Thailand's Illegal Immigrants

[Guest thaiworthy]

The government in Thailand will not be looking forward to June, when America’s State Department releases its annual report on the trafficking of humans. As in recent years, Thailand’s section will make for nasty reading. It will, yet again, prove to be an embarrassment for America’s oldest ally in the region.

 

 

The country likes to think of itself as a civilised and sophisticated society. But according to the State Department, when it comes to problems of illegal immigration and forced labour, Thailand is on a par with Afghanistan, Chad, Iraq and Niger. Thailand sits on the “Tier 2 Watch List”, a notch above the worst of the worst. If it slips down this year, as it might, it will join a rogue’s gallery including Eritrea, Sudan, Syria and Zimbabwe. If America’s usual procedures were followed, relegation would trigger sanctions against Thailand, including the blocking of relations with the IMF and the World Bank. That almost certainly will not happen—Thailand’s goodwill is too important to America. But that the possibility even exists is extraordinary enough.

 

http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21572800-long-standing-worker-abuses-get-some-serious-attention-deadly-cocktail

 

[Guest fountainhall]

Perhaps the US should indeed impose sanctions. Maybe then the Thai government will finally get off its backside and start treating fellow human beings with some sense of dignity and respect.

 

Once it starts that, the second item on the agenda should be the ending of massive corruption in high places. A truly independent judiciary and forced labour for those found guilty might be a start!

[kokopelli]

Regrettably the USA has treated many fellow human beings/illegal immigrants in a shameful way.

[baobao]

Regrettably the USA has treated many fellow human beings/illegal immigrants in a shameful way.

 

Agreed. While the USA certainly doesn't set the pace for this sad behavior it's to our national shame. Man's inhumanity to man, I suppose. A well educated and otherwise right-thinking person was walking with me as we passed a couple of guys sleeping along the (then new) walkway along Beach Road one morning, and when I asked about them he said matter-of-factly "They're Burmese. They do the jobs the Thai don't care to do. When they're done they'll probably be found to be undesirable and shipped back home."  Reminded me of the Bracero program here in California that finally ended in the mid-1960s.