Dear Colleagues,
See updated articles below, news reported the Myanmar Government, via its Labour Attache, is now advising workers whose visas expired to return home.
Calling Myanmar workers home, given the cost involved on their already meager salaries and the unregulated and expensive, often extortionate cost of returning from Myanmar to Thailand via MoU legal systems, should surely be a last resort. The advise to go home now, if really on behalf of the Myanmar government, is very questionable. There remain many of the better and strong employers in Thailand who could surely protect their workers through this policy vacuum much better than if such workers go home and fall victim to Myanmar brokers and agents trying to arrange for their costly return to Thailand.
Whats more, the article below suggests migrants could return through MoU systems immediately on returning home to Myanmar, but its clearly unlawful now. The main reason migrants have to return to Myanmar is currently due to the policy mess up and the fact their permission to stay in Thailand beyond four years has expired. According to a 2002 MoU between Myanmar and Thailand, workers need to return home for at least 3 years. So there is no legal basis on which migrants can go back to Myanmar and then return to Thailand at this time, just an in principle agreement between the two countries. If they go back to Myanmar, they would surely be stuck there until such time as the policy vacuum is solved.
Its also important to note that there has been a significant number of vested interests at play both in Thailand and Myanmar for some time already intent on getting as many workers as possible back to Myanmar to then enter into Thailand again through an expensive and unregulated MoU process. It appears these calls are beginning to surface again, getting louder using the political chaos as another reason to support the demands.
Finally, its important to avoid blaming this policy vacuum only on the political situation in Thailand, although not to minimise the impact of the political chaos. This policy vacuum has arisen primarily because of the LACK OF ANY LONG TERM MIGRATION POLICY in THAILAND for over 3 decades. Add to this the systematic failure and negligence of all governments concerned, particularly Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia, to look out for the best interests of migrant workers who should be processed by officials and issued related documents at least cost and with greatest transparency. For too long now, instead we continue to see the developing of short term migration policies in Thailand, alongside neighbouring countries, that provide the greatest opportunities for officials and agencies on both sides of the border to make money from easily exploitable and powerless workers. Since July 2009 (and indeed for Cambodians, as early as 2007/8), 4 years permission to stay in Thailand had expired. This was long before the political chaos really took hold.
Regards, ANDY HALL