Thailand and Cambodia agreed on Tuesday to quash "rumours" of a crackdown on illegal migrant workers by the junta following the exodus of nearly 180,000 Cambodian labourers.
Permanent secretary for foreign affairs Sihasak Phuangketkeow, right, speaks next to Cambodian ambassador to Thailand Eat Sophea during a press conference at the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday. (Photo by Chanat Katanyu)
After talks with foreign affairs permanent secretary for foreign affairs Sihasak Phuangketkeow, Eat Sophea, the Cambodian ambassador to Thailand, also dismissed rumours of the shooting and abuse of Cambodian migrants by Thai authorities — among the factors believed to be triggering the exodus.
"The reports about shootings, the reports about other abuses are rumours and are not true, it's been taken out of context. We agreed to work together in order to clarify any issues," the ambassador said.
The two countries have also agreed to discuss better communications on labour issues.
"We agreed to set up some form of a hotline... to communicate requests for clarification for assistance to facilitate those labourers who wish to return to Cambodia," the Cambodian ambassador said.
Mr Sihasak repeated to a press conference that the Cambodian workers' fears were based on groundless rumours.
Thailand announced last week only that it planned to legalise all alien workers so they would not continue to be victimised by human traffickers, and would be entitled to the same legal protection and welfare as Thai workers, he said.
Col Winthai Suwaree, the NCPO deputy spokesman, said the plan would benefit foreign workers in the long run and called for cooperation from factories and industries as the junta planned to end labour exploitation.
The Labour Ministry proposed the NCPO urgently address the issue due to concern that it could further hit industries relying on a workforce from Myanmar or Laos, as well as Cambodia.
Two pressing issues are unidentified foreign workers who had been allowed to be registered with the Labour Ministry, and another group whose visas will soon expire, according to Jirasak Sukhonthachat, permanent secretary for labour.
These workers will be allowed to stay in the country only until Aug 11, Mr Jirasak said.
Business operators need them and requested the Labour Ministry to relay their concern to the junta, he added.
At the main border crossing between the two countries at Poipet, a bustling Cambodian home to several large businesses, casinos and hotels, a few hundred Cambodian migrants arrived in Thai military trucks and police cars on Tuesday morning.
"The number of Cambodians returning from Thailand into Poipet in just over a week reached 157,000 by this morning," said Kor Sam Saroeut, governor of the northwestern province of Banteay Meanchey where the checkpoint is based.
Around 20,000 others have crossed the border at O'Smach, a checkpoint 250 kilometres northeast of Poipet, according to the governor and a senior Cambodian police official.
O'Smach is the border between Surin province and Oddar Meanchey of Cambodia.
The International Organisation for Migration had previously estimated that around 180,000 undocumented Cambodian workers live in Thailand. It is unclear exactly how many now remain in the country.
Young Cambodian volunteers carry belongings of an illegal migrant worker, right, who has returned from Thailand in the border town of Poipet, in Banteay Meanchey province, on Tuesday. (EPA photo)