Costs and Benefits of Cross-Country Labour Migration in the GMS

6. Migrants of the Mekong: Lessons

6 Migrants of the Mekong Lessons Hossein Jalilian and Glenda Reyes 1. Introduction International labour migration can be characterized in three ways — as human aspiration, tradition, and necessity. For some people, working overseas where the environment is different and/or where their service is considered necessary is a dream; better earnings may be a goal, but failure to get that does not make them vulnerable. For other people, international labour mobility is a tradition. It is a long established practice for families with cross-border ties and intermingled with other reasons for cross-border movements such as visiting friends, attending social functions and doing favours for relatives. For a great number of people however, international labour migration is a need. It is the only viable solution to realize their basic human right to a decent life and certain freedoms. It is the only panacea to economic and human rights deprivation. GMS worker movements to Thailand typify all three characterizations of international labour mobility but, as can be gleaned in the previous chapters, more so the latter two. Economic reasons have traditionally been considered the dominant explanations for labour mobility. While this book focuses on the economic 06 Costs_Benefits.indd 359 6/21/12 11:00:39 AM 360 Hossein Jalilian and Glenda Reyes wins and losses from international labour emigration, it recognizes at the very outset the equal standing of non-economic motivations for migration, especially in light of the nature of Myanmarese emigration. There is no single configuration of interests among the migrants. The extent to which net monetary returns are central to a foreign worker can be partially gauged by looking at whether his or her movement is a human aspiration, tradition or need as described above. For the first type of movement, the satisfaction of other wants such as simply the desire to experience something different, or contribute to the development of another country, may count more than the desire for more money. For the second type, doing work across the border may be considered part and parcel of the effort to preserve kinship ties or cultural networks, and not simply as a means to earn a fast buck. For the third type, if the need is largely to overcome economic poverty as in the cases presented in the country chapters, then the financial wins and losses from migration are of central consideration. This provides answers to the perplexing question of why GMS migrants in Thailand can cope with degrading work conditions. If the need is equally or more about escaping severe rights suppression and direct threats to life, then net economic returns may assume secondary importance. This provides answers to the perplexing question of why some movements to Thailand continue even when the net economic returns are uncertain or even potentially negative. Hence, the first key overarching lesson to be mentioned is a repeat of what was emphasized in the first chapter. To think that labour migration particularly in the GMS, is only mainly economic in nature is to assume mistakenly that the issues of importance are only mainly economic and that the solutions to the problems are only mainly economic. Because of human aspiration, tradition, or need, international labour migration is virtually inevitable. From this emerge the basic conundrums of how to contain such movements that are virtually driven by human nature and what rights labour migrants are entitled to. The second overarching lesson to be mentioned here is also a repeat of a finding made in the first chapter, namely that aggressive migration containment policies and punitive measures only tend to push labour movements underground. As for the issue on migrant rights, the principle of non-discrimination has generally benefited regular labour migrants (though even in this case not completely), but its application has so far been elusive for irregular foreign workers despite the progressive nature of relevant international laws, as discussed in the earlier chapters. In the scenario where international 06 Costs_Benefits.indd 360 6/21/12 11:00:39 AM Migrants of the Mekong: Lessons 361 labour migration is a human need, meaning, that the basic human rights of a person are suppressed in his or her country of origin, and that a very suppressive environment, along with poverty constraint, prohibits one from migrating through legal means, what policy balance can be struck in understanding such human need and the risks associated with it? The third major lesson again harps...