Updated: Still turning a profit

The Irrawaddy has a rather disturbing story regarding migrant workers and floods. It is stated that:

Burmese migrant workers escaping Thailand’s worst floods in decades have been seized by the Thai authorities due to problems with their working address or legal status.

Some Burmese migrant workers do not have any legal documents while others work legally but are not allowed to leave their province of employment. Many such people have been seized and deported to the Burmese town of Myawaddy on the opposite side of Mae Sot, Thailand.

The migrant workers appear to be caught by a double- even triple-whammy as they flee floods, Thai and Burmese officials and brokers:

Myint Wai, the assistance director of Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB), said that brokers are trying to exploit the situation of those who have fled back to Burma—especially Burmese migrants from Mahachai Province.

If migrant workers do not have legal status, they have to pay 3,000-4,000 baht (US$ 97-130) to the brokers to get back over the border.

“Brokers are cooperating with some officials who send migrants back to Burma under the guise of ‘arrest and deport,’” Myint Wai told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.

Andy Hall, the director of the Migrant Justice Program for Human Rights and Development Foundation, makes the all too obvious point that “it is a serious violation of human rights to exploit people who are fleeing from a natural disaster.”

Update: The Irrawaddy has a new, related report worth considering.

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