THAILAND - MIGRATION IN 1999

As one of the countries severely affected by the crisis, Thailand took strong measures in 1998 to reduce the number of immigrants, mostly in an irregular situation. Economic indicators sent mixed signals in 1999, since while GDP was projected to grow by 4 percent, the government was running a fiscal budget deficit of 7 percent of the GDP. Although the government reported that the number of migrants was reduced to 688,409 at the end of 1998, several observers doubted that figure, as the repatriation process proceeded with alternative resolve. The reduction of the number of irregular migrants remained a primary concern also in 1999. In March, a plan was adopted to repatriate 370,000 foreign workers to provide employment to 310,000 unemployed Thai workers who had registered with the Employment Department. Construction of holding centers for workers awaiting repatriation was approved. It was also reported that between 60,000 and 70,000 foreign workers had voluntarily returned between January and March. In April the government also decided not to extend the work permits to 90,911 foreign workers, mostly Burmese, after expiration in August. However, the pressure from employers to allow employment of migrants brought to the exclusion of fisheries from the ban, as well as the institution of a special economic zone including the districts of Mae Sot, Phop Phra and Mae Ramat exempted from the ban on employing foreigners. In June, the sectors that could continue hiring foreign workers included rubber and sugar cane planting, pig farms, rice mills, fisheries and related businesses. On August 3, the permit for the 86,895 registered workers was extended for one year to be employed in 18 types of businesses, including agriculture, fisheries, mining, construction and transportation, in 37 provinces, while other foreign workers received a reprieve of three months during which they could obtain a work permit. By the end of October, 104,571 had registered and were granted permission to work until August 5, 2000. The government reported that 64,739 Burmese and 8,293 Cambodians had been arrested since the beginning of the year. Because of the deportation of migrant workers, garment and canning factories and fruit orchards were reporting big losses. Deportation encountered difficulties when Burma closed its border with Thailand in the aftermath of the attack by dissident students to the Burmese embassy in Bangkok. The border was reopened on 24 November.

While trying to diminish the number of foreign workers in Thailand to increase employment opportunities for domestic workers, the Thai government also encouraged overseas employment. Talks were engaged with the Libyan government to resume deployment of Thai workers, which was discontinued in 1992 after the imposition of UN sanctions because of the bombing of the US airplane in Lockerbie. Deployment was also to increase to Oman. In 1998 191,735 Thais found employment overseas. The major destinations were Taiwan (106,828), Singapore (17,067), Brunei (15,246), Japan (10,790), Israel (10,644), Malaysia (9.031) and Hong Kong (4,709). However, overseas Thai workers also experienced difficulties, particularly Thai women turned into prostitutes in South Africa and Japan. After paying between 180,00 to 200,000 baht, 219 were left stranded by placement agencies in South Korea. The extension of the right to vote to Thais abroad was not met very favorably, as only 19,618 of the 757,504 Thai voters abroad had registered by the 21 April deadline.

Thailand tried to settle some issues concerning refugees. After the repatriation of some 27,000 Cambodian refugees since 1997, 19,500 were still in Thailand in February. Talks with UNHCR and Phnom Penh led to the decision to favor their voluntary return to Cambodia. At the same time, the camps holding Karen refugees were attacked by raiders to push them to return to Burma. It is estimated that more than 100,000 Karen live as refugees at the border between Burma and Thailand. Attempts to relocate them were not very successful. Some refugees are held hostages by farmers who employed them for low wages and use them as an attraction for tourists. An agreement was also reached with Laos concerning the repatriation of 1,164 Laotians held at the Ban Napho camp by the end of 1999. Following the turmoil against the Burmese embassy, the Thai government asked UNHCR to relocate approximately 2,000 UNHCR sponsored Burmese students currently in Thailand to other countries.

In April the Thai government hosted an important international symposium on migration to address the issue of irregular migration. Participated by ministerial level delegations from 18 countries, the symposium ended with the Bangkok declaration, which aims at establishing a regional arrangement to deal with smuggling and trafficking of migrants.