Myawaddy, May (30)
The number of Myanmar migrant workers crossing into Thailand has increased because of Myanmar’s political insecurity and economic turmoil since the military coup, labor activists told Than Lwin Times.
In May, a group of Myanmar migrant workers who illegally crossed into Thailand through the Thai-Myanmar border were arrested by Thai security forces.
On May 24, Thai security forces arrested nearly 50 Myanmar migrant workers who illegally crossed the border in a village in Kanchanaburi District, Thailand, and these migrant workers came to work in Samutsakhon and Rayong districts of Bangkok, Thailand, said Thai authorities.
Thai authorities have stated that the arrested Myanmar migrant workers will be examined and dealt with in accordance with Thai law before being returned to Myanmar.
Since late 2021, after the military coup, an average of nearly 4,000 Myanmar migrant workers have been arrested per month for illegally crossing the border into Thailand.
U Aung Kyaw, the chairman of Migrant Workers’ Rights Network (MWRN) said, “I think the efforts of Myanmar migrant workers to cross the border to work in Thailand will not stop. If your country is prosperous, secure and free to establish your life, human resources will settle in your country. In the current situation, I see that all the young and middle-aged try to leave for foreign countries because there is no chance to survive in the country”.
Arrests of Myanmar migrant workers illegally crossing into Thailand are the most common in Kanchanaburi district. Migrant workers used to cross from the Mae Sot of the Tak province, but since the Thai authorities have increased security there, most of the migrants enter through the Kanchanaburi district.
Illegal Myanmar migrant workers caught in Thailand are often sent back to Myanmar by the Thai authorities through the Myawaddy-Mae Sot border gate and the Ranaung-Kawthaung border gate.
After the military coup in Myanmar, foreign investments have left the country, and local jobs are scarce, leaving hundreds of daily migrant workers to work for a living in neighboring countries.
According to labor organizations, in the two years since the military coup, hundreds of thousands of Myanmar workers have been working abroad due to a lack of job opportunities in the country, most of them leaving for Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, and Korea.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced on December 28 last year that around 40,000 people leave the country every month due to the economic crisis and armed conflict after the military coup in Myanmar.
News – Than Lwin Times
Photo: CNB