THAILAND: Migrant workers’ rights activist facing legal prosecution and death threats

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a group of state officers including the Mae Sot police, immigration officers and officers Department of Labour illegally searched the community Burmese worker center in Mae Sot run by the Migrant Assistance Program (MAP Foundation) in corporate with Yang Chi Oo Worker Association and took all the complaint files lodged by the migrant workers on 14 December 2004. Mr A Salam (18), a volunteer interpreter of the MAP Foundatoin, was illegally arrested by these officers at the same time and charged of working without work permit, although he works on a volunteer basis. 

Mr A Salam reported that he has received a death threat phone call from an unknown person who threatened to kidnap and kill him if he did not stop his work [for migrant workers] on December 16. He also reported that on November 5 there was a attempt on his life by three unknown persons while he was traveling back home in the evening. Those incidents against Mr A Salam are linked to his active role in the migrant workers’ complaints against employers. 

Your urgent action is required into this matter. Please send a letter to the Minister of Labour urging that the charges against Mr A Salam be withdrawn and proper action be taken to stop harassment of the human rights defenders working for migrant workers on the Thai-Burma boarder. Please also urge him to take prompt steps to set up a volunteer registration system and request relevant local authorities to provide urgent protection to Mr A Salam. 

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMATION:

Mr A Salam (a.k.a. Ko Kabar) has legal entry status in Thailand, holding a Burmese displaced person card (Card No. 663-98-54004-302). He was born in Thailand in 1986 after his parents had migrated in 1975. As he fluently speaks Thai and Burmese, he has been working at the Migrant Assistance Program (MAP Foundation) as a volunteer interpreter, and has been actively involved in the complaints made by migrant workers against their employers. 

On 14 December 2004 at about 4:00 p.m., a group of state officers including the Mae Sot police, immigration officers and officers of the Department of Labour came to the community Burmese worker center in Mae Sot run by the Migrant Assistance Program (MAP Foundation) in corporate with Yang Chi Oo Worker Association, which provides legal assistance to migrant workers. Journalists arrived with this group at the same time; this is a typical way of using media to threaten people. The total number of the group was nearly 20.     

When Mr A Salam asked the group if he needed to show some documents to them, they simply replied that “it did not matter” and came directly into the center. They then started to pull out and go through everything (files and computers). Although the people in the center asked them the reason for searching, the officers ignored their requests. When they found the legal complaint files lodged by the Burmese migrant workers, they took all the files. The exact amount of the files taken is not acknowledged yet, but MAP Foundation estimates that it to be around 3kg. Besides, the officers also confiscated a record book and some other documents. According to the information, up to now, those documents have not been returned to the organization.  

The officers then took Mr A Salam to the immigration department office. According to Mr A Salam, at that time, the officers did not officially arrested him but merely told him to come with them. He was later handed over to the Mae Sot police station. The police then charged him, on the request of Department of Labour, of working in Thailand as an alien without a working permit and getting money from an organization under Articles 7 and 34 of Foreign Workers Act of B.E. 2521 (1978), despite that he works as a volunteer. According to the Act, if he is convicted, he will face three months detention or a 5,000 baht (US$ 125) penalty or the both.  

Mr A Salam denied all charges against him and said that he merely received a small amount for working as a volunteer occasionally when he interpreted migrant workers’ cases in the court. He was released on bail on the following day (December 15) after he deposited the bail amount of 20,000 baht. The police told him to report to the police station at 9:00 a.m. on December 24 for further investigation. 

Meanwhile, at about 9:00 p.m. on December 16, Mr A Salam received a death threat phone call from an unknown person who told him that he would be kidnapped and killed if he would not stop his work [for migrant workers]. In fact, this was not the first intimidation that Mr A Salam received. According to him, three men on a motorcycle followed him when he left a mosque at around 9:45 p.m. on November 5. The three men surrounded him on his left, right and back side when he reached the

Mae Sot Khang Phi Barn Road

, and the man on his right side hit his right hand hard with a club. Astonished, Mr A Salam pushed him and escaped the scene quickly. After receiving medical treatment at the Mae Sot Hospital, he lodged a complaint at the Mae Sot District Police Station regarding the incident on November 8. However, no serious action has been taken to investigate this incident by the police so far. 

The intimidation and death threats against Mr A Salam have been shown clearly to be linked to his active role in the migrant workers’ complaints against employers. Local human rights groups believe that the Thai authorities, which have the obligation to protect migrant workers’ rights by law, instead cooperate with employers to threaten their staff and volunteers by charging them without appropriate basis. 

Furthermore, Mr A Salam’s case indicates the weakness of the law in Thailand. All migrant workers have to be registered by law. However, the absence of a system or legal framework to register volunteers in Thailand means that any legal migrants who do volunteering work cannot register themselves in any government agencies, and can be easily accused by the government of working without permission. 
   

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Burmese migrant workers on the Thai-Burma boarder are routinely subjected to abuses and violence by the employers. Law enforcement officials in Thailand have for years failed to investigate and prosecute such cases. For example, in January 2002, at least 17 Burmese migrants were killed and dumped in a stream (Mae Lamao massacre). In 2003, six Burmese men were extrajudicially killed by local authorities (See further: AS-18-2003). In 2002, a Burmese migrant worker died after being beaten and set on fire by her employers. (See further: UA-91-2004) Migrant workers are also suffering from very poor working condition and underpayment. (See further: UA-23-2003 and UA-53-2003)  Most abuses committed against migrant workers in Thailand are investigated only when civil groups and concerned lawyers have become involved in the cases. However, many of these persons and organizations are restricted in their ability to act on cases due to threats by the concerned authorities. 

Furthermore, it is reported that about 9,300 pregnant migrant female workers are facing deportation to their countries soon under a new Thai government policy. In August 2000, the Thai Ministry of Labour introduced a regulation stating that female migrant workers will be given medical checkups and those found to be pregnant will not have their licenses to work in Thailand renewed. The Thai government has also refused to recognize or register children born in Thailand whose parents are migrant workers. In 2003, the Thai government declared that approximately 120,000 migrant children were “a potential security threat” to Thailand. 

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please send a letter to the Minister of Labour and urge him to take appropriate action to withdraw the charges against Mr A Salam, and to establish a volunteer registration system for migrants. Please also urge him to ensure the activities of human rights defenders, especially those working for migrant workers, and to request relevant local authorities to provide immediate protection to Mr A Salam, who is facing death threats. 

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