Conflicting Signals on Migrant Verification Deadline

BANGKOK — Speaking outside an International Labor Organisation (ILO) / Ministry of Labour meeting in Bangkok on Tuesday, Labour Minister Phaithoon Kaethong said that the Feb. 28 deadline for migrant workers to apply for the controversial Nationality Verification (NV) program stands.

However, confusion about the deadline was exacerbated later in the day when M Thanit Numnoy, the director of Thailand’s Alien Workers Management Committee, said that the deadline for submitting nationality verification (NV) forms had been extended to March 31.

Burmese migrant workers clean a fishing net as they sail out of the port of Mahachai near Bangkok, Thaiand. (Photo: Reuters)

Thanit said that migrant workers will only have to express an intention in writing to enter the NV process by Feb. 28 to avoid deportation. They would then have until March 31 to complete and file the NV forms.

The Thai Foreign Ministry on Monday sought to reassure that the NV deadline would be discussed by the Thai government, in response to concerns raised by international organizations, NGOs and Thailand's National Human Rights Commission. The reassurance came in a letter to Human Rights Watch (HRW) from the Foreign Ministry, in response to the report “From the Tiger to the Crocodile— Abuse of Migrant Workers in Thailand” which was launched on Tuesday by HRW in Bangkok.

However, Minister Phaithoon said that the issue would not be discussed at the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Despite claims by NGO advocates that NV information was not reaching Thailand's estimated 2 to 3 migrant workers, Minister Phaithoon said he saw no reason why migrants cannot apply prior to Feb. 28. The majority of the migrant workers are Burmese.

Migrant worker advocates said a clear, decisive statement on what is going to happen is needed.

Andy Hall, the director of the Migrant Justice Programme at the Human Rights and Development Foundation, said, “The Thai authorities are saying different things, adding to the confusion surrounding an already-flawed policy.”

Thailand is seeking a seat on the UN Human Rights Council.

Sunai Phasuk, a HRW senior researcher, said he believes that “the Foreign Ministry is telling the international community what it wants to hear” regarding NV policy.

On Feb. 18, a UN human rights expert on migrants, Jorge A. Bustamente, said that the Thailand's NV process could lead to mass forced deportation and put Thailand in breach of fundamental human rights obligations.

According to activists at the ILO/MOL seminar, a number of government ministries and security agencies are discussing the issue and  it is not clear who is driving policy making regarding migrant workers. Sunai said that he does not believe that tension between Prime Minister Abhisit and the Thai military has any impact on decisions in this area.

Phil Robertson, the deputy director of HRW Asia Division, said that no one disputes the Thai government's need to have a migrant worker policy. The problem is that the Ministry of Labour “has not sought to address the nitty-gritty issues facing migrant workers in Thailand,” he said.

The newly released HRW report documents alleged abuses and challenges faced by migrant workers in Thailand, including killings, torture in detention, extortion, sexual abuse, trafficking and forced labor.

“Many police and officials treat migrant workers like walking ATMs” according to HRW. “They are just part of a system that robs and mistreats migrants wherever they turn.”

Now, the NV deadline “creates the risk of further abuses,” leaving migrants more vulnerable to extortion and traffickers, and should be postponed until it can be carried out in a fair manner, Robertson said.

Emphasizing the apparent contradictions in the NV system, Jackie Pollock, the director of the MAP Foundation said “next week the government is apparently going to start deporting people whose nationality they have not verified. Where are they going to send them to if they do not know what country they are from?”

According to statistics released on Tuesday at the ILO seminar, 140,000 migrant documents have been sent to Burma, with 25,000 Burmese migrants already completing NV. The NV issue is particularly acute for Burmese migrants, who make up the vast majority—perhaps 80 percent—of the migrant workers in Thailand.