talk
to our Thai partners about the issue.”
Som Phal, 32, worked in the suburbs of Bangkok for about six months
earlier this year. He told VOA Khmer he prefers to go to Thailand as an
undocumented worker, because waiting for a legal brokerage, passport and
other documentation takes too much time and money.
“In my village today, people use the short cut rather than wait for a passport,” he said.
However, short cuts have a downside, and workers often don’t get what they hoped.
Som Phal said he was supposed to work for a full year in Thailand, but
was put in the wrong jurisdiction and was returned to Cambodia with the
promise that a company would help him come back within 15 days. That was
six months ago.
Loak Leap, 56, said two of his eight children work construction in
Thailand. They don’t have legal status, but their employers take care of
the paperwork, he said. He cannot afford to get them passports, he
said, so illegal work is worth the risk. And he has little choice, he
said.
“No matter from what district, province or commune, almost every family
around the country has members who go to work in Thailand,” he said.
They are attracted by the money, he said, despite the risks, and work
abroad is better than staying in the village, jobless, “to face
famine.”
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