Uncertainty and Distress in Myanmar Migrant Workers Behind Thailand Lockdown.
They Are Out of Work and Running Out of Options.
A substantial Thai and worldwide economy has resulted in the closure of certain businesses and factories and, in turn, migrant workers have become the first group of people who have been laid off. As the country has entered the worst economic recession in its history, daily wage migrant workers cry out of hunger during these tough times.
After the Emergency Decree to control the outbreak of Covid 19 in March was announced and enforced, national borders and high risking venues have to be closed that leaving millions of desperate migrant workers stranded in the country. They have to try to live without jobs and have nowhere to go.
In addition, they are unable to overcome local language barriers and one of the most common and most serious hurdles is the lack of technical and computer skills resulting in the inability to access any useful information and guidance in a time of coronavirus crisis. Likewise, migrant workers who are living in the areas adjacent to the Burma, Laos, Cambodia including northern Thailand borders have shared the same plight in the unprecedented situation.
Their lives are hanging onto the uncertainty, and on top of that, they have hardly the right to access any government social welfare schemes. There is only a small of supports from the public sector in some areas for short-term relief. Moreover, the working visa and document have expired and they don't have enough money to renew their documents. Therefore, they have been living in fear of being arrested by government officials and at risk of raids and receiving unfairness from brokers as agents in handling the migrants' documents by charging multiple times higher rates.
Many were arrested and being deported out of the country. Many have surrendered to cruel fate in the time of the COVID-19 crisis, by letting police arrest them due to the savings have dried out, and have nowhere to go. The lives of the migrants are vulnerable and being deserted from the state.
- The pandemic has shown the long-existing of inequality in Thai society -
