JOINT STATEMENT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PROVINCIAL ORDERS CONCERNING MIGRANT WORKERS


We, the under-signed organisations and individuals are deeply concerned regarding the recent implementation of stringent and discriminatory local legislation in four (4) Southern Provinces of Thailand including Phuket, Surat Thani, Ranong and Rayong. The above-mentioned legislation is in gross violation of international human rights standards that Thailand has signed and should be abolished immediately.

On vague grounds of national security for four (4) provinces of Thailand has since December 2006 introduced legislation that covers a select and specific group of migrant workers from Burma, Laos and Cambodia. The legislation includes measures such as a ban on public assembly of more than five (5) persons without prior permission, ban on use of mobile phones, motorcycles and cars, a curfew for migrant workers to be in their dormitory from 8 pm to 6am. In it these measures are not compatible with international human rights standards. The implementation of this legislation on a select group of migrant workers is further discriminatory and constitutes a further violation of basic human rights. The conditions imposed by these severe restrictions on the liberty of workers are akin to forced labour as workers are affectively unable to leave their place of employment and make contact with people outside their place of employment. The numerous hotline numbers installed by the government for people to contact in case of trafficking, abuse, emergency become all but useless when people are not allowed to make phone calls.

These restrictions regarding movement, access to information and freedom of assembly furthermore hinders migrant workers in exercising their rights as in accordance with Fundamental ILO standards. The freedom of movement and freedom of assembly and the right to information are fundamental human rights and an essential feature of any truly democratic country to which the Royal Thai Government has aspired to become again. We are concerned that the above-mentioned provincial decrees will make it impossible for Thailand to regain international respectability.

In an area like Phuket migrant workers have experienced the same devastation and loss as local Phuket people during the tsunami of December 2004. Many migrant workers stayed on, despite their losses, to help in the rebuilding of the city and building up the fishing and agricultural industry again. If Phuket has managed a nearly full recovery post tsunami, it is due to the resilience of both the local and migrant community.

We therefore appeal to the Royal Thai Government to acknowledge the important role of migrant workers in developing Thailand into a modern progressive and economically advanced country, through the following steps:
  1. Abolish the provincial decrees concerning migrant workers immediately.
  2. Right to collective bargaining for migrant workers. Thailand should respect, promote, and realize fundamental principles and rights at work; namely freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to organize and bargain collectively by amending LRA 1975 to allow non-Thai workers to form trade unions and serve as committee or sub-committee members of trade unions.
Signed organisations:
  1. The Action Network for Migrants (Thailand)
  2. CARAM-ASIA
  3. MSF (Belgium )
  4. Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD)

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