Migrant workers from Burma are finding that life has become much more complicated following Thailand’s military coup on May 22, with their travel being disrupted by the Thai military closing border crossings and imposing a nationwide curfew.
Saw Ye Tun Zaw, a migrant worker in Bangkok, said that the curfew made getting home from work difficult and risky.
“There are more restrictions on [our] movement even though businesses are operating as normal following the military coup. The workers have to rush back to their places as soon as they finish their work in the evening. It is very difficult now to travel because of the curfew,” he said.
Thailand’s new military regime has affected the Thai-Burma border community as well, according to local residents. People crossing from Myawaddy Township on the Burmese side to Thailand’s Mae Sot District for work are finding it difficult to travel now, as they are no longer allowed to cross the Moei River which separates the two countries.
Myawaddy resident Ma Thidar told Karen News that migrant workers have been forced to swim back to Burma following the border closure: “Two days after the Thai military coup a group of workers came back from a textile factory in Mae Sot in the evening after 5:00 pm and were forced to swim across the Moei River back to Burma by themselves as they were not allowed to access the boats.”
U Moe Kyo, the chairperson of Joint Action Committee for Burma Affairs (JACBA), said that closing the unofficial river crossings would have a direct impact on migrant workers.
“Most of the migrant workers in the border areas rely on the black routes [unofficial crossing points] on the Moei River instead of the [official] Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge. There will be more inconveniences if the Thai military continues to block these routes.”
Prior to the coup, over 30 docks on the Moei River were being used by Burmese migrant workers to cross back and forth between Burma and Thailand without having to pass through official immigration channels.
