The following is a list of organizations fighting for the rights of thai workers and refugees as well as information for stopping human trafficking and helping all of humanity. I’ve sifted through a lot of information to try and bring you good material. I’ve also cut and pasted some information from their sites in case your internet access slows up.

A Selection of Rights-related Documents (ROOT Group)

Background Information and Relevant International Documents

2007 Thai Constitution
Overview on the Rights of Migrants in Thailand (web version) (formatting is horrible. Trying to find original copy; apologies)
UN's Common Country Assessment- (covers both Thailand's progression towards Millennium Development Goals and Rights' progress)
(see academic papers at bottom, as well)

Thailand is a State Party or Signatory to:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Convention on the Rights of the Child (with reservations); Geneva Conventions; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights(with reservations); Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women; Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

Thailand is NOT a State Party to:
Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons

Thai Labour Campaign

Website http://www.arcrelief.org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_Thailand
Contact archq@archq.org
My Notes Their job description is what we are trying to do – if they’ve filled those positions then you may have a good speaker or access to campaign info – there wasn’t a contact number or address for Bangkok.
Copied from their website Head office in Thailand: Bangkok Where ARC Works in Thailand: In refugee camps along the Thai-Burmese border, and in tsunami-affected coastal villages between Phuket and Ranong in the south. People We Serve: Burmese refugees and Thai nationals Since 1992, ARC has been serving Karen refugees fleeing ongoing persecution by the military regime in Myanmar (formerly Burma). The Karen ethnic group has been seeking autonomy from Burma since 1949 without success. Nearly all of the 460,000 refugees residing in camps in Thailand are Karen, with more arriving each year. Since January 2005, ARC has also been assisting communities in southern Thailand that were devastated by the Indian Ocean Tsunami. ARC is helping fishermen whose boats were destroyed in the tsunami build new boats so they can fish and support their families again.

What ARC does in Thailand: Health Care Training Community Health Education Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Response Infectious Disease Prevention Mother and Child Care Primary Health Care Water and Sanitation Micro-Enterprise Development Fishing Boat Livelihoods Project for tsunami survivors

Operational Since: 1979 ARC has been assisting refugees in Thailand since the organization’s founding in 1979. Through the 1980’s, ARC was providing health care and assistance to refugees on the Thai-Cambodian border. But today, ARC provides health care services, health education, and water, sanitation and environmental health services to Karen refugees in camps on the Thai-Burmese border. ARC also continues to provide livelihood rebuilding services for tsunami survivors.

Thai Labour Campaign

Website http://www.thailabour.org/index.html
Contact P.O. Box 219
Ladprao Post Office
Bangkok 10310 Tel: +66 2 933-0585
Fax: +66 2 933-1951
My Notes A Thai run non-profit, non-governmental organization committed to promoting workers' rights in Thailand and increasing awareness of labour issues globally. I joined their yahoo group. Really exciting up to date information – more exciting in that it’s up to date!
Copied from their website TLC's goals:

• Bring Thai workers into solidarity with international workers
• Help workers to win living wages and improved labour rights
• Pressure the government for meaningful labour protection standards and enforcement of those standards

National Human Rights Commission of Thailand

Website http://www.nhrc.or.th/index.php?lang=EN
My Notes Contains the constitution – their plan for ensuring human rights and partners. Plenty of lawyer jargon. I didn’t really go through much of this site – just thought it would be useful at some point.

Asia Monitor Resource Center

Website http://www.amrc.org.hk/about.htm
Contact Interested party should contact Apo Leung, AMRC Executive Director. My Notes The focus isn’t Asia but might find ideas for campaigns, etc. This link is to their solidarity site: http://www.amrc.org.hk/links.htm The links here are great – this is where I found the thai labor site.
Copied from their website To help workers become truly empowered, AMRC upholds the following:

• providing workers with access to information, tools, and skills
• promoting men and women working together as equal partners
• strengthening international solidarity among workers through the exchange of experiences and ideas
• engaging in strategies to help organise workers in a changing society

AMRC provides services to the following:

• grassroots NGOs concerned with women workers, labour issues and development;
• activists within the labour movement;
• labour organisations specialising in areas such as education and training, health and safety, and labour rights;
• NGOs in developed countries and international organisations concerned with labour rights and labour standards in Asia;
• organisations requesting information on specific countries or industries for the purpose of raising public awareness of labour issues in Asia;
• NGOs seeking North-South or South-South collaboration on research projects, monitoring, information exchange, and the analysis and sharing of experiences of organising.

AMRC offers both long- and short-term internships, ranging from two months to one year for Asian labour organisers and activists in the following fields:

• Documentation and Information Management
• Research Work
• Publication Work
• Project- or Issue-based programmes, i.e., OSH, Toy, EPZ, ATNC etc.

The programme is intended to be a mutual exchange whereby AMRC benefits from the skills and knowledge of the intern, who gains from the hands-on experience of our unique position as a regional labour NGO. Long-term interns have the opportunity to contribute to AMRC’s development by enriching the Centre’s projects with their skills and experience.

International Rescue Committee

Website http://www.theirc.org/where/the_irc_in_thailand.html
Contact To learn more about taking action and IRC's advocacy work contact:
International Rescue Committee
1730 M Street, NW - Suite 505
Washington DC 20036
Tel: (202) 822-0043
Fax: (202) 822-0089
e-mail: advocacy@theIRC.org No contact for the Bangkok office – I did a separate search too.
My Notes These folks are all over the world and mainly deal with the Thai-Burma border here.
Copied from their website The International Rescue Committee started work in Thailand in 1976 in response to the influx of refugees from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Today, we mainly serve refugees from Burma, who began crossing into Thailand in 1984. Their number continues to grow because of Burma’s ongoing human rights abuses and desperate economic conditions, but counts vary widely, from two to three million. In addition, over 600,000 Burmese are internally displaced along the country’s eastern border. How We Help IRC program activities along the Thailand-Burma border focus on comprehensive primary health care, water and sanitation, migrant health, eye-care, health-worker training, funding for food distribution, legal assistance and advocacy, and gender-based violence prevention and response. The IRC also runs a strong support program for community-based organizations that provide humanitarian assistance to refugees in isolated border areas and to internally displaced persons inside Burma. In addition, an IRC office in the Thai capital Bangkok assists people seeking admission to the United States as refugees.

Terre des homes

Website http://www.childtrafficking.com/
Contact childtrafficking.com@gmail.com
My Notes This is the best site I’ve ever found for child trafficking/prostitution. Go to their library http://www.childtrafficking.com/Content/Library/ It has manuals, modules, campaigns and everything you can imagine for helping out in this field. You’ll find information for migration problems too. Terre des homes is my ideal work place. They are updating every week. I get emails on their updates and job availabilities.
Copied from their website – I didn’t copy anything because it’s all good.

Mines and communities

Website http://www.minesandcommunities.org/issues/Charter.htm
Contact Phone: (+44) 20 7700 6189 the email you have to click on from the website
My Notes Rights of workers in minerals and jewelry – older stuff about Thailand – newer stuff elsewhere in the world. Not sure if this one is that great – but if you have time…



Two/Three Academic Papers on Migrant Labor in Thailand

Exploitation in Global Supply Chains: Burmese Migrant Workers in Mae Sot, Thailand
The Situation of Burmese Migrant Workers in Mae Sot, Thailand

By the same author- Arnold, Dennis- these two (very overlapping) papers look at migrant factory labor in Thailand. Though focusing on Mae Sot- Thailand's second largest center of Burmese labor- the reality of life exposed by Mr. Arnold's work would equally apply in Southern/Central industrial-labor centers such as Rayong or Ranong.

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International Labor Organization (ILO) report on Migrant Workers in the Thai Agricultural Sector

This report is the result of an extensive survey of Migrant Labor in Samut Sakhon Province and includes rights inforcement, worker awareness and employer attitudes information.