Desperate Myanmar migrants continue to enter Thailand illegally

Thailand

Rights advocates urge Thai government to stop arresting and expelling migrants, but to no avail

Thai authorities are continuing their crackdown on migrants from Myanmar fleeing political repression and economic destitution by arresting all those found to have crossed into Thailand illegally.

In one incident alone on April 6, as many as 40 migrants, including nine women, were detained after they were discovered hiding at a rubber plantation in the southern province of Songhkla.

The migrants from several states in Myanmar were reportedly on their way to the island of Penang in Malaysia where they were hoping to get jobs.

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They told police they had crossed into Thailand on March 31 with the help of people smugglers and a broker, whom they had each paid 3 million kyat (US$1,675).

The migrants were required to pay half of the money in advance with the rest on arrival in Malaysia.

Arrangements like this have been very common and have led to numerous destitute migrant workers becoming indebted to brokers and employers who then force them to work in grueling conditions for little or no pay until they can repay their debts.

Since a military coup in Myanmar in February last year, millions of people have been unable to support themselves and their families because of severe repression and an economic downturn

Yet despite such risks, migrants from Myanmar continue crossing into Thailand en masse in search of work.

During a police raid in the northern province of Chiang Rai on April 4, a group of 71 migrants, including 36 women and 11 children, were discovered hiding inside a house.

The migrants said they were on their way to Bangkok to find work and were fleeing from Myanmar because they had been facing starvation there, according to police.

Since a military coup in Myanmar in February last year, millions of people have been unable to support themselves and their families because of severe repression and an economic downturn.

Rights advocates have been calling on Thailand’s military-allied government to stop arresting migrants fleeing repression in Myanmar, but to no avail.

“Thai authorities should immediately stop expelling asylum seekers at the Myanmar border [and] allow the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) unhindered access to asylum seekers from Myanmar to determine whether they qualify for refugee status,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement last month.

“Thai authorities should stop pushing back people who are fleeing Myanmar,” added Bill Frelick, refugee and migrant rights director at the group. “The Thai government should immediately allow all asylum seekers fleeing the violent crackdown in Myanmar access to desperately needed protection.”

However, Thai authorities have not relaxed strident entry requirements for people in Myanmar seeking to enter the country, saying ongoing Covid-19 heath measures necessitate detaining illegal arrivals.

In response, Gillian Triggs, an assistant high commissioner at the UNHCR, stressed that “it is possible for a country both to protect the public health of its people and to ensure access to territory for people forced to flee their homes.”

Triggs added that “measures restricting access to asylum must not be allowed to become entrenched under the guise of public health.”

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