• Home
• about
• Activities
• Contact
• Programs
• Manual

• Analysis
• Commentary
• Feature
• General Election
• Monthly Report
• News
• PDF Format
• Special Report
• Video Clips

Subscribe

Without a choice: Increased economic migration from Mon State to Thailand

HURFOM:

I. Introduction

Thailand is home to an estimated 1.2 million migrant workers from Burma, though the percentage of this number made up of ethnic Mon has never been surveyed. If Mahachai, in southern Thailand, is any indicator, the number should be quite large, for the city is home to 400,000 Mon workers. The migration of workers from Mon state is not a constant stream, and is affected by a variety of factors. Though not strictly seasonal as can be, for instance, the movement of undocumented Latino agricultural workers in the United States, the number of workers crossing from Mon state is still affected by the seasons. Travel difficulties, as well as agricultural opportunities, associated with heavy rainfall mean that migration typically lulls during the rainy season, and rises through the cold and hot seasons until peaking during the forty-five day period following mid-April’s Songkran festival. Read more

Villagers forced to work as unpaid laborers on road repairs in Ye Township

HURFOM :

Inhabitants of the area around Toe-Tat-Ywa-Thit and Yin Ye villages, Ye Township, southern Mon State, are being forced to work as unpaid laborers on road repairs, report local sources. The forced labor began on September 17^th, on the orders of Khaw Zar Sub-township People’s Development Council (PDC) chairman U Kyaw Moe and Kya Zay Ya, officer of Infantry Battalion No. 31. Read more

Informants spying on villagers in Ye

HURFOM : The SPDC authorities’ widespread use of informants and spies is causing inhabitants of Ye Township to feel threatened and insecure, says a HURFOM field reporter in the area. Authorities have been recruiting and training people to gather information in an attempt to capture people giving information to exile news agencies, as well as track the movements of organizations like the Mon Youth Organization or the Mon Literature and Culture Committee. Read more

Cyber attacks debilitate Burmese exile news websites and community forums

HURFOM : The websites of three Burmese exile news agencies, as well as at least two online community forums, have been debilitated by severe cyber attacks throughout August and September.

The Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, which render a site inaccessible by overloading its server with data requests, have targeted the English language news sites of the Irrawaddy and Democratic Voice of Burma, the Burmese language news site the New Era Journal and community forums Mystery Zillion and Planet Myanmar. Read more

Women forced to repair army road in Khaw Zar Sub-township

HURFOM : On September 11^th, Burmese Army Infantry Battalion No. 31 forced a group of women to rebuild the mile long road that connects Khaw Zar Sub-township with the battalion’s headquarters, report HURFOM sources in the area.

“I saw a total of nine women including a seventy-five year-old lady being forced to repair the army’s road. They were made to carry stone, sand and soil to fix the road. Read more

Corruption enables illegal logging in Karen State

HURFOM : Corruption continues to make illegal logging possible in the Three Pagoda Pass area, on the Thai-Burma border. Competition has heated up over the last sixteen years as timber stands have declined, as have attempts to profit off the declining industry.

Although with declining activity, Three Pagodas Pass is still an important place for the manufacture and export of wood products to Thailand. Sixty truckloads of furniture and other wood products travel through Three Pagoda Pass into Thailand every month, says Nai Maut, a resident of Three Pagoda Pass who works as a logger, wood worker and truck driver. The Irrawaddy, in a recent article, reports a higher number, estimating the cross-border trade to be one hundred truckloads per month. Read more

Seventeen years old two girls faced trafficking

WCRP:

Two seventeen year-old girls were recently victims of human trafficking. On June 23^rd, said a forty year-old woman from Three Pagoda Pass, on the Thai-Burma border.

The woman saw one of the girls crying on the street corner, and reported that “The trafficker sold her to a brothel in TPP, but she escaped. She didn’t have any money and didn’t know where to go.” The girl said that a trafficker brought her and a friend from Thanbyuzayut, and promised them good jobs in Thailand. Read more

Stop Human Trafficking campaign in Samut Sakhon

WCRP : The Stop Human Trafficking Campaign, which began on September 15th in Mahachai, Samut Sakhon province, will show the true plight of Burmese migrant workers.

The campaign is being led by the Labor Rights Promotion Network (LPN), which focuses on migrant worker rights in Thailand, and has been joined by over four hundred Thai and Burmese workers in Samut Sakhon.

The campaign intends to raise awareness of workers’ position, and encourage the Thai government to change laws concerning the rights of migrant workers.

“We want the government to change the laws and policies to make migrant workers more safe. The government needs to protect people from employers or traffickers that abuse migrant workers or use child labor,” said LPN director Mr. Sompong Srakaew. “Right now, we have capacity building training for migrants to empower them. Many people don’t know their rights or how to negotiate with their employer, and face exploitation because they don’t know how to stand up for themselves.”

According to the Associated Press, one million Burmese workers are registered to work in Thailand, while at least another million are in the country illegally.

According to Amnesty International, most migrant workers in Thailand do work that Thais consider too dirty, and are employed in factories, the seafood industry or as cleaners. Read more

A town for no one

By Lawi weng:

The Three Pagodas Pass crossing on the Thai-Burma border has been officially closed for almost two years, . Many businessmen despair because they cannot trade, and many people despair because they cannot work. The Burmese town, former home to a burgeoning furniture manufacturing industry, offers little employment and many people have to cross into Thailand to earn eighty baht a day at a sewing factory. Read more

Mon State authorities accepting bribes in exchange for motorbike licenses

By HURFOM:

Moulmein, Mon State

Authorities of Mon State’s Road Transport Administration Department (RTAD) are accepting bribes in exchange for licensing illegally imported motorcycles, report bike owners in Moulmein. Officers of RTAD, “Ka-Nya-Na” in Burmese, began accepting bribes at the start of September and, depending on the officer, are asking between 50,000 and 300,000 kyat. Read more

« Previous Page — Next Page »