Myanmar to Thailand: Fair recruitment in review
At least three million migrant workers from Myanmar worked in Thailand pre-Covid19 - the bulk of a large migrant workforce from neighbouring countries which has been growing since the mid 1990s.1 These workers suffer from a range of abuses. During recruitment in Myanmar, they are often exploited by brokers and recruitment agents resulting in workers effectively bearing the full cost of the recruitment process, while many Thai employers pay little or no costs and some even profit from the recruitment process. In Thailand, migrant workers from Myanmar struggle with contract substitution, deductions/wage theft and poor working and living conditions, particularly for fisheries and agricultural workers. In both Myanmar and Thailand, the enforcement machinery is limited and/or ineffective to protect their rights and ensure safe migration channels whilst the grievance redressal machinery is fragmented and difficult to access. The status of migrant workers in Thailand is further adversely affected by the prevalence of discriminatory attitudes towards migrant workers and their inability to unionise and access social security benefits. Job-mobility for migrant workers is very restricted and there is virtually no pathway to citizenship.