Life’s of Fishermen

Fishing is one of the most lucrative industries for Thailand where thousands of Burmese migrant workers are employed. Life for those working in the fisheries industry is often very difficult and dangerous.

There are many kinds of fishing boat in this region. Burmese workers prefer to work on 2 kinds of boats, locally known as wadan and wallet Boats.

Wadan boats go out to the sea everyday in the afternoon and come back to shore the next morning. There are typically 30-50 workers in a boat. They cast their nets at nights and draw up the nets 3-5 times a night to check for fish. Casting and drawing nets are done by hand so a lot of labor is needed.

Wadan boats are like satellite boats around a small “light boat” which is lit at night by very bright light bulbs. The light draws fish up to the surface the fishermen then cast their nets. At least 4-5 boats cast their nets around a light boat. Spreading nets and collecting once takes one and half to Two hours. Fishermen call it one “Suu” that means one catch. They have to make 2-5 Suu (catches) a night till the owner is satisfied. The more the number of time they catch they get worn out and fatigued. There are usually 3 to10. Thai lead workers and the rest are Burmese.

These fishermen have to work 18-20 hours a day about 25 days, a month. They have only 4-5 hours to rest and sleep as they have to keep on working sorting fish, cleaning nets and taking fish to the warehouse after they come ashore. Once the previous catch has been sorted and delivered, the men immediately begin preparing for the next trip. They must check fuel, water & food supplies; get ice for fish stores, etc. They only time they can rest is on the boat on the way out to the next fishing site Fishing boat workers usually get 4-5 days off (shore days) a month. Most of this time they spend mending nets and boats. The days on and around the full moon are usually unsuitable for light fishing as the bright moon light makes it difficult to catch fish.

The local fishing boats also employ underage workers. Children are often assigned to swim to the nets with a rope round their waist which they then tie to the nets floating buoys. Fishermen retrieve the nets spread in the sea by drawing the rope the children attach to the nets. Each boat may have up to 5 children between the ages of 12 to 15 they are needed to tie the upper edge of the net to a buoy every 20 or 25 feet. Children are favored for this job as they are swift, light and good swimmers. They are also ignorant about the possible dangers and don’t ask questions. They are always exposed to attacks from snakes, sharks and jelly fish. There are also other hazards for these boys to contend with. Electrocution from the light boats is a real risk; there have been a number of reported deaths. Imagine the situation for these boys, spending the whole night in the water, wet, cold and afraid.

Wages are paid in advance. The amount for new women and child workers is usually not more than 2500 baht a month. Only the experienced and skilled fishermen get “Posan” which is a small percentage share of the profits made from selling the fish. This kind of bonus payment is made every 2-3 month. The skilled workers, those with years of experience in the industry get about 7-8 thousand. The most skillful lead workers (Yae Shuu) can earn as much as a10,000 Baht share.

Nobody knows the exact number of children involved in this industry our staff estimate there to be close to1000 boats working in this area operating out of the major ports of Nam Khem, Tablamu and Kuraburi. Most boats employ at least 2 children. These children need to help their families earn money. There are not many other jobs available to them.

Written by Southern Migrant

In The Quiet Land

(By Daw Aung San Suu Kyi)

In the Quiet Land, no one can tell

if there's someone who's listening

for secrets they can sell.

The informers are paid in the blood of the land

and no one dares speak what the tyrants won't stand.

In the quiet land of Burma,

no one laughs and no one thinks out loud.

In the quiet land of Burma,

you can hear it in the silence of the crowd

In the Quiet Land, no one can say

when the soldiers are coming

to carry them away.

The Chinese want a road; the French want the oil;

the Thais take the timber; and SLORC takes the spoils...

In the Quiet Land....

In the Quiet Land, no one can hear

what is silenced by murder

and covered up with fear.

But, despite what is forced, freedom's a sound

that liars can't fake and no shouting can drown.

- Escape of People of Burma Through the Tunnels of Death Asia Tribune
- Nay Pya Taw sends to team to investigate 54 suffocation cases Mon News
- Shorter Stays Proposed for Burmese Visitors to S. Thailand Irrawaddy
- Activists Petition Thai Govt in Death of 54 Burmese Irrawaddy

Deaths of Myanmar workers highlight migrant labour problem
IRIN- Humanitarian News and Analysis

BANGKOK (IRIN) - The deaths on 9 April of 54 illegal migrant workers from Myanmar, who suffocated in the back of a container truck while being smuggled to the Thai resort island of Phuket, highlight the vulnerability of foreign migrant laborers in Thailand, said UN International Labor Organization (ILO) officials.

The victims - 36 women and 17 men, all apparently in their late teens or early 20s, and an eight-year-old child - were among 121 Myanmar citizens crammed into the back of a freezer-truck, normally used for carrying seafood.

Colonel Kraithong Chanthongbai, a senior Thai police officer, told IRIN the migrants perished on a four-to-five hour journey from Ranong, a seaport on the Thai-Myanmar border, to Phuket, where illegal workers from Myanmar serve as a cheap source of labor for the construction, seafood and tourism industries.

He said 67 survivors, some children, are in hospital or in Thai police custody. The survivors will be held as witnesses, he said, to testify against the driver of the truck, who is now being sought, before they are deported to Myanmar for illegally entering Thailand.

Allan Dow, a communications officer with the ILO's anti-trafficking program, told IRIN the deaths reflect the precarious position of migrant workers from Myanmar, who cross the porous border into Thailand in search of jobs.

"While this can be seen as a tragic accident, or a criminal negligence case, this is a consequence of bigger problems," said Dow. "The bigger problem is that the number of people trying to come to get jobs here - and the number of employers who want them - are not able to do so through legal channels," he said.

Deepening poverty

According to UN officials and NGO workers, poverty is deepening in Myanmar principally due to an economy in disarray and in part because of sanctions.

The lack of job opportunities, as well as ongoing conflict in some ethnic minority border areas, has pushed an estimated 1.2 to 1.5 million citizens into Thailand, where labor experts say they usually toil at below minimum wage.

The ILO estimates that about 6 percent of Thailand's GDP is generated by foreign workers, the vast majority of whom come from Myanmar. Yet despite this, the Thai army and security establishment views the Myanmar workers as potential security threats, according to Philip Robertson Jr., a Bangkok-based labor rights advocate.

"The government policy is a compromise between the employer and the national security people," Robertson said.

Climate of exploitation

Dow said two of the ILO's studies found that most Thais believe foreign laborers should not be entitled to the same rights and protection as Thai workers, attitudes that have created a climate of tolerance for the pervasive exploitation and mistreatment of workers from Myanmar.

"Foreign workers are not treated the same as Thai workers and they should be," Dow said. "In many cases, employers are breaking Thai law. All workers are supposed to be treated the same. But our research found that many of the foreign workers are underpaid, overworked, and overlooked by the authorities," he said.

In 2004, Bangkok registered more than 1 million foreign workers, who were granted temporary identity cards that were supposed to afford them legal status, health insurance, and protection from harassment. But according to Robertson, many of the migrant workers declined to renew their registration, due to the high cost and rules that tied their legal status to remaining in the same job.

Manolo Abella, an ILO expert on labor migration, said the Thai and Myanmar governments have been trying to create a formal government-to-government channel to regulate the flow of migrant labor. But he said negotiations have stalled on several points, including questions over the status of the million-plus Myanmar workers already in Thailand.

However, there are hopes that this week's tragic deaths may prompt Thai policy-makers to re-evaluate their policies towards migrant laborers.

"For too long we have turned a blind eye to human trafficking," The Nation newspaper, a Bangkok daily, wrote on 11 April. "How we treat others says something about us as a country, as a society. Let's hope this tragedy is a wake-up call for the Thai government."

Source Link

Migrant New (April 17,2008)
6) More Suspects Arrested in Death of 54 Burmese Migrant Workers The Irrawaddy
5) Thailand's army not better than Burma's UPI Asia Online
4) The despair of migrant workers THE NATION
3) 54 Myanmar workers suffocate in back of seafood truck in Thailand Canadian press
2) Burmese Don't Need Passports to Open Band Accounts Arab news
1) Death-truck survivors 'mistreated' Bangkok Post

Migrant New (April 16,2008)

The Associated Press

BANGKOK, Thailand—The driver of a truck in which 54 illegal immigrants from Myanmar suffocated last week has surrendered and confessed to working for a human smuggling network, Thai police said Wednesday.

Suchon Bunplong, 38, turned himself in Tuesday after a six-day manhunt, police Col. Kraithong Chanthongbai said.
"He was scared he would be killed by the others involved (in the network), so he surrendered for his own safety," said Kraithong, adding that police were searching for two other suspects identified by Suchon.The driver said he was hired for $2,300 to take the migrants from the border town of Ranong to the resort island of Phuket in southern Thailand. He was paid half the money in advance and was to collect the rest on arrival, Kraithong said.

"He was scared he would be killed by the others involved (in the network), so he surrendered for his own safety," said Kraithong, adding that police were searching for two other suspects identified by Suchon.

The driver said he was hired for $2,300 to take the migrants from the border town of Ranong to the resort island of Phuket in southern Thailand. He was paid half the money in advance and was to collect the rest on arrival, Kraithong said.

The tragedy has shed light on the brutal cost of human trafficking and the plight of desperate job-seekers in parts of Southeast Asia.

Thailand is a magnet for millions of migrants from its poorer neighbors—illegal workers who lack legal protection and are often ruthlessly exploited. The migrants from Cambodia, Laos and especially Myanmar take menial and dangerous jobs shunned by Thais. More than 1 million people from Myanmar are believed to be working in Thailand.

The 54 who died were among 121 people crammed into the truck's sweltering 20-foot container, which was locked and unventilated.

About 30 minutes into the trip, the passengers began pounding on the walls and screamed for help, survivors said last week. They used a mobile phone to call the driver, who briefly turned on air conditioning.

The air conditioning later shut down, and they called the driver again but couldn't get through. One survivor said last week the driver's phone had been switched off.

Suchon told police he ignored the ringing phone because he was driving at night and trying to concentrate on a dark, winding road, said police Lt. Gen. Apirak Hongthong. Suchon said he also feared that if he stopped the truck he would attract attention from other motorists.

About two hours into the journey, Suchon pulled over, unlocked the container and quickly fled when he saw the state of the victims, police said.

Thai authorities said last week that 53 of the 67 survivors would be jailed for two months on charges of illegal entry and then deported. Fourteen of the survivors were minors under the age of 18 who were sent home without trial.

Link



Death-run driver gives up

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

The driver of a container truck in which 54 illegal migrants suffocated to death on their way from Burma to Thailand has given himself up to police after a seven-day manhunt.

Suchon Boonplong, who had been on the run since abandoning the vehicle, said he had been hired for 74,000 baht (HK$18,300) to drive the truck from the border town of Ranong to the resort island of Phuket.

"He confessed," Police Colonel Kraithong Chanthongbai said. "He said he was a driver. He said he had initially got 37,000 baht - half of the pay - and would have got the rest in Phuket."

Suchon is the first person to have confessed to a role in the tragedy, which has shone a rare spotlight on human smuggling rings and the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers going to Thailand from impoverished Burma.

The 54 who died were among 120 people crammed into the stiflingly hot container for several hours. Survivors said they pounded on the sides and screamed at the driver after the air- conditioning system broke down.

"We contacted the driver using a mobile phone but he told us in Burmese to keep quiet and make no trouble," Tida Toy, 21, said. "He switched off the phone and drove on."

The owner of the truck and the operator of a raft on which the migrants are thought to have crossed a river from Burma have also been arrested. They deny being part of a human smuggling network and claim to have simply rented out the truck and the raft.

About two million migrants from across the region work in Thailand, most of them illegals from Burma.

Link

REUTERS

Thai death truck driver surrenders to police Tue 15 Apr 2008, 10:42 GMT

BANGKOK (Reuters) - The driver of a container truck in which 54 illegal migrants suffocated to death on their way from army-ruled Myanmar to Thailand has surrendered to police after a seven-day manhunt, police said on Tuesday.

Suchon Boonplong, who had been on the run since abandoning the vehicle, said he had been hired for 74,000 baht (1,194 pounds) to drive the truck from the border town of Ranong to the Thai resort island of Phuket, Police Colonel Kraithong Chanthongbai told Reuters.

"He confessed," Kraithong said. "He said he was a driver. He said he had initially got 37,000 baht, half of the pay, and he would have got the rest in Phuket."

Suchon is the first person to have confessed to a role in the tragedy, which has shone a rare spotlight on the human smuggling rings and the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers coming to Thailand from the impoverished former Burma.

The 54 who died were among 120 people crammed into the stifling hot container for several hours. Survivors said they pounded on the sides and screamed at the driver as the air grew thinner after the air conditioning system broke down.

"We contacted the driver using a mobile phone but he told us in Burmese to keep quiet and make no trouble," Tida Toy, 21, told the Bangkok Post newspaper. "He switched off the phone and drove on."

The owner of the 20-ft (6.1 metre) truck and the owner of a raft on which the migrants are thought to have crossed a river from Myanmar have also been arrested but have denied being part of a human smuggling network, Kraithong said.

"They said they just rented the truck and fish raft. But they're still being held in custody," he said. "We suspect more people are involved and we will be making more arrests."

About 2 million migrants from across the region are working in Thailand, most of them from Myanmar, where 46 years of army misrule and low-level guerrilla war have crippled a once-promising economy.

Only 500,000 are in the country legally, labour ministry figures suggest.

Under Thai law, registered migrants have the same rights as Thais, but in practice this is far from the case. They are routinely denied access to such basic rights as education, medical care and freedom of movement.

The vast majority are unregistered and work illegally in factories, restaurants, at petrol pumps and as domestic helpers, or crew on fishing trawlers for a fraction of the minimum wage.
Link