“MMN Statement on the Impacts of Covid-19 on Migrants in the Greater Mekong Subregion”, 03 April 2020

… Migrants in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) are among the most vulnerable to the present upheaval, given their limited access to healthcare, lack of job security and precarious immigration status.

The GMS faces particular challenges … given its economic dependence on migrant labour and permeable borders… governments … have urged migrant workers to … avoid travelling back to their countries of origin. However, many migrants have been compelled to return…[due to job losses]…

… the Thai cabinet approved measures to ... allow registered migrant workers and their children to extend their right to remain and work…

A significant number of migrant workers will not qualify for these government initiatives as they are either undocumented or ineligible to register…

Migrants who have returned to their countries of origin also face a host of challenges…

Recommendation

• For the Thai Ministry of Health to publicly announce that all migrants, regardless of immigration status, can access free public healthcare …
• For the relevant authorities … to mount far-reaching coordinated public information campaigns aimed at migrants to inform them of important matters relating to the Covid-19 pandemic …
• For the Thai Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Health to issue immediate occupational health and safety guidelines … employers and workers who continue to work…
• For the Thai Government to release all immigration detainees…
• For the Thai Government to pursue … relief measures that benefit all workers including informal …and  undocumented migrant workers, who face loss of work and income.
• For the Ministries of Labour and of Immigration in [host and origin countries] to coordinate on the return of migrants …
• For countries of origin to ensure that screening of migrant returnees is carried out in a sensitive and transparent manner …
• For countries of origin to provide migrant returnees who are stuck at the border with safe onward travel to their home communities.
• For the countries of origin to … ensure that all migrant returnees have access to public healthcare…
• For countries of origin to provide appropriate support for families who have lost income as a result of the return of migrant family members…
• For … ASEAN, to work in unity and provide a coordinate response regarding the movement of people in ways that will reduce … virus spreading …while maintaining the dignity and rights of migrants.