Deaths of Burmese migrant workers part of larger problem: ILO

ILO said Thailand's systems for recruiting migrant workers are not working, partly because of "a slow and expensive migrant registration system, a breakdown in the sending countries' abilities to provide the initial documentation required and legitimate concerns of migrants who are worried that they will not be able to change employers, even if they suffer abuse," said Bill Salter, said director of ILO's Sub-regional Office for East Asia.

"Within such an environment, trafficking for labour exploitation is bound to flourish," Salter said.

Salter said ILO's own research in the trafficking-related labour exploitation shows that many migrants, both documented and undocumented, are indeed suffering abuses.

"One report has found that more than half of the Thai employers interviewed were of the view that locking up their migrant employees so they 'couldn't escape' was appropriate," Salter said.

"Another 75 per cent of migrant workers on fishing boats had no access to their legal documents in any event -  they were held by their employers. There are continuing indications of both forced labour and child labour involving migrants in Thailand," Salter said.

Salter said while Thailand cannot be held accounted for actions that led foreign nationals to come to the country to work, nevertheless, the government "is obliged to prevent the exploitation of those migrants inside Thailand, regardless of the documentation they may or may not have."

"That means holding employers and recruiters accountable for the treatment of migrants - legally registered to work or otherwise - and punishing those employers, recruiters and sub-contractors who abuse both the system and the migrants," Salter said.

"It means improved labour inspection of workplaces with the dignity and rights of the migrant worker paramount. It also means re-evaluating and addressing labour migration policies head on," Salter said.

"There is clearly a pressing need to develop a far-reaching, forward looking labour migration policy that will benefit not just the economy but people too - especially workers from other countries who, at the end of the day, are doing their fair share of helping the country grow," Salter said.