The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Serene Sangkhlaburi
- Thailand’s Rampant Trafficking May Carry Price
- The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (June 14, 2014)
| Posted: 13 Jun 2014 06:00 PM PDT  Sanghklaburi's location in the midst of mountains and beside a lake means there are often spectacular sunsets. (Photo: Aue Mon / The Irrawaddy) Shhhh… Keep it to yourself: It's still a bit of a secret that some of Thailand's most charming towns are on the border with Myanmar. Border-area connoisseurs may sing the merits of tranquil, hilly Mae Hong Son in the north and lush Umphang much farther south. But fans of Sanghklaburi near Three Pagodas Pass tend to brook no argument: this place is the most magical of all. Sangkhla's modest, traditional-style buildings and understated atmosphere born of the mix of people who live here—Thais, Mon, Kayin, Lao, people from Dawei and a smattering of others including Chinese, Rakhine and Bangladeshis—give the town much of its unique flavor. But it's the wooden bridge over the Vajiralongkorn dam built by the Mon community to link their section of the town with the rest, that perhaps most captures the imagination of visitors. The longest wooden bridge in Thailand broke up under severe storms in July of last year. It's still in the process of being fixed, but meanwhile the intrepid local community lost no time in building a temporary replacement made of bamboo, which is currently still in use. Sanghklaburi's mountainous location beside a large dam and vast forests makes for many spectacular sunsets. Mornings can be equally dramatic, being cool and often draped in wispy mists. This article first appeared in the June 2014 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine. The post Serene Sangkhlaburi appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. | |
| Thailand’s Rampant Trafficking May Carry Price Posted: 13 Jun 2014 06:00 PM PDT  Migrant workers from Burma work on a fishing boat at the port of Mahachai, near Bangkok, on Sept. 24, 2011. (Photo: Reuters / Soe Zeya Tun) AMBON, Indonesia — He was too sick to eat, and Min Min Chan's chest ached with each breath he sucked. It didn't matter: The Thai captain warned him to get back on deck and start hauling fish onto the trawler or be tossed overboard. As a 17-year-old slave stuck in the middle of the sea, he knew no one would come looking if he simply vanished. Less than a month earlier, Chan had left Burma for neighboring Thailand, looking for work. Instead, he said a broker tricked and sold him onto the fishing boat for US$616. He ended up far away in Indonesian waters before even realizing what was happening. Tens of thousands of invisible migrants like Chan stream into Thailand, Southeast Asia's second-largest economy, every year. Many are used as forced labor in various industries, especially on long-haul fishing boats that catch seafood eaten in the United States and around the world. Others are dragged into the country's booming sex industry. Ethnic Rohingya asylum seekers from neighboring Burma are also held for ransom in abysmal jungle camps. Next week, when a US report on human trafficking comes out, Thailand may be punished for allowing that exploitation. The country has been on a US State Department human trafficking watch list for the past four years. Washington warned in last year's report that without major improvements, it would be dropped to the lowest rung, Tier 3, joining the ranks of North Korea, Syria, Iran and Zimbabwe. Though Thailand says it is trying to prevent such abuses and punish traffickers, its authorities have been part of the problem. The United States has said the involvement of corrupt officials appears to be widespread, from protecting brothels and workplaces to cooperating directly with traffickers. A downgrade could lead the United States to pull back certain forms of foreign support and exchange programs as well as oppose assistance from international financial institutions such as the World Bank. Washington has already cut some assistance to Bangkok following last month's Thai military coup. Thailand is paying a US public relations company $51,000 a month to help in its push for better standing. The government issued a progress report for 2013, noting that investigations, prosecutions and the budget for anti-trafficking work all are on the rise. "We recognize that it's a very serious, very significant problem, and we've been building a legal and bureaucratic framework to try to address these issues," said Vijavat Isarabhakdi, Thailand's ambassador to the United States. "We feel that we have turned a corner and are making great progress in this area." At least 38 Thai police were punished last year or are being investigated for involvement in trafficking, but none has stood trial yet. Four companies have been fined, and criminal charges against five others are pending. But the government pulled the licenses of only two of the country's numerous labor recruitment agencies. In Geneva on Wednesday, Thailand was the only government in the world to vote against a new UN international treaty that combats forced labor by, among other things, strengthening victims' access to compensation. Several countries abstained. "Thailand tries to portray itself as the victim while, at the same time, it's busy taking advantage of everybody it can who's coming through the country," said Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division. "The exploitation of migrants, the trafficking, it comes through Thailand because people know they can pay people in the government and in the police to look the other way." Chan's story is a common nightmare. A recruiter showed up in his village in Burma offering good money to work on a fishing boat in Thailand. Chan said after sneaking across the border by foot, he was sold onto a boat by the broker and told to hide inside to avoid being seen by Thai authorities. "'You have to work at least six months. After that, you can go back home,'" Chan said the captain told him. "I decided, 'I can work for six months on this boat.'" But after the ship docked 17 days later on eastern Indonesia's Ambon island, Chan met other Burmese workers who told a very different story: There was no six-month contract and no escape. Now thousands of miles from home, he realized he no longer owned his life—it had become a debt that must be paid. Ambon, in the Banda Sea, is peppered with churches and pristine dive sites. At the port, deep-sea fishermen in tattered T-shirts and rubber boots form human chains on boats, tossing bag after bag of frozen snapper and other fish into pickup trucks bound for cold storage. Much of it will later be shipped to Thailand for export. They speak Burmese, Thai and other languages. Their skin is dark from the sun, and some faces look far older than their ropey bodies. On the cramped boat, Chan said he slept only about three hours a night alongside 17 other men, mostly Burmese, sometimes working on just one meal of rice and fish a day. There was no fresh water for drinking or bathing, only boiled sea water with a briny taste. In his first month at sea, he got sick and didn't eat for three days. He was sleeping when the captain threatened him. "Why are you not working? Why are you taking a rest?" Chan recalled him saying. "Do we have to throw you off into the water?" Some of Chan's friends carried him onto the deck, where he was given medicine before getting back to work. For the next year, he labored, hauling up thousands of kilograms (pounds) of fish as he tried to shake a stubborn cough. He saw land every couple of months, but there was no way to leave the port. He said he was given occasional packs of cigarettes, noodles and coffee, but he never got paid. Thailand shipped some $7 billion worth of seafood abroad last year, making it the world's third-largest exporter. Most went to Japan and the United States, where it ranks as the No. 3 foreign supplier. The United Nations estimates the industry employs 2 million people, but it still faces a massive worker shortage. Many Thais are unwilling to take the low-paid, dangerous jobs that can require fishermen to be at sea for months or even years at a time. An estimated 200,000 migrants, mostly from neighboring Burma and Cambodia, are laboring on Thai boats, according to the Bangkok-based nonprofit Raks Thai Foundation. Some go voluntarily, but a UN survey last year of nearly 600 workers in the fishing industry found that almost none had a signed contract, and about 40 percent had wages cut without explanation. Children were also found on board. Forced or coerced work is more common in certain sectors, including deep-sea fishing and seafood processing plants where some workers have reported being drugged and kidnapped. Long-haul fishermen like Chan have it the worst. They are worked around the clock seven days a week with very little food and often no clean water. They risk getting fouled in lines, being swept overboard during storms or losing fingers cleaning fish. But often the biggest threat is their captain. A 2009 UN report found that about six out of 10 migrant workers on Thai fishing boats reported seeing a co-worker killed. Chan faced abuse himself and saw one sick Burmese fisherman die. The captain simply dumped the body overboard. Thailand's progress report highlighted increased boat and workplace inspections, but the United States has said those do not combat trafficking in an industry where "overall impunity for exploitative labor practices" is seen. The United States recommends increased prosecutions of employers involved in human trafficking. The problem is also rampant in the country's notorious sex industry. More than three-quarters of trafficking investigations launched last year in Thailand involved sexual exploitation. Thai girls and women were abused along with those from neighboring countries. Another challenge surrounds the recent influx of Rohingya Muslims. An estimated 75,000 have fled Burma since communal violence exploded there two years ago, according to Chris Lewa of the nonprofit Arakan Project. The Buddhist-dominated country considers Rohingya to be noncitizens from Bangladesh, though many were born in Burma. Many Rohingya brought to Thailand are held at rubber plantations or forest camps by armed guards until they can find a way to pay the typical asking price of $2,000 for their release, according to victims and rights groups. Those who get the money often cross the border into Malaysia, where tens of thousands of Rohingya have found refuge. Those who don't are sometimes sold for sex, forced labor, or they are simply left to die. The Thai government, however, does not address these asylum seekers as trafficking victims in its report. It said fleeing Rohingya enter Thailand willingly, even though "most of them fall prey to smugglers and illegal middlemen." However, Vijavat, the Thai ambassador, said some cases are now being treated as trafficking. Rights groups allege corrupt Thai officials are sometimes involved, including deporting Rohingya straight back into traffickers' hands. "I believe we have more good officers than bad ones," said police Col. Paisith Sungkahapong, director of the government's Anti-Human Trafficking Center. He said migrants in the country illegally "are pushed back through proper channels. Immigration will contact their counterpart in Myanmar or whichever country, and make sure they return there safely." In a letter last month to US Secretary of State John Kerry, a group of 18 human rights groups and labor organizations highlighted the Rohingya issue, while urging the US government to put more pressure on Bangkok to crack down on the seafood industry and keep fish caught by slaves from ending up on American dinner tables. "The [Thai] government continues to be at best complacent, at worst complicit, in the trafficking of migrant workers from neighboring countries to provide inexpensive labor for export industries," they wrote. After a year on the boat, Chan finally started getting paid: about $87 every two months. He continued working for a total of three and a half years, until he started coughing blood and became too weak to continue. When he asked the captain if he could go home, he was told to get back to work. "I thought it was better to die by jumping into the water than to die by being tortured by these people," he said. "When I was about to jump, my friend grabbed me from the back and saved me." His crew members instead convinced him to slip away the next time they made land, and he eventually escaped into Ambon where a local woman helped him get treatment for tuberculosis. After recovering, he decided to stay with her, and she treated him like a son. He worked odd jobs for the next four years, but never stopped dreaming of home. Finally, at age 24, he found someone at Indonesia's immigration office willing to help. And in March, the International Organization for Migration arranged for him and 21 other trafficked Burmese fishermen to fly home. Hours before boarding the plane, Chan wondered what would be left of his old life when he landed. More than seven years had passed without a letter or a phone call. He had no idea if he would be able to find his family, or even if they were still alive. "After I knew the broker sold me into slavery … I felt so sad," he said. "When I left Myanmar, I had a great life." Associated Press writers Robin McDowell in Rangoon and Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report. The post Thailand's Rampant Trafficking May Carry Price appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. | |
| The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (June 14, 2014) Posted: 13 Jun 2014 05:00 PM PDT Fined Dutch Firm Used 'Deceit' to Avoid US Sanctions Against Burma A Netherlands-based company has been fined millions of dollars for selling airplane parts to Burma during the period of US economic sanctions. Fokker Services, a division of Fokker Technologies Holding BV, is being fined US$21 million for "deceit and trickery" in selling equipment to Burma, Iran and Sudan over a five-year period of sanctions, said UPI news agency quoting the US Attorney's Office. The firm falsified documents suggesting parts were destined for other airlines when they were actually sent to airlines in the banned countries, UPI said. "For years, Fokker Services treated US export laws as inconveniences to be 'worked around' through deceit and trickery. Today's prosecution sends a clear message that there will be consequences for those who seek to profit from violating and circumventing US trade laws," US Attorney Ronald C. Machen said in a statement. The company made over 1,100 illegal shipments of parts and equipment to the three countries, the US Attorney’s Office said. The report did not identify which companies in Burma bought the Fokker equipment. Thai Coup Slows Cross-Border Import of Vehicles, Say Traders The military takeover in Thailand has slowed car imports into Burma, a report said. More than 1,000 vehicles are stockpiled on the Thai side because "border trade has been limited to basic commodities and only at certain hours of the day," said Eleven Media quoting traders. At one crossing point, into Myawaddy, up to 100 cars per day were imported before the coup, but now they were only crossing the border a few at a time, traders reportedly said. The surge in vehicle numbers in Burma has also led to sharp rise in oil fuel imports. Demand for diesel and petrol grew 5 percent in the financial year ended in March to over 40,000 barrels a day, Reuters said quoting Ministry of Energy data. Some of this fuel also has to come from Thailand across land borders because Rangoon port cannot handle large tankers. Scores of Vietnamese Firms to Showcase Goods and Services in Rangoon Vietnam will stage a large trade and investment promotion exhibition in Rangoon later this month. The trade exhibition coincides with a series of market research visits to Burma by 50 Vietnamese businesses, said Pho Nam Phuang, director of Vietnam's trade promotion office in Rangoon, quoted by Eleven Media. The research is being conducted at shopping malls and supermarkets in Rangoon and Mandalay, she said in a press conference at the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI). The research will look at trends in Burma as well as possible obstacles to Vietnamese companies, UMFCCI official Myo Thant told Eleven Media. Burma Still to Sign Visa-Free Travel Deals With Four Asean Countries Visa-free travel into Burma for all citizens of Asean, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, should be implemented by the end of this year, the country's tourism industry chief said. Burma has already signed visa-free agreements with five of the 10 Asean members, but negotiations have still to be finalized with four other countries, including neighbor Thailand, said tourism federation secretary-general Kyi Thein Ko. Burma is current chairman of Asean and the aim is to achieve visa-free travel across the 10 member countries by the time Naypyidaw hands over the chairmanship in January, he told regional travel trade publication TTR Weekly. Next year is also supposed to herald the beginning of the Asean Economic Community, a European Union-style open trading market. Burma has signed visa-free agreements with Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam Philippines and Brunei, but has still to sign with Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, TTR Weekly said. The political disruption in Bangkok, the ousting of former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and the subsequent military coup has disrupted an agreement with Thailand, said Kyi Thein Ko. "We understand Thailand agreed to visa-free facilitation at international airports, but not overland checkpoints, which was part of the proposal from our side," he was quoted by TTR Weekly as saying at a tourism conference. Indian Firm Builds Port, Road and Dredges River 'Without Consultation' A group of NGOs has called for greater transparency on plans for India's US$214 million transport project to link the Arakan State port of Sittwe with the landlocked Indian state of Mizoram. The development, involving port reconstruction, dredging of the Kaladan River, and a new 130 kilometer-long road, is going on without any consultation with affected communities in Arakan and Chin states, the Kaladan Movement alleged in a statement this week. The Indian industrial conglomerate Essar is overseeing the project and is currently reconstructing Sittwe port to handle large ships and renovating Paletwa town port facilities. "The highway component of the Kaladan Project is to be built by an as yet unnamed Burmese construction company, and the exact route of the highway or timeframe for its construction has never been publicly announced," said the group of NGOs. The entire project is scheduled to be completed in 2016. The group said "significant riverbed dredging at four locations" will be necessary to make the river usable for 300-ton vessels which will carry container cargoes transferred from larger ships docking in Sittwe. The NGOs said at one location villagers were told 16 acres of their agricultural land was to be confiscated for use as a mud dump, until they resisted and managed to negotiate to save their land. Elsewhere, dredging had forced village homes and a monastery to be abandoned. The post The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (June 14, 2014) appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
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