Appeasing Myanmar

While the nearly-suffocated survivors of a trip that left 54 Burmese dead were being transfered from hospital to a Thai prison, Thailand's foreign minister was on the phone with his counterpart in Myanmar. He said he hoped for better coordination in the future.

Coordination on immigration? One might inquire as to what that actually entails. "Rangoon has been adamant that Bangkok send lists of Burmese migrant workers for verification by Burma, while Laos and Burma have sent officials to do the head-count inside Thailand," writes the Bangkok Post's Achara Ashayagachat. That's not cooperation. That's an invitation to Thai complicity in Myanmar's human rights abuses.

And Thai complicity seems to be very real. When I interviewed one former Burmese prisoner who had suffered torture (photo), he said he lived in fear of Thai police who might send him back to Burma. This from a man who -- unlike the Burmese migrant workers -- actually has legal refugee status! In wake of the Burma protests of 2007, Thai security officials were reported to have harassed some Burma NGOs in Chang Mai -- at the bequest of Myanmar. (see "Are Thai agents helping Burma's junta?")

Meanwhile, concerning Burmese migrant workers, the Bangkok Post's Achara Ashayagachat makes some reasonable proposals in her opinion piece:

Non-government organisations and the International Labour Organisation have raised concerns about the "slow and expensive" registration system, which fails to allow labourers to change employers, even if they suffer abuses.

They call for a comprehensive labour migration management policy, instead of cracking down on the immigrants and driving them further underground. . . . .

This problem must be immediately tackled through a new round of registration, with immigrant labourers allowed to remain in the country for at least one year. Under the present system, the registration of foreign workers is aimed more at checking their numbers. . . .

Burma, unlike Laos and Cambodia, has refused to cooperate with Thailand in regulating the labour inflow.

These ideas reflect my own opinions on the matter, which I described in this post (which includes horrifying details about how the Burmese died). Also see my post, "Lives of Burmese migrants in Thailand."

Photo: Zaw Nyein Lat, President Burma Political Prisoner's Union. When in the border region, he told me he lives in fear of deportation to Burma by Thai authorities -- even though he has UN refugee status and United States residency status. How is this state of affairs possible?

Thai-style injustice

A group of Burmese migrants who survived a container lorry journey that suffocated 54 others to death have been jailed in Thailand.

A Thai court found 50 of the migrants guilty of illegal entry and ruled they must serve a two-month prison sentence before being deported.*

See Lives of Burmese migrant workers and 54 migrant workers found dead.
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* BBC

Lives of Burmese migrant workers in Thailand

In memory of the 54 Burmese migrant workers who suffocated to death in Thailand on Friday, I have brought together -- in one place -- excerpts from previous Jotman blog posts concerning the plight of Burmese migrant workers in Thailand:

In September 2006 I blogged from the northern Thai border town of Mae Sae:

Going further up the river, I almost walked right past a small Thai army checkpoint. I spoke at some length with a Thai army sergeant, while a procession of Burmese on bicycles streamed past us. Some of the young men took a steep path to the river where they quickly stripped down to their underwear. Their clothes contained in clear plastic bags, they waded and then swam across the river. Past where we stood, the Burmese border extended over to our side of the river.

"Where's the border line?" I asked the sergeant.

"See that white dog?" Through the bushes I could see the animal sleeping. "That dog belongs to the Myanmar army."

The sergeant told me the Burmese were permitted stay on the Thai side for one day.

Suddenly, the sergeant looked at me quizzically. "Why are you interested in this?" Scowling, he pointed in the direction of the myriad border-crossers, "All this, it is so very low-so." Using Thai lingo, the sergeant wanted to know why a Westerner would have interest in the activities of low-society people.

In October 2007 I interviewed some Burmese migrant workers near Mae Sot, a town on the Thai Burma border:



In November 2007, I took this photo, and commented:

I almost walked past this cart without noticing the little Burmese boy it contained. Although he looks a bit forsaken, he had not been abandoned. His mother was hard at work nearby.

On another occasion last fall, standing on a riverbank, my Burmese guide explained how some of his countrymen travel back and forth across the border:

Frank spoke quickly, he mentioned how rotten his government was; he proceeded to point out some Burmese commuters. On the other riverbank, four young men were boarding a truck inner-tube. They pushed it into the river and then they piled in. Paddling with their hands the river carried them straight towards us. We watched them disembark on the sandy bank directly below where we stood.

"In total, they pay one thousand baht (US$40) to get across, half goes in the pockets of the Burma soldier." It was clear from Franks tone of voice that Frank didn't like Burmese soldiers. . . .

To read more of my reports concerning the Burma crisis, see here.

Thailand: 54 Burmese migrant workers found dead

Leaders of Thailand -- of all political stripes -- play a sick game with Burma's military junta. On Friday, fifty-five Burmese migrant workers were casualties of that game. The Bangkok Post reports:

At least 54 Burmese immigrants have been found dead in the South while being moved by human traffickers in a broken refrigerated container usually used to haul seafood.

The bodies were found inside the container on a 10-wheel truck, and found abandoned on the side of a road in southern Ranong province by police, who said they received a tipoff from villagers.

Initial reports said there were more than 100 people packed into truck. At least 54 are dead from asphyxiation, including 37 women and 17 men. Another 21 others were being treated for injuries and near-suffocation.

Police said they arrested 46 Burmese on charges of illegal entry.

Calls for Thailand to hire more immigration inspectors, or "tighten the border" are but lame and futile gestures; such excuses only legitimate the game. These kinds of remedies -- already being discussed -- ignore the underlying problem.

The roots of Friday's tragedy

The economic stagnation inside Burma that encourages Burmese to seek employment in Thailand continues. Thailand's policy of non-interference concerning Burma's economic mismanagement and its atrocious human rights policies continues. The smuggling of human cargo continues. Whatever the cost to the people of Burma. Why?

Because Thai businesses and political leaders prosper through this arrangement. Thai companies need pay a Burmese migrant only a fraction of what they pay a Thai. Thai politicians count on support of the businesspeople who run such businesses. The government allows factories dependent on undocumented migrant workers to operate. And so Thailand turns a blind eye to abuses the system perpetuates, and reaps the benefit of cheap labor.

If Thailand legalized the movement of migrant workers, Thai businesses might have to pay these workers better, provide better working conditions, and arrange better housing for them. The Thai businessman would no longer own the Burmese migrant worker. Moreover, corrupt Thai police could not continue to stop Burmese people at random and extort money from them. Supposing the current "legal" migrant worker arrangements were more equitable, corrupt Thai immigration officials might stand to lose a source of income

Will Thais ever wake up to the fact that Thailand's failure to exert meaningful pressure on Burma to improve its governance has serious negative repercussions? Consider: before 2008 has run its course, Burma may find itself lacking sufficient food to feed its people. And if that happens, the flow of migration out of Burma may well become a flood.

Please see the follow-up to this post, Lives of Burmese Migrant Workers in Thailand.

Update from the Thai-Burma border

I've been talking to various people the past three days: a disabled Burmese war veteran, people who teach at schools for Burmese, migrant workers, NGO staff, and I met three refugees yesterday -- young men and women who essentially grew up in the camps. There are some 18 UNHCR administered refugee camps on the Thai side of the border -- the smaller of which hold some 15,000 people, many of the Karen nation, and other minority groups.

Yesterday I passed a truck that had been stopped by the Thai police. Inside were dozens of Burmese workers. I am told the interception of trucks full of Burmese refugees is a daily occurrence. Some will b fined. Others will be placed in a detention center prior to repatriation.

I am also learning about the scale and scope of Thailand's ongoing co-operation with the Burmese junta. This is most disturbing, and I have much more to tell you about that.

While I was across the border, I heard a rumor about Burma's nuclear program.

I also learned some additional information about a bombing in Burma -- info which, so far as I know -- was not reported in the press.

Much more to come.

I chat with some undocumented Burmese working in Thailand

Thailand Rounding up Burmese -- including Children

Yesterday Human Rights Watch issued a report that shows what happens to destitute children in Burma: they end up in the Tatmadaw (the name of Burma's army). Today The Irrawaddy reports that Thailand is rounding up Burmese migrants -- including children. Guess where Thailand sends them? Back to Burma.

It gets worse. The Thai government official supervising the round-ups of Burmese is none other than General Sonthi. Sonthi is a close friend and staunch ally of Burma's junta. Monks and protestors already lay dead on the streets of Rangoon in September, but this did not deter General Sonthi issuing a statement in defense of the Myanmar regime.

Sonthi was also responsible for the execution of the 2006 coup d'etat in Thailand (Last year, on a Bangkok street around midnight I live-blogged a Thai spokesman declaring a coup d'etat in the name of General Sonthi -- video here, here). Just last month, General Sonthi resigned from the military and was appointed deputy prime minister of Thailand

Here's the most recent report from the Irrawaddy (Mizzima also has a story on this). The Irrawaddy explains that Sonthi was behind this outrage against Burmese living in Thailand:

Thai police arrested about 1,200 migrant workers, most of them Burmese, in a raid on a market area in Thailand’s Samut Sakhon province early on Wednesday, the Thai News Agency (TNA) reported. . . .

A source in Mae Sot said more than 200 illegal migrants had been caught there and sent back to Burma. Police checkpoints had been set up in Mae Sot and on main roads leading to the town.

Moe Swe, of the Mae Sot-based Yaung Chi Oo Burmese migrants’ organization, said the arrests were a cause of “big concern.”

A Burmese researcher at the Labor Rights Promotion Network said his organization was particularly concerned about the plight of children who faced being deported to Burma. “They might not know where to go and how to survive,” he said.

The current crackdown follows a recent claim by Thailand’s former army chief, Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, now a deputy minister of national security, that the country’s 2-3 million illegal migrant workers represented a social problem and a threat that needed to be addressed, particularly in the province’s Mahachai district. He said he would be going to the area to inspect the situation at firsthand and seek a solution.

Apart from his government responsibilities, Gen Sonthi is chairman of Thailand’s National Foreign Workers Administrative Committee.

There is a pattern here.

Last week we learned that Thai agents are working to shut down pro-democracy news organizations operated by Burmese dissidents in exile. (The Irrawaddy, the source of this very report, is one of those groups that may be targeted by the Thai authorities). Since the brutal crackdown in September, Thailand appears to have placed a higher priority on supporting the Burmese junta in its crackdown than supporting the international community in its efforts to pressure the junta.

Are Thai agents helping Burma junta to oppress Burmese people?!

The Irrawaddy has a disturbing story. Apparently Thailand is censoring and oppressing Burmese news groups and dissidents at the request of Myanmar:

A Burmese exile media organization in Bangkok has dropped its Web site news service “temporarily,” amid reports of a crackdown on such operations on Thai territory that carry material critical of Burma’s junta.

The reports surfaced last week and caused other exile media groups in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Mae Sot to lower their profile. There were warnings of possible raids by Thai police and immigration authorities.

The Bangkok-based media organization that dropped its Web site news said it had been asked by Thai authorities to close its office “temporarily” starting from last Friday. A spokesman for the organization asked The Irrawaddy not to identify it.

The unnamed organization and several other Web sites and publications run by Burmese exiles have played a key role in reporting on the brutal suppression of September’s demonstrations.

They have come in for constant attack by the Burmese junta, along with overseas-based targets such as the Burmese service of the BBC and the Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma.

Zin Lin, spokesman of Burma’s democratic government in exile, the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, told The Irrawaddy that its office in Bangkok had been warned by Thai authorities to adopt a “low profile.”

. . . “The Burmese state-media blamed the exile groups in Thailand for recent mass protests,” said Zin Lin.

Myint Wai, of the Bangkok-based Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that his group is also vigilant in view of the reports of a possible crackdown.

The TACDB’s operations are mainly focused on Burmese migrant workers, many of whom have no legal documents. . . .

Burmese officials are rumored to have asked Thai authorities to close some offices linked to the September demonstrations in Burma. In the past, the Burmese government has usually used a friendly channel to pressure Thai authorities close to Burma to harass exiled Burmese.

It's one thing for Thailand to basically say it's not going to do anything at this time on Burma (that's what the Thai Prime Minister has said), it's another thing entirely for Thailand to actively help the Burmese junta to silence Burmese citizens in exile. If there is truth to this story, the international community must hold Thailand accountable. It's a complete outrage.

"What is happening on the streets of Rangoon . . . will shape the future of China's relations with the world."

Outside the Embassy of the PRC on Sunday, the activist I interviewed on video handed me a piece of paper. I put it in a bag and forgot about it until today.

The paper is a statement by a Thai-Burmese activist group that calls itself the Joint Action Committee for Democracy in Burma. I thought the letter really set a strong and positive tone for confronting China on Burma. Anyway, I was sufficiently impressed by the letter to reproduce it here.

We the Joint Action Committee for Democracy in Burma, formed with the concerned Burmese citizens residing Thailand who are totally against unlawful and brutal ruling of the SPDC government of Burma (Myanmar), would like to demand the government of China not to interfere our nation's internal affairs by providing various forms of assistance including selling arms and ammunition, doing business with the regime, providing diplomatic support by using veto to protect the regime from United Nations Security Council's action.

We have already aware that China has substantial economic interests in the country, provides large amounts of economic aid, and invests heavily in infrastructure projects there. Additionally, your government provides extensive logistical support to Burma's military government. The Burmese junta depends on Chinese investment, imports and armaments. All this make China uniquely placed to influence the Burmese regime. What is happening on the streets of Rangoon will shape not just the fate of the people of Burma, but the future of China's relationship with the world.

We have also noted that China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Wang Guangya stated in recent UNSC meeting on Burma that the current situation in Myanmar does not pose any threat to international or regional peace and security. However, we would like to reveal the reality that only in Thailand we have over 2 millions of migrants, among whom are refugees and Internally Displaced Persons who have to leave their homeland because of the brutal suppression of SPDC regime. We also hope that many more influx of refugees will be here soon following the recent brutal crackdown of the peaceful protest of the people. This mass exodus does impact the peace and security of neighboring Thailand.

Your government always justifies that the problems in Burma are mere internal affairs and international intervention will destroy peace, stability and unity of our country. Nevertheless, the genuine desire of the people of Burma is to invite the international community to involve as a 'mediators' in our democratizing process. If your government honestly believe in non intervention of our internal affairs, please don't associate with neither SPDC nor any other parties whatsoever. And please abstain from voting at the United Nations Security Council meetings. Because we the people of Burma believe that involving in our country's politics without our consents is the intervening our internal affairs. We honestly believe that you will take our advice and reconsider your government's policy on Burma.

Sincerely,

The Joint Action Committee for Democracy in Burma

Reaction of Burmese Living in Bangkok to Events at Home

I held today's Herald Tribune in my hand as I walked through a Bangkok market. When I stopped at a store, a young woman, named Aun, approached me. "May I look at your newspaper please?" She had noticed the front page color photo depicting the march of Burmese monks through Rangoon during yesterday's protests -- the largest in 20 years against the junta.

Aun introduced me to her sister and a friend. The three girls were from Burma. They said there were 200 other Burmese working in this particular Bangkok market. The economic hardships of Burmese life had driven them across the border. They work without documentation; they hold no passport even. Most of the money they earn gets sent to their families back in Burma; some more is paid to get them over the border -- they don't go home very often.

But their excitement about the protests in Burma was palatable. "I want to go to university. I want to own a business, like people in Thailand. There are no opportunities in Burma. Yes, I want democracy!"

Aun said the marches had begun not as a movement for democracy, but as a protest over economic hardships. She was in touch with Burmese friends who were keeping up to date on what the Burmese news websites were reporting.

They were excited. They were also terribly apprehensive about what the generals would do next.

I asked Aun if she thought the soldiers would fire their guns at the monks.

"If they are told to, yes. Just as I will sell something I don't want to sell, if my boss tells me to sell it. I would have no choice, neither would they," said Aun. "But they don't want to. They will go way down if they do that -- not up. Wrong direction." As she said this she lowered her hand toward the tile floor of the market. That would be very bad karma.

"If you were in Burma now, what would you do?" I asked Aun.

She pointed to the photo: "I would be out there with the monks on the street."