Thailand to let Myanmar refugees work to counter aid cuts and labour shortages | Global development

Thailand sets a global precedent this month granting work permits to refugees in the country struggling to cope with aid cuts and its own labor shortage.

More than 87,000 refugees Residents of nine refugee camps on Thailand’s border with Myanmar are completely dependent on food and foreign aid.

Many have not left camps of makeshift shelters for four decades since they were driven out as ethnic minorities by a violent military regime in Myanmar.

However, now the shrinking foreign aid budgets, especially from the United States, which supports refugee camps, and the border dispute with Cambodia have pushed Thailand to reconsider its approach.

Tammi Sharpe, Thailand representative of the UN refugee agency UNHCR, described the decision as “a turning point”.

“I can’t emphasize enough how excited we are about this,” he said. “Refugees will now be able to support themselves and their families, stimulate local economies by increasing consumption, and stimulate job creation by contributing to national GDP growth and economic resilience.”

The policy was welcomed by camp residents. “In the beginning, the refugees could not go out of the camp. Now they cannot go out of the camp.” [allow] Refugees working outside. This is very, very good,” said Bway Say, a Burmese refugee and secretary-general of the Karen Refugee Committee, which represents members of the Burmese ethnic minority living in camps along the Thailand-Myanmar border.

“Refugees need to stand on their own feet” [feet] Because there isn’t enough for everyone in the camp… There is only enough for the most vulnerable people. For [most] people have nothing.

“It is very good for us that the Thai government allows refugees to work.” [us]. We are very happy [we] can walk outside [the camps] In Thailand.”

“However, not all information is clear at this time, and individuals are concerned about their lack of knowledge of Thai or whether they will have the necessary skills for available positions,” Bway Say said. “They worry about many things: if [a] The question is how to solve the problem.”

The policy change is something the UN, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and other aid agencies have long sought. But Myanmar remains locked in a civil war that continues to displace people, while the Thai government has resisted such a move due to public opposition and fear of attracting more migrants.

Léon de Riedmatten, director general of the Border Consortium (TBC), the largest food supplier to the region’s residents, said the United States was one of the largest donors to the nine camps. After the Trump administration cut much of its foreign aid budget this year, TBC has been able to support only the most vulnerable people in the camps; The IRC had to close its health facilities. It made people worry about what would happen to them.

“Thai officials understood that there was no other government that could replace the Americans who were providing food and fuel support in the camps. They also did not have the resources to replace the Americans,” de Riedmatten said.

But in a decision adopted in August and set to take effect this month, Thailand’s labor ministry said special work permits would be issued to eligible camp residents “to avoid placing a sole burden on the Thai government and to support the country’s economic growth, address labor shortages and promote human rights.”

The country’s workforce has been depleted in part by an aging population, but also by Exodus of 520,000 Cambodians in July After a decades-long border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia escalated into a military conflict. Cambodians made up 12% of the workforce in Thailand and were generally employed in agriculture, fishing, manufacturing and construction.

Roisai Wongsuban, counsel for the Migrant Working Group, a coalition of Thai rights and welfare organizations, said the decision was “long overdue” and said these combined “waves of pressure” now position Thailand as a leader in managing displaced populations.

He said that the public had previously seen refugees as a burden, but now they had a “more positive reaction”.

Refugees looking for work must apply for a work permit and undergo health screenings. Prospective employers will be evaluated by camp officials.

Sharpe said most positions are expected to be located on farms or factories, and employers are already visiting the camps. Government ministries conduct health screenings and host job fairs in the camps.

Some refugees are willing to apply, he said, but others are more apprehensive. An estimated 42,600 refugees from Myanmar are considered eligible.

For many, this will be their first time away from camp and family, as well as their first job, and very few speak Thai, so this can be quite daunting.

Akekasit Subannapong, advocacy coordinator for the Committee for the Coordination of Services for Displaced Persons in Thailand, said: “Camp residents will need support to integrate into Thai society, to know the norms, the laws and how the society works.”

Workers will be issued identification documents and given access to banking services so they can send money to their families in the camp. “We met with the Ministry of Labor last week and they had just started working with refugees and there were some unforeseen problems from the end,” Wongsuban said. These will be resolved in “real time,” Sharpe said.

Anticipating problems, De Riedmatten said there would likely be challenges and surprises as the new initiative unfolds, but as long as authorities, social welfare organizations and refugees work closely together, “it could be successful.”

Sharpe said the outcome of the initiative could set a precedent in the region as a sustainable solution for refugee populations.

With this in mind, he said, UNHCR is working with the World Bank to compile economic data on the impact of refugees’ integration into the workforce. Aid organizations hope that work permits will be available to refugees outside the camps. It is estimated that more than 5,000 refugees live in Thai cities.

“We really hope that we will move from decades of aid dependency to self-sufficiency,” Sharpe said.