Migrant Forum in Asia

Almost a million registered migrant workers from Burma, Cambodia and Laos now have a right to formally purchase and register motor vehicles in Thailand. However, because of officials’ discriminatory use and interpretation of laws and a lack of genuine respect for human rights, these migrants continue to be denied the right on national security grounds to drive these vehicles. Today a Shan migrant in Chiangmai Province has therefore filed a case against both the Department of Land Transport and Chiangmai Transport Office in Chiangmai’s Administrative Court to seek a ruling on migrants’ rights, in accordance with the 1979 Automobile Act, to apply for driving licenses. Today’s prosecution results from continued refusals by Chiangmai Transport Office since April 2009 to allow this worker to apply for a driving license.

REPORTS from Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon Migrants Trade Union, South Korea.

In June, the South Korean government began a concentrated crackdown on undocumented migrant workers, claiming this measure is necessary to ensure the successful holding of the G20 Summit in November. The government says the crackdown will go on until the end of August.

HIROSHIMA, Japan - Six young Chinese women arrived in this historic city three summers ago, among the tens of thousands of apprentices brought to Japan each year on the promise of job training, good pay and a chance at a better life back home.