Two Migrant women held hostage after abused migrants escape

June 24, 2009

WCRP: Two women, Mi Moe San and Mi Khin Win (name changed for security purposes), were kidnapped by their construction site supervisor, and held hostage for about 4 nights and 5 days because their husbands ran away after being physically abused by the supervisor and his friends. The two women were kidnapped from the construction site where they work in Kohsirae, Fish Bridge, Phuket, according to Nai Rot, who is close to the victims, and is also a migrant worker from Kaloh village, Ye Township.

When they were first kidnapped, the two women were kept in an office at the construction site. After two days they were moved to the supervisor’s house where the two women were made to do housework. The supervisor didn’t want them to contact anyone on the outside so he took their cell phones.

The supervisor then moved Mi Moe San back to the construction site to continue working, and to separate her from Mi Khin Win, who was kept at the supervisor’s house and is pregnant, Nai Rot explained.

On the 16th of June, a gang of about 20 Thai people, along with the supervisor, abused 7 Burmese migrant workers. In the evening the supervisor and his friends beat the 7 migrant workers with sticks, and stabbed one of them. None of the assailants were arrested or charged with any crime. 3 of the workers managed to run away, while the 4 who were most badly injured stayed behind. Of the 3 migrants that ran away, 2 were the women’s husbands, Mg Shan and Mg Naing (name changed for security purposes), and the 3rd was Mg Naing’s brother. That is when the supervisor and the Thai workers kidnapped the two women, saying they would not be released until their husbands’ returned.

Nai Rot heard about this from the women’s co-workers, who explained that the women’s husbands had run away, and that if they came back the supervisor would free the two women. As of yet there has been no word from the husbands who, it is believed, don’t know that their wives have been kidnapped, though this cannot be confirmed.

The two women are from Kaloh village, Ye Township, Mon State. Mi Moe San, who is 30 years old, worked for 5 years at different Jobs in Thailand, while Mi Naing who is 19 years old, has worked in Thailand only a little over 1 year. They have been working for a construction company in Kohsirae, Fish Bridge, Puket.

According Nai Rot, previously Mi Khin Win had said, “We had no food for eating. If we had money, we wouldn’t have come here [Thailand]”.

This is not the only instance of Burmese migrant workers being kidnapped and held for ransom. This form of rights violation occurs in other communities in Thailand along the Burma border. Recently in Maharchai on June 10th a money lender kidnapped a child from her mother because the mother had not yet paid the money back to lender. The mother had been having trouble at her work place, and had to take out a loan to cover the cost of bringing her daughter to Thailand. After several days, with the help of Labor Rights Promotion Network (LPN) the child was returned to her mother.

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News