<p>Under the disease control measures announced on 27 June 2021, construction workers are not permitted&nbsp;to leave their camps after several Covid-19 clusters were found in them and are now left with very little assistance from the government.&nbsp;</p>

<p>As Thailand battles its deadliest outbreak of Covid-19 since the pandemic began, Amnesty International calls on the Thai authorities to develop and implement an inclusive vaccine roll-out plan that prioritizes at-risk and marginalized individuals, with specific consideration given to groups that have faced historic discrimination, such as prisoners, refugees and undocumented migrant workers.</p>

<p>Poe Zaw, a migrant worker from Myanmar, tells the story of his life in Thailand during the Covid-19 pandemic and after the 1 February 2021 military coup in Myanmar.</p>

<p>Rather than seeking a scapegoat, the current outbreak, centred on Samut Sakhon&rsquo;s Central Shrimp Market, brings into sharp focus the disproportionate impact that the pandemic is having on the livelihood and health of Thailand&rsquo;s much maligned migrant workers.</p>

<p>As the Thai economy is heavily impacted by government attempts to control the COVID-19 outbreak, experts believe that the situation for migrant workers may contribute to the epidemic. Proper policies and employment support are needed to set things right.</p>

<div>In an attempt to get the EU yellow card on Thai fishery products lifted, civil society organisations, the private sector and the Labour Ministry have launched a union group of migrants in the fishing industry to increase workers’ bargaining power. </div> <div> </div> <div>On 18 March 2018, the Labour Rights Promotion Network Foundation hosted a ceremony to launch the Thai and Migrant Fisher Union Group (TMFUG). </div>

<div>(Bangkok, February 6, 2018)—Thammakaset Company Limited should immediately drop criminal defamation charges against 14 migrant workers from Myanmar who alleged serious labor rights violations, and Thai authorities should decriminalize defamation, Fortify Rights said today. The trial is scheduled to commence in the Don Muang Magistrates Court in Bangkok tomorrow and is expected to last three days. </div>

<p dir="ltr">Tens of thousands of migrant workers without proper documentation travelled back to their homelands or were fired by their employers who feared legal repercussion as soon as the Royal Decree on Managing the Work of Aliens B.E. 2560 (2017) went into effect on 23 June.</p> <p></p>

<div> <div> <div>The junta’s attempt to prevent human trafficking has pushed migrant workers into a more precarious situation.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Migrant workers and their employers said the new Management of Foreign Workers’ Employment Act, which came into force in June 2017, may not have achieved the intended purpose of protecting migrant workers from human trafficking because the implementation of the law has opened a loophole for exploitation by the middlemen.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Sai Htun Shwe, a Burmese migrant, <a href="https://voicetv.co.th/read/SybxOtvMM">told </a></div></div></div>

<div>87 civil society groups, businesses, parliamentarians urge Thai Prime Minister to protect freedom of expression and labor rights &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>(Bangkok, September 19, 2017)—The Thai Government should de-criminalize defamation and protect the rights of 14 Myanmar migrant workers and other human rights defenders being targeted with criminal defamation and related charges for bringing attention to alleged labor rights violations, Fortify Rights said today.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Fortify Rights and 86 civil society organizations, businesses, and parliamentarians today </div>

<p>A provincial court in southern Thailand has sentenced six people, including the President of the Kantang Fishing Association (Trang Province), to 14 years in prison for human trafficking. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>On 17 March 2017, the Provincial Court of Trang sentenced Sompol Jirotemontree, President of the Kantang Fishery Association and managing partner of Boonlap Fishery Limited Partnership (BFLP), to 14 years in jail for violating the 2008 Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.</p> <p>Sompol and five other people were indicted for trafficking and abusing 15 migrant workers from Myanmar in 2015.</p>