Thailand

Thai authorities have enacted legislation to assist migrant sea-fishers, who are amongst the most vulnerable workers, by fighting illegal and unregulated fishing and labour abuses.

The ASEAN Forum on Migrant Labour is an open platform for the review, discussion and exchange of the best practices and ideas between governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations, and civil society stakeholders on key issues facing migrant workers in ASEAN. The forum also has produced recommendations to advance the implementation of the principle of the ASEAN declaration and protection and promotion of the rights of the migrant workers. 

1. Migrant workers employed through bilateral MOUs

Thailand developed the National Education For All Plan of Action (EFA) for the period 2002-2015 to ensure that all persons shall enjoy their right to receive at least twelve years of a free, quality education provided by the government. One objective of the plan is that the provision of EFA is specifically aimed at disadvantaged groups including children without citizenship and those of an ethnic minority.

The Saphan Siang Youth Ambassadors programme has proven to be a successful and instrumental part of the Saphan Siang (Brideges of Voices) campaign. The Youth Ambassadors will assist the partner organisations, through capacity building or additional service provision, to respond to migrant worker issues and promote the Saphan Siang campaign messages, such as promoting better understanding between Thais and migrant workers, their contribution to Thailand's economy and society, and their rights to protection under the law and access to support services.

As well as providing vocational training for Thai workforce, the Department of Skills Development of the Thai Ministry of Labour (DSD) also provides foreign language and cultural training courses for Thai overseas job seekers who register with employment services centers and the Department of Employment.

In addition, the DSD also provides special language training such as for the EPS programme in cooperation with Korean Government and IM Japan programme in cooperation with the Japanese government. 

There are measures to prevent human trafficking in the fishery industry by establishing Coordination Centers for Sea Fishery Workers with the purpose to coordinate whose workers are allowed to work legally, to set up a system for controlling, monitoring and protecting workers as well as to provide knowledge to employers and workers to acknowledge their rights, as well as to prevent labour shortage and forced labour as a form of human trafficking.

The Department of Employment of Thailand has started to send workers from the agricultural sector to Israel under the Thailand-Israel Employment Cooperation (TIC) secured via an Agreement with the International Organization for Migration (IOM). This scheme benefits the workers and reduces the cost for all Thai workers overseas.

The Royal Thai Government’s policy on Labour Migration, especially for the low-skilled workers group, has been implemented continuously under the management of the Committee on Illegal Migrant Workers Administration comprised of twenty-two relevant ministers and academics, employers and workers’ representatives. The procedures are as follows:

The Government of Thailand pays special attention to returning workers from overseas employment. If they fail to get a job or get lower wages, the government will facilitate accessible labor market services and provide career counseling services to enable them to get the right job matching with their qualifications and employers’ demands.