“The Catholic Church in Asia Cares for the Migrants in Taiwan” March 1 6 - 19 , 2007 - Wencui Center Taipei, Taiwan.
Report from Thailand
Preparedby: Basil, Pipat Traichan Programme Coordinator National Catholic Commission on Migration (NCCM) Catholic Bishops Conference of Thailand (CBCT) A) Migrant Workers Coming to Thailand In an October 2005 submission, the UN Committee on Migrant Workers notes that “migration has become a survival strategy” used by many “to escape armed conflict, human rights violations, authoritarian and corrupt governments, as well as unemployment and poverty”. This description is aptly applied, at least in part, to the plight faced by people living within three of Thailand's four neighbors - Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. Because of its level of development and economic success, Thailand is a hub of the Mekong region. It is a hub for tourism, trade, transport, industry and then also for human trafficking and migration within the region. They come, or are brought, to Thailand from the neighboring countries and beyond. The biggest number of those coming, legally and illegally, in the search of employment is from Myanmar, a country ruled by a ruthless military dictatorship. This regime wages an active policy of repression against the ethnic minorities within the country, waging war and a reign of terror that uses methods such as forced migration, killing, rape, enslavement and intimidating surveillance. The people live in fear of their rulers. The military junta runs its own style of socialism with its main aim being to seek its own aggrandizement. They engage in selling off the country's natural resources and engaging in the drug trade so as to make wealth for themselves. This results in the bulk of the people being poor and living in sub-standard conditions. The infrastructure of the country is falling apart, with its health and education systems in a state of chaos. It has become a politically and socially isolated country, with little opportunity for its citizens. Out of all of this, there has arisen a ‘culture of escape' within the mindset of the people. It is such a national reality that exists right beside Thailand and that entices so many to look to Thailand, the ‘rich neighbor', for their escape. As a result, there are more than one million Burmese living in Thailand. They come from desperate situations under the pressures of political and economic forces and out of the need for survival. So they come and they live in every Province of the country and they come in the search of security and employment. What they find when they come is that they, like those from Cambodia and Laos and beyond, become the source of cheap labor for a country which has industry, construction projects and other sectors of the market needing labor. They may get paid low wages or live poorly but whatever life they may find in Thailand, no matter how bad, at least for the Burmese, it may always be better than that from which they come. A typical pattern of what may happen is that a Thai employer takes on illegal workers, has them work for three months without payment and then reports these illegals to the police who take them in for deportation. Three months seems to be the period of time that an employer can bear the pressure of holding onto these workers without payment. These workers are from countries often not highly liked in Thailand. Another factor at play in this presumably is corruption with money changing hands so that the position of the employer is protected. What is being described is that there is often a harsh reality being faced by migrant workers in Thailand. Statistics Within Thailand, there is a system of registration of foreign workers. In 2001, the Government, wanting to know exact numbers, allowed for unlimited registration. This meant that in 2002 some 400,000 foreign workers registered with the Department of Labor. Still it is difficult to ascertain an accurate figure as many remain unregistered out of fear or ignorance or the difficulty of the process of registration. With its porous borders that are impossible to secure, there is also a constant coming and going of people, legally and otherwise. So to have accurate statistics is a herculean task. The government estimate at the time was 1.2 million foreign workers in Thailand, both men and women. Another estimate is that there are between 1.5 and 2 million migrant workers in Thailand, with approximately 80% being Burmese. They may be here alone or with their families. Their work is in construction and factories, in fishing and in agriculture, and as domestics, or in restaurants and bars, with some entering the sex trade. Laws and Regulations Thailand has Memorandums of Understanding with Burma, Cambodia and Laos. So workers coming in legally require the permission of the sending country. Is this realistic or even moral say in the case of Myanmar where there is such a questionable regime in power? Migrant workers are to register with the Thai Ministry of Labor. Under the conditions of registered employment, there are restrictive regulations governing the employment of workers, such as those surrounding change in employment. Registration is permitted within certain fields and the documents are in Thai only which is not understood by the workers. The process is then a foreign one for the individual workers. Mechanism of Migration For the migrant worker, migration is not necessarily run within a controlled system. It is often more haphazard determined by the conditions in the countries of origin. So ones flee or seek the help of unscrupulous agents or come through the right channels. Government Response The government is concerned for the education of the children of migrant workers and for health care. These government services are being opened up to all those living in the country, legally and illegally. The basic problems for migrants remain those of ignorance – not knowing their rights and the access they have to services – and fear – if they come forward, they might be taken in by the authorities. An overall government response over the past ten years has been colored by the experience of the 1997 economic crisis. There was a feeling that this was the result of outside, global influences and a reaction has been to see that this does not happen again and that Thailand looks after Thailand. This sense has had its effect on the attitude and approach to outside workers. Also at play in this are the local rivalries between countries that have a history of conflict. In September last year, there was a Coup in Thailand. This has led to the appointment of an interim regime that is responsible for ongoing administration, for the writing of a new Constitution and for the running of elections for a newly elected government. What is happening in post-Coup Thailand is a tightening of approach towards the Burmese situation and to aliens within the country in general. What this means in concrete terms – issuing of work permits, regulations, registration, etc - is yet to be fully realized Catholic Church Response The National Catholic Commission on Migration was established in 1987. Like the Thai Migrant Workers Overseas, it operates with the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Thailand. Its aim is to offer pastoral care for migrants within Thailand, running various programmes in the areas of • general education for the children of migrant families; • education for the workers themselves, such as English and Thai; • HIV/AIDS outreach; • networking with Thai government services and departments so as to work together on the issues and access funding. • general care of migrant workers such as prison and hospital visiting; • community development work with the migrant worker population.
B) Migrant Workers Going From Thailand The Church project, Migrant Workers Overseas (MWO), began in 1997. Most of the first year was spent researching the reality of the situation. This included visits to many Thai government offices, especially to the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and to the various departmental branches within those Ministries. Relations were formed with migrant research centers at Chulalongkorn and Mahidol University in Bangkok. These research centers have been extremely helpful from the beginning until the present. Efforts were made to find NGOs to relate with but there were few that we could find. Contact was made with the International Organization on Migrant (IOM) and the International Catholic Migrant Commission (ICMC) and they have been helpful with information but their mandate is broader than ours and Thai workers overseas did not rank high among their priorities. The International Labor Organization (ILO) was also helpful with information but had no special programs for Thai overseas workers. Approaches to Buddhist leaders (roughly 95% of Thai people Are Buddhist) and Protestant human development project were made. They showed interest but had no existent programs that they could point to for possible collaboration. In a word, this was a new field of migrant ministry in Thailand and there were few precedents to draw direction from. Why 1997? That was the year of the economic crisis that hit many economies in the region and that had a huge effect on Thailand. It meant more people looking outside their country for a livelihood. As one looks at the cities of Thailand with their buildings and infrastructure, one can simply take the view that here is a rich and well developed nation. If one looks beyond the surface or the tourist side of Thailand, one sees another reality – that of the working poor, the rural poor, the underside of Thai society. Many Thais working in the big cities, like Bangkok, work six days a week and receive maybe only 6,000 to 10,000 baht a month, which is between USD150 and 250 a month. Within a whole region of the country called Isan which is over in the north-east, there is the reality of rural poverty as families with small farms face high costs, have huge debt and receive little for their crops. These families see their young going to the big city to make money to send home but then how much can they make there? So many poor Thais look beyond to go and work and make money for their families. They come to such places as Taiwan. Research has shown the great majority of Thai workers overseas work in seven countries of Asia. The Largest concentration, some 90,000 Thai migrant workers, is in Taiwan. The Thai Ministry of Labor statistics for January of this year show that Taiwan is by far the major destination for Thai workers going overseas. In that month, 4,579 Thai workers came here, with 3,895 being male and 684 being female. This has been the ongoing trend, with 48,920 Thai males and 8,743 Thai females coming here in 2005. While in 2006, 53,387 Thai males and 8,681 Thai females arrived here. Over the past eight years, the statistics show that in total 651,844 Thais have come to Taiwan for work. The next major destination in the region is Singapore, with 125,932 Thais going there over the same eight year period for work. Beside Taiwan, the other Asian countries with large Thai worker populations are Brunei, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. So the Thai Migrant Workers Overseas Project has targeted its efforts in these seven countries, with the first priority being Taiwan. Four objectives were decided upon. • Pre-departure orientation workshops • Post-arrival assistance to Thai migrant workers in destination countries. • Reintegration assistance for Thai migrant workers returning from jobs abroad. • Consciousness-raising among leader and the general public in Thailand regarding migration phenomena and its impact on Thailand A. Pre-departure workshops: Early on a decision was made to try collaborating as fully as possible with the Thai Ministry of Labor in pre-departure education workshop presentations. In practice our coordinates with province staff personnel of the Ministry of Labor in planning and implementing workshop at the province village level. The civil officials are responsible for arranging the specific site and inviting the participants. Our staff shares the teaching chores at the workshops and is present to question individually or in groups before, during, and after the day-long workshops. Normally 3 or 4 villages are targeted each month for such workshops. B. Post- Arrival assistance: The placement of staff social workers overseas for post-arrival assistance to Thai migrant workers has continued. In Taiwan, three staff members are currently working - two at Hope Worker Center in Shinju and one at the Migrant Worker Concern Desk, Taipei Archdiocese. Another one was just moved from Taiwan and has joined the Pastoral Labor Commission of The Seoul Archdiocese. South Korea. C. Reintegration assistance: Returnees can be divided into two large categories. One is comprised of those who have had a mixed experience while abroad and return with various problems to resolve. The other category comprises those whose experience overseas has been positive and they return with a higher job skill level and with capital to invest. Until recently we have concentrated mainly on the former category, that is, workers who have had a negative experience of some kind while overseas. A great deal of effort has been spent on pursuing claims legally for these workers. For example, our office processes claims against job brokers who defrauded vulnerable migrants with non-existent jobs or false contract promises, or claims against employers who broke or aborted work contracts illegaliy or who withheld wage or compensation for work-related injuries. Another example of reintegration assistance is counseling referral for these returnees, especially women migrants, who were victimized by various forms of abuse while working abroad. These are but a few examples of many that could be mentioned. Recently our project has been taking a new look at possible services that could be offered to the other category of returning Thai migrant workers, that is, those who have had a positive experience while abroad. It is a sad fact that many overseas workers return unprepared for reintegration and the country itself has done little to prepare for their re-entry. These workers often do not know how to invest their accumulated earnings productively or where to look for jobs that do justice to their enhanced skill levels. There has been little planning even in their own families or home villages for their return. Often the migrant worker is valued locally as a source of income while working abroad. If anything, the worker's return is seen negatively, as there is no longer incoming money to the home in Thailand. Our project is now seeking ways to assist these returnees in finding meaningful jobs in Thailand and in suggesting ways to invest their earnings productively. D. Consciousness-raising: Raising public awareness on the phenomenon of migrant and its impact on Thailand is a never-ending task. Conducting pre-departure workshops collaboratively with Ministry official offers many opportunities on a local level and the office tries to take advantage of this though informal conversations and correspondence before and during the workshops. The office has conducted exhibits that have had some limited effect. Semi-annual reports to the Bishops' Conference are faithfully carried out and are purposely designed to be educative for the bishops. The office also has good relations with several newspaper and TV reporters in Thailand that help in getting our message aired. Working with returned workers who have legal claims also puts our staff in contact with officers of the labor court and the Labor Ministry and much current information is exchanged at those times. Our office produces a monthly information newsletter. Thai Government Policies The Labor recruitment and Protection Act 1985 governs employment recruiting agencies placing Thai workers locally and overseas. These agencies are to be registered and regulated by the government but then there is what happens in reality. The Overseas Employment Administration Office is the official employment placement agency for Thais wishing to work overseas. There is the question of how well funded and utilized this office is. There is a Thai government fund for assisting Thai workers overseas. The efficacy of this fund is questionable. Thailand and Taiwan signed a bilateral agreement in 2002 governing the employment of Thai citizens. This covers the issues of protection and care for Thai workers in Taiwan. There are then the questions of how effective the actual services may be and of how politics may effect their delivery. What is developing is a growing collaboration between the Church Thai Migrant Workers Overseas Project and the Thai government. This is producing good effects in ministry. |