#07.07.15

climbing mt Fuji

Today’s morning, Group Two introduced us to the concept of push and pull factors that drive a lot of people to migrate from Myanmar to Thailand. I learned that some of the push factors are the government dictatorship, the conflicts and warfare in Myanmar, the abuse of ethnic groups’ human rights, and the poor economy in Myanmar. In the meantime, some of the pull factors are Thailand’s economic boom, Thailand’s labor shortage, more job opportunities, and access to protection and services in Thailand. As Dr. Charlie mentioned, these push and pull factors are not completely separated. They are connected to each other and should be viewed as a continuum, with a lot of factors being very related and many of them being both push and pull factors at the same time. In any case, these factors play a huge role in the lives of many displaced Burmese, causing them to constantly being mobile and become one with the “mixed flow of migrants” (the mixed of Internally Displace Person, asylum seeker, refugee, migrants, etc, depending on when and where they are) that adds on to the great diversity in the border area.

Another important topic that Group Two introduced was the topic of political economy. I learned that political economy is the “interplay of politics in shaping a country’s economy.” An example of how politics relates to economy is the cheap labor and exploitation that migrant workers have to face, due to their limited labor protection. The cheap labor is what allows Thailand’s economy to bloom, however, at the price of migrant workers’ political freedom. Since Mae Sot is right next to Myanmar, a lot of displaced Burmese who crossed from Myanmar stay around Mae Sot to look for jobs to support themselves and their families. However, many of them are undocumented, thus they can only do illegal labors that exploit their labor rights. Since they are working illegally, they feel that they do not have the rights to strike and voice their opinions. They feel that they do not have the power to improve their working conditions. Even if they want to become registered and work there legally, many of them do agriculture jobs and since these jobs are seasonal, a lot of employers don’t want to register them because it’s not worth it for them to pay a lot of money to register workers that might not stay with them for a long time. As Dr. Charlie mentioned, even if the migrant workers do have legal documents, many employers still abuse their labor rights by holding onto their documents so that they can’t work somewhere else.

In the late morning, we met with two speakers from the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), an organization that does researches and documentations on human rights abuse in rural Myanmar. They brought up how the human rights of many people in Myanmar are being violated by the Burmese government. Many of their lands got confiscated and their livelihoods were greatly destructed. For example, a farmer without a farm can no longer be one. The two speakers brought up very important recommendations that should be accepted by the Burmese government. One of the most important recommendations is for the government to ceasefire, just like Jack’s first step in the peace process that we learned yesterday. In order for the Burmese government to improve the living conditions of its people and allow for development to happen, a real ceasefire has to be taken placed first.

In the afternoon, we went to visit the Migrant Assistance Program (MAP) foundation. There, I learned about a lot of innovative programs already in place that are working to improve the lives of displaced Burmese in Thailand. MAP foundation came up with a project called Labor Rights for All (LRA) that fights for workplace justice. As I learned from Group Two that a lot of migrant workers are being abused in Thailand due to their undocumented status and limited labor rights, this project aims to support and fight for them. As compare to Thailand’s minimum wage of 300 Baht/day, some migrant workers only get 60 Baht/day! This injustice of treatment pushed LRA to help migrant workers learn more about the labor rights that they do have, by translating labor policies to them, assisting them in judicial court by providing them with free legal staffs, and teaching them about workplace safety. Not only that, MAP foundation also has its own radio station that reaches out to migrants and provides them with information regarding the most recent changes to laws related to migrant labors and many other knowledge that are useful to them.