THAILAND: The impact of Nationality Verification on migrant workers must be re-assessed

Dear friends, 

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that over two million migrants from Burma, Cambodia and Laos working in Thailand may face deportation after 28 February 2010. Over 80% of these migrants originate from Burma and face ethnic and political conflict as well as continuing economic deterioration in their homeland, which is controlled by a military government. This problem stems from a new ‘Nationality Verification’ (NV) resolution issued by the Thai government that has created a new process for the extension of permits for migrant workers, which in the case of Burmese migrants, involves a return to Burma and the recording of detailed biographical information. 

UPDATED DETAILS:

According to the Migrant Justice Programme (MJP), under the Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF), over two million undocumented migrants from Burma, Cambodia and Laos are currently working in Thailand. They were given temporary work permits on arrival which have been extended yearly by the Thai government. 

However on December 2008 the Thai cabinet issued a new resolution that obliges migrants to go through a Nationality Verification (NV) process and confirm their nationality in order to remain in Thailand after their work permits expire. The NV is apparently required to ensure the formalisation of irregular migration channels between Thailand and its neighbouring countries. The government has set 28 February 2010 as the deadline for migrants to complete the process, even while it continues to face considerable challenges; after this around 61,543 migrants will lose their permission to stay. Migrants from Burma make up around 90% of these, yet fewer than 10,000 have so far completed the process. 

There have been inadequate attempts to raise the awareness of both employers and migrants about the NV and its benefits. It is too expensive for most migrants, and the brokers that have emerged remain unregulated. Migrants continue to understandably fear for their and their family’s safety as they must provide personal information to complete the NV; in Burma this involves giving personal details to the country’s military government amidst widespread rumours that officials are starting to tax their families there. There are also concerns that the information may be misused in the upcoming elections. Unlike migrants from Laos and Cambodia, those from Burma must return there to complete the NV process and this involves dangers for some, difficulties for others. 

Finally, there are 1.4 million workers to process by the February deadline and the system is working slowly; together the three NV centres in Burma are processing no more than 200 workers per day.

On 18 January 2010, 36 organisations and other signatories including the AHRC sent an open letter that expressed their concerns about the vagueness of NV policy, and its implications for Thailand’s migrant workers.

On 19 January the Thai Cabinet issued a resolution that allowed for the two-year extension of work permits for the approximately 1.3 million migrants who received permits during 2009 and who are willing to submit biographical information to their home governments prior to 28 February 2010. However, migrants who do not access the programme by the deadline and all entirely undocumented migrants (estimated to be around 1 million persons), shall risk deportation after the 2010 February deadline.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The AHRC is supporting an open letter on these issues which has been drafted by the MJP and will be sent to the Thai Prime Minister on 16 February 2010. Please find it here (PDF) and add your name by writing to the email address in Suggested Action, below. 

The AHRC has also learned of incidents in which the Thai Government has tried to forcefully return refugees and undocumented migrant workers to their countries (as seen in AHRC-FUA-004-2009, AHRC-FUA-013-2009, AHRC-FOL-002-2010) and asks for your support in urging the Thai government to ratify the 1951 Refugee Convention, and begin to observe international standards of deportation.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the officials listed below to call for the extension of the registration period for the process of Nationality Verification, offer better support services to those involved in the process and to negotiate with the government of Burma to have the process moved into Thailand. Please be informed that the AHRC is writing separate letters to the ILO Director General and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants. Please note that for the purposes of the letter Burma is referred to by its official name, Myanmar.

Please also join signing open letter by sending your name to migrantjustice@hrdfoundation.org by 14th February 2010.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER