Migrant worker

On global anti-child trafficking day, Mae Tao Clinic on the Thai-Burma border hosted an event called, To stop child trafficking, invest for the children’s future. The event was was attended by as many as 1,000 children from local migrant schools. “This event was held to raise awareness about child trafficking to alert students and migrant workers who attended the event…

An official delegation team from the Thai Ministry of Education paid a visit to a Mae Sot migrant school located on the Thai border to learn about the situation of migrant education. The six member-delegation-team led by Mr. Keeransat Sithisan from an office under the Minister of Education came to Mae Sot on November 27 and visited Children Development Center…

The reduction in funds from international donors to the Thai-Burma border areas is threatening to close Burmese migrant schools. Schoolteachers at the migrants learning centers on the border claim that they will be unable to continue to teach as they are currently struggling to feed their families and to pay their bills due to the drop in financial support this…

The chatter of four teenaged Buddhist monks dressed in bright saffron robes breaks the silence of the morning peace, as they walk hand in hand the short distance from the Wat Nong Bua Burapha temple to a cluster of ramshackle buildings known as the New Blood School. Located in Nong Bua village on the outskirts of the Thai-Myanmar border town…

Community health workers in the Thai border town of Mae Sot have developed a health education campaign under the banner of Stop Dengue – Protect Your Family! Health workers said that the aim of the campaign is to combat the spread of the mosquito borne infection among the region’s migrant workers. Ms Aya Tabata, a project officer with the Japanese…

Officials from Burma, Laos and Cambodia gave their support to new Thai labor policies on regulating migrant workers. The new policies drafted by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) are intended to reduce problems and protect workers’ rights and conditions. The Bangkok Post cited Laos’ ambassador to Thailand Mr Ly Bounkham who was speaking last week at the…

An estimated 38 million people are living with HIV globally. Half a million of those are in Thailand and a further 200,000 in Burma. Yet HIV is treated with harsh stigma in the two countries, where people suffer discrimination, are abused – some kill themselves. People from Burma and Thailand who had HIV spoke to Karen News of how they…

The Abbot from Dhamaduta monastery in Wanat Chaung village, Hmawbi Township, Yangon donated more than 10,000 sets of Burma school textbooks to Mae Sot based migrant learning centers and schools in displaced communities along the Thai Burma border. Ko Zaw Thu Ra, who made the donation on behalf of Dr. Ashin Hsay Keinda from Dhamaduta monastery, told Karen News that…

An extensive investigation by British newspaper, The Guardian, has uncovered evidence of endemic use of “slave” labour in Thailand’s fishing industry, with migrant workers being “beaten, tortured, and killed.” The investigation said that the 270,000 migrant workers in Thailand’s fishing industry were vulnerable to human trafficking and rampant exploitation in a racket involving brokers, boat captains and corrupt Thai authorities.…

To commemorate World Day Against Child Labour, Karen News spoke to child workers who scrape a meager living from collecting garbage in the Thai-Burma border town of Mae Sot. Too poor to go to school, they work unnoticed, working long days to help support their families. The children told Karen News of their hopes, dreams and daily concerns. Hla Hla…