Burmese Workers’ Death Shocking, But Far from New

BANGKOK, Apr 12 (IPS) - The death by suffocation of 54 Burmese migrant workers who were being transported in an enclosed container truck in southern Thailand was a shocking tragedy, but one that did not surprise labour rights activists.

   The victims, whose bodies were found when the cramped truck was opened late Wednesday night, were among a group of 122 Burmese who had slipped into Thailand to secure jobs in the resort areas of Phang-nga and Phuket. The dead included 36 women, 17 men and an eight-year-old girl.

   Survivors told the Thai media that the only air that circulated in the sealed truck was through an air-conditioning system. But a short distance into the journey, the flow of air dropped and breathing became difficult, they added. They banged on the sides of the truck, but this failed to draw the driver's attention. The latter fled the scene after he eventually stopped the truck and discovered what had happened to the migrants.

   ''This is the largest number of deaths of Burmese migrant workers we have recorded in one incident,'' said Htoo Chit, director of Grassroots Human Rights Education and Development, a Burmese migrant rights group based in Phang-nga. ''What happened is very sad, but these kind of terrible deaths of migrant workers happen often in Thailand.''

   ''I am not surprised with this tragedy,'' he added in a telephone interview from the south. ''Similar trucks are used to move migrant workers to places in Phuket and Phang-nga, where they are needed. Even open trucks that can take about 20 people comfortably are packed with 50 or 60 people.''

   ''This tragic accident reveals a problem that goes much deeper. This was a tragedy waiting to happen,'' Bill Salter, the International Labour Organisation’s sub-regional director for East Asia, told IPS. ''There are networks involved in the movement of migrant works in some instances. Some cases are outright trafficking.''

   The tragedy follows the drowning of 22 Burmese migrant workers in December 2007 in Ranong, a province north of Phang-nga and close to the Thai-Burmese border. 

   The route that the 54 migrants took was one that tens of thousands of others from the military-ruled country had taken before them. Many are drawn to work in jobs described as ''dirty and dangerous'' in the fisheries industry, construction sector and in plantations of rubber and palm oil.

   Burmese migrant labour has been the main workforce behind the construction of the many hotels that dot the beaches of Phang-nga and Phuket, mainstays of Thailand's vibrant tourist industry. Many Burmese work on fishing boats, while the women work in factories to process their catch.

   ''There is a lot of exploitation in the fisheries sector. The Burmese have to work for long hours and with low pay,'' said Sutphiphong Khongkathon, southern field coordinator for the non-government Migrant Action Programme (MAP). ''Nearly 80 percent of Burmese migrant workers are not registered workers in the fisheries sector. Thai labour law does not offer any protection for them.''

   In recent months, ''more and more Burmese have ben coming for jobs despite the heavy costs,'' Sutphiphong said. ''They have been given the impression that they can work legally here at some point. That is a wrong impression.''

   Fuelling this exodus is military-ruled Burma's steadily declining economy, prompting Burmese from a broad range of sectors to leave. The violence that the junta has unleashed on the country's ethnic minorities has also driven people across the border to a more prosperous Thailand.

   Thai labour officials and NGOs estimate that there are close to two million migrant workers in Thailand. Of these, some 75 percent are Burmese, while the rest come from Cambodia and Laos. But only 500,000 of them registered with the labour department last year, as part of an annual process that seeks to give the migrants documents to work and enjoy health benefits.

   Besides the south, large pockets of migrant workers are found in Mae Sot, along Thailand's north-western border with Burma.

   Migrants contribute substantially to the Thai economy. ''If migrants are as productive as Thai workers in each sector, their total contribution to output should be in the order of 11 billion U.S. dollars, or about 6.2 percent of Thailand's gross domestic product,'' according to a report released in December, 'The Contribution of Migrant Workers to Thailand: Towards Policy Development'.

   ''If they were less productive (say 75 percent of Thai worker output) their contribution would still be in the order of eight billion U.S. dollars, or five percent of GDP,'' it added. ''Migrants contribute anywhere from seven to 10 percent of value added in industry, and four to five percent of value added in agriculture.''

   Yet Burmese migrant workers are hardly treated with respect. Thai laws introduced to guarantee their rights and welfare have not made a dent. ''Part of the problem is the way migrant workers are perceived. A large number of the public perceive the migrants in a negative way,'' says ILO's Salter.

   This leaves migrants open to abuse, be it at work or while being transported to their destinations, as what happened on Wednesday. ''A lot of people are to blame for the abuse, the public, employers and even officials, like the police,'' says Sutphiphong of MAP Foundation. ''There were some employers behind the network that transported the Burmese in that closed truck. Even the local police are behind them.'' (END/IPSAP/0408)