AIPMC Calls on Thai Authorities to Protect Basic Rights of Migrant Workers and Rohingya Asylum Seekers

The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus today called on the Thai government to postpone a December 14 deadline for unregistered migrant workers to enrol with the authorities, and also urged the authorities to investigate claims of state officers’ involvement in human trafficking of desperate Rohingya refugees seeking to get to Malaysia […]

Thailand Threatened Migrant Worker Crackdown: Would Be Counter Productive and Lead to Gross Human Rights Violations

On 2nd June 2010, Thailand s Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva issued an order setting up a Special Centre to Suppress, Arrest and Prosecute Alien Workers Who Are Working Underground. This centre will manage a crackdown against unregistered migrants in Thailand, most of whom are from Burma. Five Regional Working Groups will implement the crackdown by pooling strength of police, army, navy and other government officials. The order states the targets of the crackdown are approximately 300,000 migrants who failed to enter a Nationality Verification (NV) migrant registration process by February 28th 2010. An estimated 1 million plus unregistered migrants who are working in Thailand but were ineligible for NV will also likely become targets of this crackdown.[…]

Migrants in Thailand Facing Detention and Imminent Deportation

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) expresses its deep concern regarding recent reports of detention and forced deportation of a large number of migrant workers, especially along the Thai-Burma border. According to information received, there has been a sudden increase in the arrest, detention and deportation of Burmese migrant workers since March 5 in […]

Nationality Verification deadline passes; deportations begin

Days after the 2 March deadline for registering intent to complete the Nationality Verification process, Thai authorities are already scaling up deportations of migrant workers.

According to a spokesperson from Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association (YCOWA), there has been a sudden spike in the detention and deportation of migrants today in the Thai-Burma border town of Mae Sot. […]

Nationality Verification deadline extended

According to internal documents, the Thai government has extended the deadline for migrant workers to submit their completed Nationality Verification application from the original 28 February deadline until 31 March. Migrant workers have been given until 2 March to register at local employment departments and sign an agreement to complete the process. Any migrant workers […]

Resources on the Nationality Verification Process

The Migrant Justice Programme of the Human Rights and Development Foundation produced two useful resources for those wanting to learn more about the complex National Verification (NV) process for migrant workers in Thailand. The Nationality Verification Fact Sheet is a concise three-page introduction, which includes a time line of both Thai government and civil society’s […]

Hong Kong Groups Protest Nationality Verification Deadline

Hong Kong Groups Condemn Thai Government for Treatment of Migrant Workers

Thailand is set to show its rough treatment of undocumented migrants and refugees. In the guise of a national verification scheme, the government readies the stage for a massive crackdown on undocumented foreign workers and refugees in the country.

Rising Concerns as Migrant Workers’ Nationality Verification Deadline Approaches

Human rights and migrant worker organizations are concerned that over 1.3 million migrant workers—the majority of whom are Burmese—could be deported from Thailand if they fail to enter the nationality verification process before 28 February.

In January, the Thai Cabinet passed a resolution allowing for a two-year extension of work permits for the migrants provided that they were willing to submit biographical information to their home governments prior to 28 February. […]

Thailand: Migrant Workers Face Killings, Extortion, Labor Rights Abuses

February Deadline for Renewal of Work Permits Invites Exploitation The Thai government should swiftly act to end police abuse and discriminatory laws and policies against migrant workers and their families, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. The February deadline for more than a million migrant workers to enter the “nationality verification” […]