Thai university professor and international law expert, Vitit Muntarbhorn, looks at the application of labour standards as they relate to migrant workers in Thailand. Professor Vitit concludes with a series of 12 recommendations for both government and non-government sectors. This publication also contains copies of all six sub-regional, bilateral, MOUs on counter trafficking and employment cooperation...
"...Migrant workers can contribute greatly to their home and destination countries, if the process is well managed and

#039;When Burmese President Thein Sein took office in March 2011, he said that over 60 years of armed conflict have put Burma’s
ethnic populations through “the hell of untold miseries.” Just three months later, the Burmese armed forces resumed military
operations against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), leading to serious abuses and a humanitarian crisis affecting tens of
thousands of ethnic Kachin civilians.
“Untold Miseries”: Wartime Abuses and Forced Displacement in Kachin State is based on over 100 interviews in Burma’s Kachin

Thai factory owners face huge claims after judge rules for Burmese migrants.

About 200 Thai factories employing migrant Burmese workers are braced to meet compensation claims amounting to many millions of dollars following the success of a legal action brought by 18 employees in Thailand’s Tak Province.

The Burmese migrants were awarded a total of 1,170,000 baht (US $29,250) in compensation for unpaid back wages owed by their employer, the Nut Knitting Ltd Partnership in Mae Sot, on the Thai-Burmese border.

In den Grenzregionen des Shan State im Nordosten Burmas, die seit 1989 unter der Kontrolle der United Wa State Army (UWSA) ist, werden 65 Prozent des gesamten Opiums des Landes angebaut. Trotz der Bereitschaft der Landwirte konnten wegen minderwertiger Bodenbeschaffenheit und klimatischer Bedingungen bisher noch keine Erfolg versprechenden Alternativen zum Opiumanbau realisiert werden. Seit dem kompletten Bann im Jahre 2005 werden tiefgreifende humanitäre Konsequenzen für die Region in Form von Menschenhandel, Armut und mangelnder Sicherheit befürchtet.

Nyaunglebin District. Feb 93. Karen men, women: Forced relocation to undrained land; Only Karen villages made to move; SLORC's control of rice to control the population; forced labour (incl. portering). Description of the difficult economic conditions. Extortion; ransoming; looting. Translation of an official SLORC Relocation Order; economic oppression..."
_ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement, forced migration, forced to move, displaced_

... The Free Burma Rangers is an organization dedicated to freedom for the people of Burma. "De Oppresso Liber" is the motto of the Free Burma Rangers and we are dedicated in faith to the establishment of liberty, justice, equal rights and peace for all the people of Burma. The Free Burma Rangers support the restoration of democracy, ethnic rights and the implementation of the International Declaration of Human Rights in Burma. We stand with those who desire a nation where God's gifts of life, liberty, justice, pursuit of happiness and peace are ensured for all...
MISSION:

SITTWE, 31 May 2013 (IRIN) - Aid workers are calling for better health access for an estimated 140,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State, most of them Rohingya Muslims.

Although a number of NGOs and government mobile clinics are providing basic health services inside the roughly 80 camps and settlements, they are limited, and emergency health referrals remain a serious concern, they say.

Conflict-induced displacement. Standards, mechanisms, many links to humanitarian, relief and protection agencies dealing with internally displaced people, refugees, landmines, non-state actors, international organisations etc.

KACHIN STATE, 3 June 2013 (IRIN) - The UN and others have welcomed recent peace talks aimed at reaching a cease-fire in Myanmar's conflict-affected Kachin State, but building trust will take time, say experts.

On 31 May, the Burmese government and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), which has been fighting for greater autonomy for decades, agreed to further dialogue and talks on the resettlement of tens of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs).

...SPDC troops in northern Papun district continue to escalate their attacks, shooting villagers, burning villages and destroying ricefields. Undefended villages in far northern Papun district are now being shelled with powerful 120mm mortars. Three battalions from Toungoo district have rounded up hundreds of villagers as porters and are detaining their families in schools in case they're needed; this column is now heading south with its porters, apparently intending to trap displaced villagers in a pincer between themselves and the troops coming north from Papun district.

Executive Summary:
"In September 2011, as the international community discussed easing sanctions on Burma’s
military-backed civilian government, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) conducted an emergency
investigation in Burma’s Kachin State in response to reports of grave human rights violations
in the region. The aims of the study were
1. to independently investigate reported human rights abuses and war crimes; and
2. to assess the humanitarian situation and nutritional status of internally displaced