"Risking Closed Borders, Migrant Workers Seek Work in Thailand to Pay Debts", 30 October 2020

In eastern Thailand, it’s peak fruit-picking season, so across the border in Battambang’s Kamrieng district, brokers are shuttling Cambodian workers to Thai plantations every day, says Thea Sothun, 25…

But the lure of jobs makes him consider it, he says. And the hundreds of Cambodians who have been arrested by Thai authorities since Covid-19 closed borders support his claim that it is still happening daily.

News reports have recorded more than 500 border arrests of Cambodians …, most of them in Thailand and some in Cambodia…

Workers say debt and a lack of jobs in Cambodia are pushing them to consider crossing the closed border amid labor shortages in Thailand, despite the pandemic. Programs to get Cambodian workers back in Thailand are in the works, but concerns remain over conditions and safety.

… Im Rithy, the Banteay Meanchey provincial coordinator for the Cambodian Women’s Crisis Center, is one of the first people to meet deported migrant workers as they are ferried in barred trucks back into Cambodia…

Engblom, the ILO technical adviser, says the deal could be a good example case, as more Thai companies in different sectors will soon need more workers…

The ILO has released recommendations for reopening countries to Cambodian migrants amid labor shortages, urging destination countries to extend the period for Cambodian migrant workers to renew their permits, find alternatives to detaining illegal workers and ensure workers have proper quarantine conditions and access to social protections extended in the country…