GMS Migrants during Covid-19 Pandemic < Mekong Migration Network

GMS Migrants during Covid-19 Pandemic

Overview

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is having an unprecedented impact on people’s lives around the world. Migrants in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) are among the most vulnerable to the present upheaval, given their limited access to healthcare, lack of job security and precarious immigration status. Since the beginning of the outbreak, Mekong Migration Network (MMN) has taken steps to engage with different stakeholder groups, including governments, recruitment agency associations, CSOs and migrant-supporting groups in the GMS, and migrant communities to jointly develop policy responses and support systems with migrants’ rights and dignity in mind.

Overview of responses from GMS countries to Covid-19 concerning migrants is available here.

Ma San San arrived in Thailand in 2017 and worked in a factory that she has to peel shrimps and she earns 315 baht a day. The factory was closed and re-opened in August with reducing working days. And it impacts her income to be reduced from 9000 baht to 2000 baht per month. Reduced income has made her 13 years old son to drop out from school for working in a motor bike repair shop.

A Burmese migrant community volunteer teacher holds a class at home because migrant schools are closed; here they are learning the Burmese language.

Aye, a Hotel cleaner from Shan state lives in Chiang Mai and is a single mother of three children. The COVID-19 pandemic led to her work being reduced by 50 per-cent. This has resulted in much stress and even suicidal thoughts, as she has to struggle to earn enough to cover daily ex-penses and for her children to go school.

Khaing Khaing Tun, who migrated to work in Thailand in search of a better life in 2009, is now the Head Mistress and founder of White School Learning Center in Tak Province. Currently, there are 106 students at the centre, and their parents are mostly working in agricultural jobs as seasonal workers, getting paid daily and often lower than the minimum wage. They generally do not have any savings, and often borrow money for daily expenses during the off-season, leading some to be constantly in debt. She says “The Thai and Myanmar governments should provide financial support for migrants’ schooling, and the Thai government should recognise degrees obtained from migrant schools (such as the White School Learning Center). Students who have graduated from migrant schools would then be able to study in higher education institutions, such as high schools or universities”

Students at the first day of second semester of academic year 2020 at ‘Unified Learning Center’ operated by Foundation for Education and Development (FED), Phang Nga.

Ma Phyu is a single mom of four children; her husband died when her youngest child was just 6 months old. Ma Phyu and her children crossed the border into Thailand in hope of working to save enough money to enable them to eventually return home to a better life and more stability. During COVID-19, there has been less work, and some days she has no work at all. She found a night shift job, but was unable to take it because she did not want to leave her children alone. Ma Phyu’s second child, who is now 13 years old, was born with polio. Ma Phyu is therefore unable to take any job that is too far from her home. “If there was a childcare centre in the workplace, it would help women to bring their children with them to work, and they would be able to concentrate on their work more, enabling them to earn more income. Ma Phyu receives eggs and rice every 15 days which helps a lot, but she still owes money to her relatives that she borrowed for daily expenses.

MMN Press Releases during Covid-19

April 3, 2020: Statement on the Impact of Covid-19 on Migrants in the Greater Mekong Subregion (in English and Thai)
November 9, 2020: Statement on Supporting Migrant Workers ahead of 13^th ASEAN Forum on Migrant Labour (AFML) (in English, Vietnamese, Burmese, and Thai)
December 16, 2020: Press Release following the Panel Discussion at Foreign Correspondents’ Club Thailand (FCCT) (in English)
December 23, 2020: Statement following the Outbreak of COVID-19 among Migrant Workers in Samut Sakhon (in English and Thai)
December 28, 2020: Press Release on the Publication of MMN Photographic Booklet, “Resilience and Uncertainty: Mekong Migrant Workers amid the Pandemic Downturn” (in English)
November 22, 2021: Press Release on the Launch of MMN Report, “Surviving the Pandemic: To Stay or Go? A Study into the Decision-making of Mekong Migrants” (in English, Thai and Burmese)
December 9, 2021: Statement following Multi-stakeholder Workshop to discuss strategies for fairer labour migration to Japan from Cambodia and Vietnam (in English, Japanese, and Vietnamese)
December 18, 2021: Crisis Migration from Myanmar: Protect the Human Rights of Migrants and Refugees (in English, Thai, and Burmese)

Related Initiatives

COVID-19 News Monitoring and Chronology of Events

Since Covid-19 outbreak, MMN has monitored news related to GMS migrants. Major developments and decisions by each Mekong government that affect GMS migrants have been chronologically and thematically categorized here

Collaborative Research on Decision-Making of Migrants in Thailand during Covid-19

MMN conducted a collaborative research project to better understand the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the living conditions and the decision-making GMS migrants in Thailand. The result, a report named “Surviving the Pandemic: To Stay or Go? A Study into the Decision-making of Mekong Migrants”, can be accessed here, including briefers in English, Thai, and Burmese.

Panel Discussion on Protecting Migrants' Rights amid the Pandemic Downturn

On December 15, 2020, MMN organised a Panel Discussion at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand. At the panel, MMN joined a representative from the Ministry of Labour of Thailand, civil society representatives from Thailand and Cambodia, and a migrant worker from Myanmar to discuss the lessons learnt from the decision-making of migrants in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) during the pandemic, and presented preliminary findings from MMN forthcoming research on the matter. More details of the panel discussion can be found here.

Visual Storytelling and Photoshoot of Migrant Workers in Thailand

MMN booklet, “Resilience and Uncertainty: Mekong Migrant Workers amid the Pandemic Downturn”, presents the stories of migrants interviewed in Mae Sot, Chiang Mai, Ranong and Phang Nga. These stories, accompanied by photo portraits taken by the documentary photographer John Hulme, show how migrants in Thailand endeavour to overcome the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic. The booklet (available in English and Thai) was launched on 15 December 2020 at the Bangkok Art and Cultural Centre. An exhibition of selected stories and photos was held in conjunction with the launch in collaboration with SEA Junction. Take a virtual tour of the exhibition and hear from documentary photographer John Hulme here.

Roles of Countries of Origin during Covid-19 pandemic

Since the beginning of Covid-19 pandemic, GMS countries of origin directly impact the well-being of migrants in various ways, including but not limited to assisting migrants at countries of destination by embassies and labour attachés, providing timely and accurate information on repatriation, quarantine policy, border regulations to migrants and migrant families, supporting financially to migrants and migrant families in economic distress, and ensuring safe deployment during the pandemic.