Showing the precariousness of the Myanmar migrant worker experience, more than 200 were arrested in Mae Sot during Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to high-profile visit to Thailand last week.
Mae Sot, on the border with Myanmar next to Myawaddy, has long been a destination for refugees fleeing conflict, former political prisoners and workers seeking higher wages.
Suu Kyi didn’t visit the city during her trip, and no one is suggesting the arrests and the visit are somehow related.
But she did see migrants in the port town of Samut Sokhon and cross-border labor was a theme of the visit.
A memorandum of understanding in labor cooperation and agreements in border crossing and employment of workers were signed at the Government House of Thailand as part of her meeting with Thai junta leader Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha.
The roundup highlights the travails faced by migrants who lack documentation. An estimated half of the three million workers from Myanmar in Thailand do not have proper papers.
Moe Kyoe, the general secretary of the Myanmar Migrant Workers Network, said that 200 people were arrested on June 24, and 47 on June 25, the Voice reported.
Suu Kyi’s trip lasted from June 23-25.
Moe Kyoe reportedly told the Voice that he complained about the arrests in a meeting with Suu Kyi and other migrant activists but that she said she could not intervene and that Myanmar would do the same thing with illegal migrants.
However, according to him, she said that the Myanmar embassy should be informed about the cases.
