For labour intensive and low skilled sectors like agriculture, the demand for migrant workers is high in Thailand.
In 2020, according to International Labour Organization and the Mekong Migration Network, over half of the workers in the agricultural sector were undocumented migrant workers. Often, these labourers work longer hours than the legal limit and earn less than the minimum wage. Migrant workers in the agriculture sector are typically hard to reach because of the remoteness of their employment settings.
Many migrant workers in Thailand don’t know their rights, making them vulnerable to labour violations, forced labour and even human trafficking.
To increase awareness on migrant worker rights and working conditions in the agriculture sector, the Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF) launched a thought-provoking #WhoMadeMyFlower campaign to dig deeper into the flower farm supply chain ─ one of the most profitable commodities on Valentine’s Day (14 Feb).
HRDF, through a grant partnership with ASEAN-ACT, has been documenting cases of labour violations and exploitation in the agricultural sector – including flower farms - in northern Thailand.
Following a series of consultations and outreach sessions with migrant workers, many of whom are undocumented, HRDF collected information about the labourers conditions and the challenges they face in accessing health care, welfare and identity documents.
Some workers described complex and cumbersome migration journeys and commented on the cost and difficulty of navigating the system. Others expressed that they were not aware of how to register complaints or resolve labour disputes related to wages and working hours.
HRDF’s study will be released later this year, and will include policy recommendations to support governments, especially at the local level, to improve conditions and protections for migrant workers in the agricultural sector in northern Thailand.
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HRDF was founded by human rights activists and lawyers with the objective of promoting and protecting human rights, democracy, and peace of migrant workers – primarily from Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Myanmar. HRDF provide free legal advocacy for rights abuse victims, basic law and human rights awareness training to enable migrant workers and their families to have better understanding of their rights and access to justice mechanisms that prevent them from falling victims to all forms of exploitation.
ASEAN-ACT has partnered with HRDF to research the impact of forced labour in the agriculture and construction sectors, in Northern Thailand.