Webinar: Myanmar Migrant Workers in Thailand - What companies need to know

Join the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB) and IHRB for a business-focussed webinar to learn about key issues facing workers from Myanmar in Thailand, to support due diligence by companies necessary to ensure protection for those workers and respect for their rights.

Speakers will include those working with migrant workers intending to migrate, and those already in Thailand.

With declining opportunities in Myanmar, its population is increasingly seeking to migrate for work through both regular and irregular channels. With over a third of the population in Myanmar now in need of humanitarian support, migrant remittances are essential for economic resilience.

Many Myanmar workers are employed in Thailand in the international supply chains, including agriculture, fisheries, food, garments, construction, and hospitality. They face both the typical human rights challenges for migrant workers but also specific challenges related to the situation in Myanmar, which employers and buyers need to understand.

The webinar is free to attend but pre-registration is essential.

• Myanmar context driving outward migration, including conscription
• Current formal and informal migration routes and their costs, including compatibility with the Employer Pays Principle
• Working conditions and challenges faced by Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand
• Current situation concerning identity documents and passports, work permits, remittances, taxation
• Recommendations for how companies should conduct human rights due diligence on their supply chains which employ Myanmar migrant workers

• Guna Subramaniam, Asia Regional Manager, Migrant Workers Programme, Institute for Human Rights and Business
• Vicky Bowman, Director, Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business
• Sein Htay, Advisor, Migrant Workers Rights Network Committee
• Hnin Wut Yee, Director, Labour Rights Foundation
• Ohnmar Ei Ei Chaw, Director of Programmes,  Issara Institute

The business-focused webinar aimed to address key issues encountered by workers from Myanmar in Thailand, providing insights necessary for companies to conduct due diligence and ensure the protection and respect of their rights. During the webinar, advocacy experts and leaders of organisations for the rights of migrant workers discussed the challenges faced by Myanmar migrant workers and provided recommendations for businesses to protect them.

Points of discussion

• According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), migrant workers contribute up to 6% of Thailand’s GDP, with workers from Myanmar constituting almost half of the migrant workforce in the country.

• Recent disruptions in Myanmar, such as the COVID-19 pandemic followed by the military coup, have heightened the need for Myanmar workers to seek employment in Thailand. However, their vulnerability exposes them to abusive practices by recruiters who charge them up to ten times the recruitment fees set by state governments.