Migration

The government’s Department of Employment has started rounding up illegal foreign workers following last year’s amnesty.  Checks on nearly 50,000 foreign workers at establishments in the past month had led to the arrest of 1,162 illegal workers and the prosecution of 204 law-breaking employers. Keep reading ...

Southeast Asian migrant workers are no longer just emigrating to developed countries, increasingly they’re moving within the region. With cross-border labour migration increasing, the question for governments has been how to ensure their citizens enjoy social security benefits abroad. []In light of this, labour authorities from ...

All Lao workers who return home to register with the authorities will need to get work permits and passports from labour officials so they can legally work in Thailand. The Ministry of Labour and Social welfare recently ordered all its provincial departments to provide free ...

Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the European Union (EU) to renew efforts to eliminate forced labour and other abusive treatment within the Thai fishing industry, noting that a large number of workers were from Cambodia and Myanmar. Keep reading ...

ASEAN has been criticised for its response to the Rohingya refugee crisis. The grouping’s institutional design and existing conventions restrict opportunities for robust action. Myanmar’s military (known as the ‘Tatmadaw’) is the key element to finding a durable solution to the crisis, yet most Western ...

More than 800 illegal migrant workers, who failed to apply for a work permit by June 30, have been arrested. []Out of 1,600 workplaces, 150 of them were found to be employing illegal alien workers. There are currently 1.1 million legal migrant workers who make up ...

Migration within Southeast Asia is expected to increase as the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) continues to promote freer movement of skilled workers across the region. Better labour mobility will help create a highly integrated and cohesive ASEAN economy. But there are barriers to migration within ...

The U.S. imposed visa sanctions on Myanmar and Laos Tuesday after the nations refused to take back immigrants Washington wants to deport. The two Southeast Asian nations join the running list of countries which have delayed or declined to accept nationals slated for expulsion from ...

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday urged UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy Christine Schraner Burgener to persuade Myanmar to take back Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh. She made the request when the special envoy on Myanmar met her at her office. Keep reading ...

Poipet city, Banteay Meanchey province – The sound of vehicles and crowds were deafening across this bustling border town near the Poipet International Border Checkpoint yesterday. As a truck loaded with 40 people came to a stop at a migrant worker holding centre in the city, ...