"'Tigers or crocodiles': Grim prospects for Cambodian migrants at home and in Thailand", 26 February 2021

Sunret, who recently returned to Thailand after leaving due to coronavirus restrictions …, decided to flee once again when he found out his work permit was fake - putting him at risk from a government crackdown on undocumented workers…

More than 150,000 have returned home by official means since borders were shut …, but finding scant work opportunities, increasing numbers are risking arrest to sneak back into Thailand, campaigners said…

After Thailand’s largest COVID-19 outbreak was linked to migrant communities …, Bangkok offered an amnesty for undocumented workers in order to stop unnecessary movement and avoid a labour shortage.

Some 200,000 Cambodians are among 654,000 to have applied, but many baulked at the costs and declined, campaigners said, with the drive opening the door for local facilitators who provide services to migrants - known as brokers - to cash in…

“Chaos is the time for brokers to make money - they prey on migrants’ fear,” inflating the price of documents, accommodation and access to smuggling routes and job interviews, said Sa Saroeun, a legal adviser to Cambodians working in Thailand.

… The pandemic has compounded a household debt crisis in Cambodia, which has the world’s largest microloan debt per borrower, driving land loss, child labour and unsafe migration, especially to neighbouring economic powerhouse Thailand.

… More than 65% of Cambodians working in Thailand are there primarily to stave off debt collectors at home, according to a survey of 472 returning migrants conducted at the border by Central…