Resource information
Background:
"Throughout 2002 large numbers of people continued to leave Burma to seek work abroad. Approximately ten percent of Burma’s population migrates to other countries, according to a report Migration, Needs, Issues and Responses in the Greater Mekong Subregion 2002, by the Asian Migrant Center. People leave Burma for a number of reasons. Rampant inflation, a deteriorating economy and general lack of employment and educational opportunities are factors that cause many people to emigrate. In addition to these hardships, many people living in rural areas are forced to pay heavy taxes to local officials and the military and to sell a large percentage of their crops to the government at below-market prices. For these reasons, many Burmese view their migration as less of a decision than an economic necessity.
Ethnic minority people living in civil war zones often have no choice about emigrating, as they are forced to flee their homes to avoid brutal campaigns of violence against them by the Burmese Military. Every year thousands of people flee across the border, primarily into Thailand, to escape these human rights violations which include mass forced relocation, arbitrary arrest, torture, rape, and extra-judicial killing. Some of these people are able to seek asylum in refugee camps in Thailand and Bangladesh, however many of those fleeing human rights violations are not recognized as refugees by the Thai and Bangladeshi Governments. These individuals are left with the choice of trying to enter refugee camps illegally or else trying to survive as migrant workers...Situation for Women Migrant Workers; Situation for Migrant Children... Burmese Migrants in Thailand: hai Migration Policy and Legal Registration of Migrant Workers; Working and Living Conditions; Repatriation of Migrant Workers; 2002 Timeline of Events for Burmese Migrants in Thailand...Situation of Burmese Migrants in Singapore...Situation of Burmese Migrants in Malaysia: SPDC and Malaysian Government Continue Agreement to Issue Work Permits; Five Workers Drown in Attempts to Avoid Arrest; Illegal Migrants Face Fines, Imprisonment and Whipping.
