Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - July 15, 2004
Reports released by non-governmental organisations at the 15th International Aids Conference suggest discriminatory law enforcement and the government's failure to protect human rights have caused the virus to spread unabated among migrants and minorities.
A report by Physicians for Human Rights said that without legal status migrants suffered discrimination, exploitation, insecurity and an inability to access government health care services.
"The failure to reach these vulnerable communities is not only a failure of human rights, it is a virtual assurance that HIV/Aids will continue to be a problem for Thailand," said Chris Beyrer, an author of the report.
The report said providing migrants with temporary legal status through worker registration was the only way for them to affordably access the public health system.
The number of registered workers fell from over 500,000 in 2001 to just 110,000 in 2003.
Both hilltribe people and Burmese migrants routinely experience ill treatment from employers, authorities and local communities, while women and girls are exposed to sexual harassment, rape, unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortion, it added.
The report recommends that the Thai government rapidly move to implement comprehensive health services and HIV/Aids prevention programmes for Burmese migrants and hilltribe people, particularly women and girls, as well as revitalising the free condom distribution programme.
Two reports released by CARE, an international humanitarian organisation, also indicated a severe lack of services in Thailand for mobile populations, including undocumented immigrants and migrant fishermen.
"The way an epidemic spreads is through the movement of humans. We can't stop mobility, so we have to make it safe," said Promboon Panitchpakdi, executive director of CARE Thailand.
According to Mr Promboon, 80% of migrant workers in Thailand are Burmese, most of them young male teenagers.
"Migrant workers have no access to condoms. Since most of them are undocumented, the free-condom campaigns have never reached them, and they are afraid to come out for any health services," he said.
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