The situation has improved slightly since June, following moves by the National Council for Peace and Order to regulate migrant workers, said Narong Petprasert, an economist at Chulalongkorn University.
Published: 10/11/2014 at 06:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
The government must do more to tackle abuses against migrant workers, academics say.
The situation has improved slightly since June, following moves by the National Council for Peace and Order to regulate migrant workers, said Narong Petprasert, an economist at Chulalongkorn University.
“Overall, there are fewer reports of illegal labour brokers and other forms of harmful interference, which makes for less labour extortion,” he said.
“But there is little hope the Labour Ministry will undertake any further steps in favour of migrant workers rights.”
He said all the widely known cases of abuse were made public by watchdogs and NGOs, not the ministry.
The fishing and sugar cane industries, in particular, were placed on several watch-lists for human trafficking and human rights violations and are subject to more attention than other sectors, he said.
“For the situation to improve, we should give migrant workers the opportunity to protect and defend their own rights, but I don’t see this happening any time soon in Thailand.”
“I don’t think Thai society is ready to allow it yet,” Mr Narong explained.
Lae Dilokwitthayarat, a labour expert at Chulalongkorn University, said the government is on the right track, but the labour, foreign and industry ministries should tackle the problems jointly.
“We have just started to realise how much the migrant workforce brings to the Thai economy,” Mr Lae said.
The government’s focus will be on boosting registration and developing more one-stop service centres to regulate migrant workers. He said negative feedback from abroad has sped up government support for migrant workers, particularly its crackdown on brokers who bring workers here through exorbitant fees or under false pretenses.
Registration would help migrant workers, he said. If brokers bribe state officials for work permits, the money they pay comes out of the workers’ wages. “If registration procedures become more accessible, there will be no need to bribe and the worker will get his full pay,” he said.
“The government must not simply list measures undertaken, but focus on presenting results instead,” Mr Lae said. He praised the government’s response to the US State Department’s downgrading of Thailand in its June Trafficking in Persons Report.
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Writer: Ariane Kupferman-Sutthavong