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Equality of Treatment (Accident Compensation) Convention, 1925 (No. 19) - Thailand (RATIFICATION: 1968)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report in response to its 2011 observation has not been received. It notes however that, in March 2012, the Government supplied information in reply to the issues raised by the State Enterprise Workers’ Relations Confederation (SERC) in 2011 and that, in April 2012, a delegation composed of officials of the Social Security Office of Thailand was received at the ILO with a view to sharing knowledge and discussing questions concerning the implementation of the Convention. The Committee further notes that, on 18 September 2012, the SERC supplied updated information on the application of the Convention in Thailand which was transmitted to the Government on 25 September 2012. The Committee notes from this information that the situation in law has changed due to the replacement of the Social Security Office (SSO) Circular No. RS.0711/W751 of 2001 by SSO Circular No. RN.0607/987 of 2012 following the adoption of a Cabinet resolution of 13 February 2012 on allowing migrant workers in a regular situation to access social security. In April 2012, the Office of Foreign Worker Administration reported that 642,865 workers from Myanmar, Cambodia and Lao People’s Democratic Republic had completed the full nationality verification process and that another 95,929 had come in legally through the MOU import process. Furthermore, on 31 May 2012, the Illegal Alien Workers Management Committee (IAWMC) set up a Committee headed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour to investigate and make recommendations on the issues of migrant worker access to social security and work accident compensation benefits. With regard to the situation in practice, the SERC reports that the new circular does not change the previously existing situation. The official statistics on the number of migrant workers who have completed the nationality verification process continue to be conflicting and unreliable. According to the SERC, an estimated 1–2 million migrant workers from Myanmar remain undocumented and are not covered by employment injury insurance, while the Government continues to press ahead with plans to provide alternative compensation schemes to migrant workers distinct from those existing for Thai nationals without consultation with the interested parties.

In view of the complexity of the situation and the developments which have taken place since it was last examined in its lengthy 2011 observation, the Committee urges the Government to provide detailed explanations on all issues raised in its previous and present comments. The Government is requested to supply a full report in 2013 containing information on how the new legal provisions have been implemented, the recommendations made by the Committee set up by the IAWMC, and statistics disaggregated by gender and age, on the number of migrant workers who have completed the nationality verification process, those still undergoing nationality verification, and on the number of migrant workers who became affiliated to the Workmen’s Compensation Fund as a result.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2013.]