VIII. Impunity for Abuses against Migrants

Both documented and undocumented migrants repeatedly expressed the view that complaining about the abuses they face is dangerous because both Thai authorities and private individuals can retaliate against them with relative impunity.

The language barrier, especially for migrants from Burma and Cambodia who lack spoken proficiency in Thai, makes it easier for government officials and private Thai individuals to identify and target migrants. Even in provinces like Samut Sakhon, Samut Prakan, Rayong, Ranong, and Sangkhlaburi, with large populations of migrant workers, the vast majority of Thai government offices do not have interpreters available to help migrants and must rely on NGOs to make an interpreter available when the migrant is bringing forward their case.

Many migrant workers are also largely unaware of their rights, reflecting weaknesses in human rights education in their countries of origin, the dearth of Thai government information in migrants’ languages about migrants’ rights under law, under-resourced efforts of NGOs and civil society groups trying to help migrants, and the vested interest of employers and local officials in keeping migrants ignorant.

Since many migrants lack legal status, local connections to influential persons, and the backing of a social network or local community, they feel powerless to resist such intimidation. Many migrants told Human Rights Watch they do not trust the Thai justice system since the Thai police would be the ones with whom they need to file criminal complaints, are the group most responsible for extortion and abuses against migrants. Even in the most grievous cases of human rights abuse, relatively few migrants are willing to bring formal complaints to Thai authorities unless they can secure assistance from NGOs who will help provide protection and financial support to the migrants as their case progresses through the legal process.

Only occasionally do exceptions to impunity arise, and these are usually only in particularly egregious cases of abuses that garner international attention, such as the suffocation death of 54 migrant workers smuggled in a truck in Ranong province on April 10, 2008.[226] Even in that case, Ranong police refused to treat the incident as a human rights case deserving special attention, and instead quickly sent to the court illegal entry charges against the 67 surviving migrants. Only six lower-level gang members were indicted on charges of providing shelter to illegal migrants and recklessness resulting in death.[227] Many observers decried the failure to locate the gang leaders and prominently raised suspicions of local police involvement in the smuggling operation.[228]

Other exceptions have occurred when a case involves individuals that the police have apparently targeted for their own reasons. The case of Saengroj Kanchana, son of a prominent political family in Surat Thani, is a well-known example. Saengroj was arrested, along with a police accomplice, and convicted in 2006 for detaining and repeatedly raping two Burmese women he lured with the offer of a job as domestic workers. Representatives of the Migrant Workers Department of the Federation of Trade Unions-Burma (FTUB) who were directly involved in assisting the victims told Human Rights Watch that the Surat Thani police had been after Saengroj for quite some time because of continuous trouble he caused in the area. The police told the FTUB that they believed Saengroj had previously raped a number of Thai and Burmese women in the area but that they had not successfully persuaded any of the prior victims to testify against him.[229]

Occasional and inconsistent enforcement of the law does not threaten the continuity of Thailand’s manifestly unjust system; spikes of publicity and action are followed by a quiet return to the status quo. Extreme cases that have the persistent advocacy and attention of NGO and trade union advocates, diplomats, or journalists[230] are used by Thai authorities for great photo opportunities to make lofty promises to protect migrants’ rights and improve regulatory systems. However, as soon as public attention shifts elsewhere, impunity for the continuing mistreatment and exploitation of migrant workers returns.

Other than NGOs, migrants in Thailand have few allies in their effort to seek justice. Migrants do not frequently turn to their embassies in Bangkok, either because they are fearful of facing problems for having left their countries of origin illegally or because the embassies are not seen as willing to help. Even in cases of grievous abuse, such as that suffered by Aye Aye Ma, who was raped and her husband killed, migrant workers often avoid their embassies. As Aye Aye Ma put it, “our Burmese government does not care about this and does not care about us. I did not even bother to contact the Burma embassy in Bangkok because I know that they will not help me at all.”[231] Lao migrants also are reluctant to reach out to their embassy because they fear they could get in trouble if they left Laos illegally. Local Lao government officials reportedly continue to levy fines against Lao workers who left the country without a passport and an exit visa, despite central directives from the Lao PDR government to end these penalties.[232]