On February 25th 2010, in Pak Nam sub-district, Ranong province, soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division fired on a pickup truck carrying 13 undocumented migrant workers from Burma, resulting in the deaths of three migrant children. Those killed were a three or four year old, six or seven year old girl, and a 16-year-old boy. Five others were also injured during the shooting .

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has strongly criticised the Royal Thai Government (RTG) for its treatment of migrant workers. Just a week after the United Nation’s Special Rapportuer on the Human Rights of Migrants publically issued a statement of concern on RTG’s migrant worker policies, Thailand’s human rights reputation falls into question as it vies for membership of the UN’s Human Rights Council. 

(Bangkok) - The Thai government should swiftly act to end police abuse and discriminatory laws and policies against migrant workers and their families, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. The February deadline for more than a million migrant workers to enter the "nationality verification" process or face immediate deportation creates the risk of further abuses and should be postponed until it can be carried out in a fair manner.

Burmese migrant workers, together with Thai labour activists and unionists, have petitioned the Thai government and the UN to extend the 28 Feb deadline for nationality verification.

On 18 Jan, human rights organizations and activists send a letter to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva for concerns over the issue of migrant workers in Thailand, the Burmese in particular, as their permits will expire in January and February, while the nationality verification process has proved to be ineffective and risky for the migrants.

20th Jan 2010 marks the renewal deadline for the first batch of 70, 000 Burmese, Cambodian and Laotian migrants working in Thailand whose work permits will expire on that day. The next date for the expiry of all the other work permits of migrants from Burma, Cambodia and Laos (approximately 930, 000 officially registered persons) is 28th Feb 2010.

GENEVA – Two independent experts of the UN Human Rights Council -the Special Rapporteur on torture, Manfred Nowak, and the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Jorge A. Bustamante- expressed their grave concern at reports that the forcible return of large numbers of Hmong from Thailand to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic is on-going despite numerous international protests. 

On 3 September 2009, it was reported that a Burmese detainee at KLIA Immigration Detention Centre died on 29 August 2009 due to an unknown illness and six other detainees with similar symptoms were hospitalised at Putrajaya General Hospital[1]. On 25 September 2009, it was reported that six Burmese detainees have died at an undisclosed detention centre allegedly due to Leptospirosis[2]. Leptospirosis is an infectious disease that occurs due to water or food contaminated by animal urine.

Following the demands from the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus on humanitarian aid for new refugees who arrived in Tha Song Yang district of Tak Province since early June, and the expression of concerns from the network of Thai non-governmental organizations regarding the increase in forced repatriation, restriction of humanitarian aid, access to education, and the lack of a clear, proper and up-to-date refugee management measures,