The Philippines is among the top ten origin countries and the one with the largest diaspora population. Migration for labour has been a part of almost every Filipino family’s life for decades. Described as an indispensable sector of the Philippine economy, the Philippine diaspora has in many ways become a permanent feature of the country’s GDP through a steady inflow of remittances from Filipino migrant workers.
In 1974, the Marcos administration institutionalised a policy for labour export as a temporary stop-gap measure to impede the rising unemployment rate and severe balance-of-payment pressures.. Nearly five decades and six administrations later, the number of Filipinos leaving the country for work continues to grow steadily due to the government’s effort to diversify its labour markets and to send more Filipino workers abroad.
The once temporary labour programme had become a permanent pillar of life in the Philippines. On the one hand, the country receives commendations for its comprehensive policies and protection measures for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). On the other hand, labour and migrant rights groups are questioning the government’s overreliance on the labour export programme to stimulate growth in the economy while there is lack of sustainable programmes to provide employment and livelihood opportunities in the country thus making migration a means for survival and a necessity rather than a choice.
Although Thiri got to keep her job in Mae Sot, she now struggles with her limited access to healthcare after she developed a waterborne disease during the pandemic. (Image: Linn Let Arkar)
Three women working at a garment factory along the Thai-Burma border share their struggles and triumph living away from loved ones amid the COVID-19 pandemic
When 24-year old Chit Ban Wah heard that Thailand was closing its borders as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March, she and her older sister, both operators at Top Form Brassiere Company Limited garment factory in the border town of Mae Sot, prepared to return to Burma. While in the taxi, she received a call from her employer asking her to stay.
“They told me if I leave, it will be very difficult to come back,” says Chit Ban Wah. “They also told me that if I left I would lose my job.”
Before Chit Ban Wah moved to Mae Sot in 2019 she worked selling cellphones in Burma, earning approximately 6,000 Thai Baht per month (190 USD). She now earns between 8,000 and 12,000 Thai Baht (257 USD – 385 USD) per month, the majority of which she combines with her sister’s salary to send home to their family in the bordering Burmese town of Myawaddy.
“I realized if I left to go home, there would be no more money coming in for my family,” says Chit Ban Wah.
38-year old Thiri, also an operator at Top Form Brassiere, had a choice to make too when the nationwide emergency decree was announced. She says it was a quick decision.
“I knew I had to stay in Thailand. I realized that it would be much harder to find a job in Burma with the pandemic,” she says.
The incentive for laborers to move to Thailand is high, as the opportunity to earn more money gives their families more economic security. Nationals from Burma make up the largest migrant worker population in Thailand, with recent estimates putting the figure at 2.3 million.
Bianca Fidone y Betty Pedraza, Corporación Espacios de Mujer
28 de octubre de 2020
Hace poco más de dos meses, en el universo de notas y enunciados publicados con ocasión del Día Mundial contra la Trata de Personas (30 de julio), me encontré con un interesante artículo sobre losratos, retos, ritos, rotos y rutas de la lucha contra la Trata. Me pareció curioso este título porque jugaba con el cambio de la vocal en una misma palabra para referirse a la situación de la Trata de Personas en Colombia desde diferentes perspectivas.
Leyendo sobre esta grave violación de los derechos humanos, penalmente castigada en Colombia por el artículo 188 A del Código Penal, me di cuenta que, finalmente, las enunciaciones expuestas no eran de exclusiva pertenencia al contexto colombiano, sino que se podían adaptar también a otras realidades.
RA-tos: La lucha contra la Trata de Personas, desde cualquier ángulo en que se aborde (prevención, asistencia y protección de las víctimas, persecución y judicialización, cooperación internacional, gestión del conocimiento) debe ser permanente y no esporádica, no puede ser solo por ratos o momentos. Cada día, muchos hombres, mujeres, niños, niñas y adolescentes caen en las manos de traficantes, en sus propios países y en el extranjero, así que el combate de esta práctica necesita continuidad y poder decisional, definición de tareas específicas para las instituciones, las estructuras involucradas y las operaciones en terreno. Hablar de Trata de Personas en el Día Internacional a ella dedicada, indudablemente permite una mayor sensibilización y llama la atención de los medios de comunicación sobre un problema “irresuelto” que exige la puesta en marcha de medidas políticas concretas; sin embargo, este tema debe ser importante durante todos los días del año.
RE-tos:Son muchos y exigen que todas las personas, el estado, las organizaciones de la sociedad civil, la academia, los organismos de cooperación internacional y las empresas se unan para desafiarlos.
Sayama Jasmine, a teacher from Yangon, Burma moved to the border town of Mae Sot, Thailand in 1994 when she was 26 years old. Now, nearly 30 years later she is closely watching Burma’s 2020 general election, set to take place on 8 November 2020. She’s never voted, but says she would if she knew how.
Sayama Jasmine is one of approximately 3 million migrant workers from Burma living in Thailand with at least 50,000 in Mae Sot alone. Many of those working in thecountryrepresent different ethnic groups who crossed the border at different periods to flee conflict or to pursue economic opportunities, with the hopes of improving their livelihood. As a teacher, Sayama Jasmine provides Burmese lessons to children living in her neighbourhood. Her self-run school started with just a few students coming over in the evenings to study in her humble, wooden home, surrounded with posters displaying the alphabet and vocabulary. Sometimes, she says proudly,there are up to50 children at one time sitting in the small, modest space.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, she was returning to Yangon every two years to visit her friends and family. Since Thailand closed its borders in March, she has been following Burma’s election through various news sources, predominantly by listening to BBC in Burmese.
The worsening human rights situation in Burma has led to mass voter discrimination. Most recently, after the Union Election Commission (UEC) canceled the election in over 50 townships; civilians and candidates expressed ‘shock and anger’, as the decision strips over 1 million voters of the right to participate. The UEC is considering more cancellations amid suspected military pressure, from whom they receive significant oversight. This has led to even more worries among civilians who have the most to lose in political warfare.
When COVID-19 lockdown measures in Thailand went into effect in March 2020, radio DJ Kaung Tip wasn’t able to go and broadcast her program at the recording station in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai.
Before the pandemic started spreading across the globe, Kaung Tip hosted a radio program on women and children’s health called “Heng Jai Ying” (Girl's Power), with the goal of informing her audience of Shan migrants about good health practices and the importance of maintaining good hygiene.
The Shan are an ethnic minority in east-central Burma. Although they share similar language and traditions to populations in northern Thailand, they’re a particularly marginalized group that have long suffered from systematic oppression from the Burma army, known as the Tatmadaw. In 1994, the military led a widespread offensive against the Shan in a scorched earth campaign that pushed over 300,000 people to flee their homes. Thousands of Shan people have been living and working in northern Thailand as migrants since then.
Before the pandemic, “Heng Jai Ying” was broadcasting four days a week. After it became clear that COVID-19 measures would keep her from speaking on air, Kaung Tip had to get creative fast, as thousands of listeners, Shan women in particular, relied on her voice. Seizing an opportunity to change the way Shan migrant listeners engage with the radio program, she began creating short videos that could be easily shared on social media.
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