mr_news_170709.pdf
HEADLINES
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NEWS ON MIGRANTS

New Thai-Burmese passport issued, meets mix of hope and skepticism

Calls to ASEAN to form a strong human rights body

 

NEWS ON REFUGEES

MSF Press Release on unregistered Rohingya refugee camp

Bangladeshi police attack Rohingya camp

 

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NEWS ON MIGRANTS
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New Thai-Burmese passport issued, meets mix of hope and skepticism

Wed 15 Jul 2009, Jaloon Htaw , Weng Mon, IMNA

Today in a combined effort by the Burmese and Thai authorities to address the issue of abuse against migrant workers, the two governments have begun to issue limited passports.

On July 15th, the Burma-Thai Cultural and Economic Committee (BTCEC), in conjunction with the Burmese and Thai governments, has officially begun to produce limited passports for applications filled by Burmese migrant workers. The overarching goal, according to on of the committee members, is to save the rights of those who have been abused while working and living in Thailand.

According to the BTCEC, this is the first time they will be able to offer limited passports allowing migrants travel throughout Thailand and work anywhere they find a job, without restrictions. The application for the limited passports is now available for the next 20 days, in BTCEC offices based in Mae Sot, Tachilek and Kawthaung, for 11,000 bhat. In addition, the limited passports are valid for 2 years once issued said a member of BTCEC in Mae Sot. The new limited passports will replace the older Thai Labor Ministry issued worker ID’s, available over the last 12 years, that widely restricted migrant travel to the work area and town in which they worked and were only good for periods of 6 months and 1 year.

According to the Burmese state run news paper, the New Light of Myanmar, on July 12th, Thai and Burmese authorities met in Kawthaung, Tenasirim division, on the Thai- Burma border, to pre-issue 200 limited passports to residents.

“We have been trying for the last 7 years to get permission from Burmese authorities. They signed it this year. We have already made announcements [about the limited passport] at many places in Bangkok, even in Samuksakong, (Machai),” explained a BTCEC member in Mae Sot. “We are planning to go and inform migrants in other places. Some are scared to do this because they have been cheated many times before. We’ve showed them [skeptical migrants] the complete information on the document as decided on by the committee.”

Announcements are being made on Thai radio, explaining about the current worker IDs which are issued by Thai government and will expire in February 2010 and that all migrant workers will have apply for the limited passport at that time. Currently there are close to 500,000 Burmese migrant workers with Valid Thai ID’s in Thailand, while an estimated 700,000 more are working illegally within the Kingdom, according to a source at the Human Rights Development Foundation.

Despite the advertised benefits, some migrant workers have expressed their disinterest in the new limited passport. Previous attempts by migrants to obtain legitimate passports have overwhelmingly met with failure after applications lead to Burmese government persecution, and even scams from fake government officials. “Just one month ago, a man names Maung Maung Myint, claimed he was the vice-ministry, and told us to do the temporary passport,” said a Burmese migrant working at a plastic factory in Chonburi, Bangkok. “He said he would force us to return Burma if we didn’t. He took 500 Baht for each person and we had to fill out the form.”

The man, Maung Maung Myint, also went to other factories pressing migrants for money, and disappeared despite claiming he would deliver the temporary passports to workers in two months.

In 2006 a previous attempt was made by Burmese and Thai authorities to produce limited ID and passport documents that would provide workers with free access to work, health benefits and travel. However the documents required works to provide their exact address, and most migrants refused over concerns the government would demand money from their families, or threaten them. Additionally, according to the Irrawaddy News, workers were also required to send a remittance every month of 10 percent of their earnings to the Burmese government throughout their work stay in Thailand.

An official from the Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB) expressed skepticism about the continued effort to create a passport for migrant workers, saying that it was an impossibility. In his opinion, neither government would be willing to give the estimated 1.2 million Burmese migrant workers in Thailand that much freedom. Additionally he sees the act of act of accepting a passport as support for the Burmese military government in coming 2010 election.

A worker from the Seafood industry in Kawthaung told IMNA that they would be happy to get a passport in Thailand and that they would be able to go anywhere, but haven’t dared to apply for a passport in previous years passport attempts. The worker said that they would now feel eager to apply since the legal support for the passport has been granted from both Thailand and Burma.

Like the previous effort to provide passports, the new application for the limited passport will require workers to have not only a valid Thai worker ID, but to also fill out their correct address of their home in Burma on the form. The forms are then sent to Nay Pyi Taw for verification, after which workers can collect their passport when the application is returned to an office in Thailand.

A member of the BTCEC said that they wanted to gather 15,000 applications for workers to start the process now, but could only collect 1,500 people. The Burmese authority are also collecting a list of people working in foreign countries which they say will make it easier to check the forms that migrants send BTCEC member added.

“All the workers should have their rights already, but some workers don’t know anything and listen and accept what the boss say,” a TACDB official said. “Currently the Thai government is making IDs for migrants who are illegal and this can give workers a lot of advantage and benefit. It is not possible that that Burmese workers will get passports in Thailand.”

 

http://www.monnews-imna.com/newsupdate.php?ID=1485

 

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Calls to ASEAN to form a strong human rights body

by Usa Pichai    Friday, 17 July 2009 17:00

Phuket, Thailand (Mizzima) – ASEAN civil society organizations have highlighted Burma as a benchmark for ASEAN human rights issues and called for a strong Human Rights Body to place Burma on the agenda of the next ASEAN Summit.

Sixty nine civil society groups in Asia Pacific urged members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to take firm action in response to Burma’s continued non-compliance with the ASEAN Charter, according to an open letter released in a press conference prior the 42nd  meeting of ASEAN Foreign Ministers with their dialogue partners in Phuket, the island province of Thailand.

“ASEAN countries must address Burma’s flagrant violations of its new charter. As long as the military continues to systematically attack civilians and jail opposition leaders, how can we believe in the junta’s repeated claims of bringing democracy to the country? ” asked Aung  Myo Min coordinator of the Task Force on ASEAN and Burma (TFAB), a network of Burma’s civil society working to promote a people-centered ASEAN that is supportive of the cause of democracy, human rights and peace in Burma.

“At this critical juncture, ASEAN cannot afford to be weak on Human Rights. ASEAN leaders must take firmer measures and not let Burma slide by on false promises. Otherwise, it risks losing its credibility in the international community,” said Khin Omar, Coordinator of Burma Partnership, a network of Burmese and regional civil society.

The letter calls on ASEAN Foreign Ministers to employ a charter provision stating that “in the case of serious breach of the Charter or non-compliance, the matter shall be referred to the 15th ASEAN Summit for a decision.”

The group ended the letter saying “ASEAN must stand by the people of Burma and show solidarity with friends throughout Asia as we seek to eradicate systematic human rights violations and implement national reconciliation and peace in Burma.”

At a conference on Friday, representatives from civil society groups in the region urged the ASEAN to create a strong Human Rights Body committed to action from the member states that would ensure a better human rights situation in the region.

Wathshlah Naidu, Programme Officer of International Women’s Rights Action Watch – Asia Pacific (IWRAW-AP) said at the conference, “we want a strong protection mandate, which includes the capacity to conduct on site visits, conduct investigations and issue recommendation  to a member state as well as to institute a mechanism for receiving and addressing complaints. The body also should be independent, effective and credible.”

Sinapan Samydorai, from ASEAN Migrant Workers Group, said ASEAN should appoint a sub-committee responsible for migrant workers as the cross border labour condition is a significant issue.

The 42nd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting is to be held from July 17 to 23, 2009, at the Holiday Island of Phuket in Southern Thailand.

 

http://www.mizzima.com/news/regional/2468-calls-to-asean-to-form-a-strong-human-rights-body.html

 

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NEWS ON REFUGEES
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MSF Press Release on unregistered Rohingya refugee camp

PRESS RELEASE
July 16, Medecins San Frontieres

Rohingya face a resurgence of abuse and displacement

On Tuesday, July 14, Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) witnessed a group of approximately 30 police officers and local officials enter the Kutupalong makeshift camp in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh, and destroy 259 homes, looting people’s possessions in the process. Other residents of the makeshift camp were told that they had 48 hours to leave
or their homes would be burned down.

The camp is home to thousands of unregistered Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority originating from Myanmar, who are denied citizenship and suffer persecution and discrimination in Myanmar.

The incident is another in a series of aggressive and abusive moves by the authorities against the Rohingya. In late June, thousands of people were forcibly displaced from their homes, some of them violently. During this time, MSF treated numerous people for injuries in its clinic at the camp, the majority of whom were women and children. MSF released a press release
on June 18. “The systematic use of intimidation, violence, and forcible displacement against residents of the makeshift camp is absolutely unacceptable,” said Paul Critchley, MSF head of mission in Bangladesh.

The Rohingya population at the Kutupalong camp have been told that they cannot live next to the official refugee camp, supported by the Bangladesh Government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Nor can they legally live on adjacent Forestry Department land.

“This vulnerable population has fled persecution and discrimination in Myanmar, only to be left unrecognized and unassisted in Bangladesh,” Critchley said. “They have gathered in Kutupalong, one of many unofficial makeshift camps to have formed in recent years, to seek refuge and in turn found only fear and abuse.”

Officials claim to be clearing areas of the makeshift camp in order to create a 100-foot buffer zone between the official UNHCR refugee camp and the makeshift camp. This zone has since expanded, threatening the living space of thousands more people. Unable to move onto the adjacent Forestry Department land, people are left with nowhere to live and nowhere to go.

A durable and dignified solution for the Rohingya must be found, not only in countries where they seek asylum, but at their origin in Myanmar.

Over the last 20 years, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled their homes to seek refuge abroad. Few have been granted refugee status. The majority struggle to survive, unrecognized and unassisted, in countries such as Bangladesh and Thailand.

MSF has worked in Bangladesh since 1992, most recently setting up a basic health care program in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, assisting victims of Cyclone Aila, and implementing an emergency intervention to assist unregistered Rohingya in Kutupalong makeshift camp.  MSF also provides services to the host community.

 

http://www.kaladanpress.org/v3/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2056:msf-press-release-on-unregistered-rohingya-refugee-camp&catid=27:other&Itemid=32

 

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Bangladeshi police attack Rohingya camp

July 16, 2009 (DVB)

Hundreds of makeshift homes belonging to Rohingya refugees in a camp near to the Bangladesh-Burma border were destroyed by “aggressive and abusive” Bangladeshi police, according to a medical aid group.

The incident was witnessed by staff working for Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF), which provides medical aid to the estimated 300,000 Rohingya of Burmese descent who have sought refuge on the Bangladesh side of the border.

 

According to MSF, around 30 Bangladeshi police and officials arrived at the Kutupalong camp near to Cox’s Bazaar on 14 July and destroyed 259 homes.

 

“Other residents of the makeshift camp were told that they have 48 hours to clear their homes or they will be burnt down,” the statement said.

 

The Kutupalong camp is adjacent to a camp run by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Officials taking part in the incident reportedly claimed it was being done to create a buffer zone between the two camps.

 

“The systematic use of intimidation, violence and forcible displacement against residents of the makeshift camp is absolutely unacceptable,” said MSF’s head of mission in Bangladesh, Paul Critchley.

 

“This vulnerable population has fled persecution and discrimination in Myanmar [Burma], only to be left unrecognized and unassisted in Bangladesh.”

 

In June, Thailand and Bangladesh pledged to help aid the repatriation of Rohingya back to Burma, where they have long suffered persecution at the hands of a government who don’t officially recognize them.

 

Their plight hit the headlines in January this year when around 1000 Rohingya refugees landed ashore in Thailand, only to towed back out to sea by Thai authorities. Around 550 were thought to have died.

 

The Burmese government has been reluctant to grant repatriation to Rohingya who had fled the country’s western Arakan state, claiming they would have to prove they came from Burma in the first place.

 

This would be almost impossible, however, given that Rohingya in Burma are denied legal status.

 

http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=2721

 

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http://www.yoma3.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=310:2009-07-17-02-11-19&catid=41:2008-09-21-07-44-45&Itemid=124

 

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7/16/2009

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