Law ‘still failing migrants’

Govt takes renewed flak despite progress

The Prayut Chan-o-cha government is failing in efforts to improve conditions for migrant workers, but has made progress against human trafficking, labour rights advocates said yesterday.

They praised authorities for combating illegal entry of workers, but said legal protection for immigrants as well as educational support for their children was still lacking.

Gen Prayut has overseen several measures to regulate alien workers — including a process to verify nationality, granting of work licences under a government-to-government deal, and passing laws like the 2019 Labour Protection in Fisheries Act.

However, these measures still lack a “mechanism” that ensure foreign workers’ access to rights protection, said Adisorn Kerdmongkhol, an advocate with the Migrant Working Group.

As such migrant workers faced delays in receiving justice. Problems in the fishing sector also need better solutions, he added.

“To solve labour shortages, the government still relies on old legal measures which only work in the short term,” Mr Adisorn said.

He was speaking with other labour activists at a press conference to address policies under Gen Prayut.

Fellow activist Laddawan Lakkaew, a manager of the Foundation for Rural Youth, also handed the government a failing grade for its work on education for migrants.

Under the National Education Act, authorities must ensure all children enjoy equal access to education, with no discrimination. But a failure to solve teacher problems had marred efforts in this area, said Ms Laddawan.

For example, all 10 Migrant Learning Centres in Ranong were shut down in August after their migrant instructors were barred from working as teachers. “Up to 3,000 children suddenly lost the opportunity to study,” Ms Laddawan said.

The government only managed to relocate 300 to Thai schools, leaving the rest at “risk of becoming child labourers”, she said.

There are currently only 863 teachers for 16,727 students at 119 Migrant Learning Centres in 18 provinces. This is an urgent issue the government must solve in order to avoid labour exploitation, Ms Laddawan added.

However, authorities yesterday insisted they were working to update legal measures to ensure migrants’ rights are protected.

Labour Protection and Welfare Department chief Aphinya Sucharittanan said action being prepared under the Fisheries Act would help keep fishing in line with international standards. The Labour Relations Act is also being amended, he said.