Safeguarding labour migration in the Mekong region
In recent years, several UN agencies and NGOs have moved away from a narrow anti-trafficking focus to a broader focus on migration governance. It is within this context that ‘safe migration’ has become a popular approach for migration assistance provision.
The Mekong region is a fertile ground for investigating migration policy responses given its enormous migrant population, ranging from asylum seekers to huge pools of unskilled labour migrants. Thailand’s booming socio-economic development relative to its neighbours and unskilled labour-dependent economy makes it a central migration hub. Current estimates of labour migrants in Thailand are as high as nearly four million.
Sverre Molland
