By Lauren Crothers
PHNOM PENH
The Thai and Cambodian governments need to reform migration policies to prevent a repeat of June’s exodus that saw up to 300,000 Cambodians leave Thailand, migrant groups said Tuesday.
Workers from neighboring Cambodia fled Thailand following the May 22 military coup amid widespread rumors that the army and police were planning a crack down on illegal workers.
The rumors were fuelled by comments from an army spokesman who said illegal laborers were a threat to Thailand and threatened to deport anyone without papers.
The subsequent flood of people crossing the border into Cambodia was “one of the biggest movements of people since the 1970s in Southeast Asia,” Reiko Harima, regional coordinator of the Mekong Migration Network, said.
Harima was speaking at the launch of a report, “The Precarious Status of Migrants in Thailand,” by the network, an umbrella group of regional NGOs.
Pok Panhavichetr, executive director of the Cambodian Women's Crisis Center, said interviews with 67 returned workers highlighted concerns about the cost of legal migration.
“Many migrants are receiving below the minimum wage,” she said. “The report introduces recommendations addressing the Thai and Cambodian governments, as well as the wider ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] community, to learn from this experience and develop a more sustainable migration policy.”
Approximately 80 percent of Cambodian workers in Thailand are undocumented, according to Suong Sopheap, a program manager for the network based in the border city of Poipet.
A large demand for unskilled labor in Thailand and a lack of jobs and low pay in Cambodia fuel the westward migration of Cambodians, the vast majority of whom work on construction sites or in factories.
The report found “most migrants do not wish to abide by the law and obtain legal status in Thailand” because “many are currently finding the existing formal migration channels too expensive or inaccessible.”
The Cambodian government recently announced a reduction in the cost of passports for migrant workers from the equivalent of $124 to $4.
www.aa.com.tr/en
