Thousands of migrant workers return home
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Thousands of Myanmar migrant workers have returned in past few days due to Thailand's political unrest, according to sources.
It is estimated that about 5,000 migrant workers return to Myanmar on a daily basis from Thailand, where they face job uncertainty at factories in Bangkok. Some are also unable to renew their work visas.
They mostly returned to Myanmar through the Mae Sot-Myawaddy route, which used to be a short way back home.
“More than 2,000 used the friendship bridge to return,” said an official on the bridge. “A long line of returnees can be seen there. It’s estimated that around 5,000 migrant workers returned in one day, mostly using waterways.”
“I returned to my village as I was allowed to take a two-month leave,” said a migrant worker from Kanyaw village on the Belu islands. “The factory [where I work] wasn’t closed down. But it halted operations. As my daily expenses for food, room and other charges will keep rising as I stay there [without any pay], I decided to return.”
“The place where I work is very near the protests there,” said Kyaw Kaw, another worker. “Some Myanmar migrant workers were arrested when they went outside, although they didn’t participate in the protests. Some were also killed,” he claimed. “More than 100,000 Myanmar migrant workers have become jobless as they work in Bangkok. I think most will come back [to Myanmar].”
Although there are thousands of migrant workers without any jobs in Thailand, thousands of new workers are on their way to work there.
Last week, social welfare authorities from Thailand returned 56 underaged migrant workers back to Myanmar.
Twenty-one boys and 35 girls picked up by the Thai police were thought to be victims of human traffickers and were kept in shelters before being handed back to the Myanmar authorities in Myawady, on the border with Thailand.
“Children and girls were kept in the Social Welfare Development training school in Mawlamyine for three days and we sent them back to their homes. We will arrange for the boys, who are of age, to go home themselves,” said Ko Ko Naing, head of the Social Welfare department in Mon State.
One girl who lived in Myawady expressed joy at being returned to her parents:
“We were working in Mae Sot and were caught when the police from Bangkok came to arrest us. We have no passports and had to stay at the shelter for 11 months because we are under age. I am glad to see my parents again,” said the young girl.
