NAN-F-14
Labour
Bangkok, July 3, 2017 (dpa/NAN) There would be no labour shortage in Thailand, an official said on Monday, following massive departure of nearly 30,000 migrant workers from the country after new labour law came into effect on June 23.
Although up to 29,000 migrant workers left Thailand since June 23, 60,000 more arrived in the same period, labour Inspector Wiwat Jirapanwanich said.
He said “among the 29,000 migrants, more than 20,000 Myanmar nationals crossed the Thailand-Myanmar border last week at Mae Sot immigration checkpoint in Thailand’s Tak province, 420 km north-west of Bangkok.
“Since June 23, some 2,500 Cambodian nationals crossed the Thai-Cambodian border at the immigration checkpoint in Sa Kaew province, 200 km east of the capital,’’ Benjapol Robsawad, Director of the checkpoint said.
The returns came after the workers were shunned by their Thai employers who are afraid of being handed hefty fines.
Under the new law, any employers found to have hired migrant workers without valid working permits or for jobs barred from migrant workers are to face fines ranging from 400,000 to 800,000 baht (11,800-23,600 dollars) per migrant worker, many times the previous amount.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Monday told reporters that the law is necessary to combat human trafficking.
Prayut cited an annual human-trafficking report released last week by the U.S. State Department that kept Thailand on its Tier 2 watch list of countries failing to provide evidence of increasing efforts against human trafficking.
Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the Thai government has promised assistance measures for those affected sometime this week.
Deputy police spokesman Krisana Pattanacharoen said that the police officers have been warned against extorting money from employers and migrant workers with harsh punishments.
However, rights activists for migrant workers remain concerned and sceptical.
“After a decade monitoring migration in Thailand, it’s clear to me tens of thousands of migrants only move like this with instigation.
“Mass profit (is expected) to be made in short time and from panic and commotion,” Andy Hall, a migrant rights activist said.
More than 3 million migrants are registered as workers in Thailand, according to the Labour Ministry, but millions more are estimated to be working illegally. (dpa/NAN) OYE/HA
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole