Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Thailand-based migrant workers organizations and rights groups responded to the Thailand Government's plan of cracking down on illegal migrant workers severely, by saying that it should be fair at the least.

The rights groups responded to what Thai PM Abhisit said yesterday on cracking down on illegal migrant workers in Thailand and investigating human trafficking in the country.

"It should not be executed in a sweeping manner. The matter needs to be scrutinized thoroughly. Are workers, who do not have worker's registration cards, illegal migrants? Some of them are political asylum seekers. They should not be forcibly sent back to their homes. They must categorize these migrant workers and execute their plan accordingly," Aung Myo Min, Director of Thailand-based 'Human Rights Education Institute of Burma' (HREIB), told Mizzima.

The migrant workers in Thailand hail from Laos, Cambodia and Burma, while most of them are from Burma and have not registered themselves. So this plan seems intended solely for Burmese migrant workers.

"We will take action against illegal immigrants and must expel them from our country," AFP quoted the Thai PM as having said.

Aung Myo Min pointed out that the Thai government should make sure there would be no misuse of the immigration law by some officials concerned and there would also be no inhuman persecution against these hapless migrant workers.

"Even if they deport these illegal migrants to their country of origin, the government must respect and abide by their fundamental human rights. I'd like to urge the government not to make unlawful and arbitrary arrests against these workers. And they should also not be forcibly deported,'' he said.

Aung Myo Min said that the Thai government should consider the case of those illegal migrant workers, who fled from Burma after their political and human rights were violated by the junta.

Than Doke, in-charge of 'Burma Labour Solidarity Organization' (BLSO), said, "They should be fair in executing their plan. Some of them have registration cards. They must scrutinize the workers thoroughly while carrying out this plan."

Aung Myo Min said that he agreed with the Thai PM on the suppression of human trafficking, he emphasized that they must distinguish between 'human trafficking' and 'human carrier'.

"Every government is responsible for suppressing human trafficking. It should not occur at all. We welcome the Thai government's plan of working against human trafficking. But, they must know the difference between 'human trafficking' and 'human carrier'," he added.

'Human carrier' is the service provided to illegal immigrants by transporting them to the destination of their choice. 'Human trafficking' is exploiting the ignorance of the victims and selling them by deceit after misleading the victims, he elaborated.

"In human carrier cases, the clients choose their destinations by their free will and pay the carriers for their service. There is no exploitation in these cases. But, in human trafficking cases, the victims are exploited by these traffickers, sending them somewhere and selling them at a profit by misleading them,'' he said.

Jackie Pollack, the head of Thai Chiang Mai based 'Migrant Assistance Program' (MAP) Foundation told Mizzima, "This is not the way of solving the problem. We must know that the root cause of this problem is the Burmese junta. As long as the junta rules Burma, these migrant workers will flow to Thailand. We must change the root cause first."

She also said that this Thai government's plan would not be effective as the Thai workers cannot work like migrant workers in these lowly paid and hard jobs.

"The Thai manufacturing sector will be affected by this plan, when the plan really works and the number of migrant workers decline. I do not think over 2,00,000 Thai workers will go to Mae Sod, Sankhalburi, replacing the migrant workers there and work there," she said.

She also said that all the Thailand-based organizations, working for migrant workers should work together to help these migrants.

Moe Gyo, General in-charge of Thai Mae Sod based 'Joint Action Committee' (JAC), said that the Burmese migrant workers should register themselves at Thai Labour offices. They should appeal for sympathy on humanitarian grounds in getting work permits and residential permits in accordance with the Thai labour laws.

Before the Thai PM made this announcement, the 'Department of Employment' (DOE) announced that 2009 is the last year for renewal of work permits in Thailand, when they are due. Next year, the workers must go back to their native country for their renewals.

According to the new scheme of the Thai government sent to Thai Chiang Mai based MAP Foundation, which is working for migrant workers, beginning February 2010, the Burmese migrant workers can renew their work permits only with the valid documents provided by the Burmese authority.

"This is not the new scheme. They have started this new system since last year. They want the migrant workers to register at their offices and renew their permits. Then go to their ongoing projects for citizenship scrutiny. In this way, these workers will be legal migrant workers, holding the passports issued by their own country in 2010," Jackie Pollack told Mizzima.

According to a letter dated January 7th, the registration of 88,787 migrant workers will expire in February 2009 and they must renew the registration by bringing necessary documents such as application, old labour registration card (pink colour) or receipt of registration, medical certificates, medical bills, insurance receipts etc.

Moreover, under this new system, the Burmese migrant workers must go back to Burma and bring back official labour registration cards to be issued by Burmese authority in 2010.

"Such registration agreements have been signed by Thailand, Burma, Laos and Cambodia since 2003. Laos and Cambodia have implemented this agreement since 2004 only for about 40,000 migrant workers. But they are also in the preparation stage," Jackie Pollack said.

Even for Laos and Cambodia, it takes time to complete regulations for their lesser migrant workers in comparison to Burmese workers. So it will take more time for the Burmese migrant workers working in Thailand, she added.

"Now it will be February 2009 soon. So they cannot complete the work of issuing passports to all 500,000 Burmese migrant workers after scrutinizing their citizenship. And also there are many workers who are holding fake and invalid documents," she further added.

The labour registration card is valid for 1 year and must be renewed every year after expiry. The news of suspension of such renewal next year frequently spreads among the migrant workers.

"Every time the new system is introduced, it always says this is the last year. It has been so for 15 years. This is because they would like to urge the migrant workers to make national ID cards and passports issued by the concerned governments," she said.

Out of over 2 million migrant workers hailing from Cambodia and Thailand, most of them are from Burma and there are only 500,000 workers who hold the valid documents, (Migrant Assistance Program) MAP Foundation said.