Govt To Evacuate Thai Workers From Gaza Strip

[george]

Govt to evacuate Thai workers from Gaza Stripe

BANGKOK: -- The government plans to evacuate all Thai workers from Gaza Stripe, following yesterday's attack by a hardline armed Palestinian group which killed a Thai female worker and injured another Thai national.

A delegation of senior Labour Ministry officials, including the Director-General of the Department of Employment, Mr. Chuthatawat Indrasuksri, will leave for Gaza Stripe tomorrow.

"I and other delegates from the Ministry of Labour will leave for Gaza Stripe tomorrow to arrange for the evacuation of all Thai workers from the detrimental area", he told journalists here today.

"It is now a 'must' that we move all Thai nationals out of the area, as the tension there has escalated and the attackers now appear to no longer care who are in their targets", he noted.

The female Thai worker, identified as Ms. Chitralada Tap-asa from Thailand's northeastern province of Udon Thani, was killed yesterday when the hardline armed Palestinian group stormed foreign workers' shelters in Gaza Stripe with heavy arms.

Another Thai worker, Mr. Yongyuth Sud-joi, also from Udon Thani, was also wounded from the attack.

A Nepalese male worker was also reportedly injured from the attack.

The armed Palestinian hardliners claimed that the attack was a 'warning' message to foreign nationals working in the Israel's occupied area.

There are now over 25,000 Thais working in Israel and Gaza Stripe.

Mr. Chuthatawat said that many Thais working in the area extended their employment deals with their employers after their original deals brokered by legal employment agents expired.

"Doing so is detrimental to their lives and safety, as they will have no legal protection, and I must urge that Thai nationals stop doing so. We'll talk to their employers and move all of them out of the area when I arrive in Gaza Stripe", he said.

--TNA 2004-12-15

[bannork]

Govt to evacuate Thai workers from Gaza Stripe

now a 'must' that we move all Thai nationals out of the area, as the tension thBANGKOK: -- The government plans to evacuate all Thai workers from Gaza Stripe, following yesterday's attack by a hardline armed Palestinian group which killed a Thai female worker and injured another Thai national.

the female Thai worker, identified as Ms. Chitralada Tap-asa from Thailand's northeastern province of Udon Thani, was killed yesterday when the hardline armed Palestinian group stormed foreign workers' shelters in Gaza Stripe with heavy arms.

Another Thai worker, Mr. Yongyuth Sud-joi, also from Udon Thani, was also wounded from the attack.

A Nepalese male worker was also reportedly injured from the attack.

The armed Palestinian hardliners claimed that the attack was a 'warning' message to foreign nationals working in the Israel's occupied area.

There are now over 25,000 Thais working in Israel and Gaza Stripe.

Mr. Chuthatawat said that many Thais working in the area extended their employment deals with their employers after their original deals brokered by legal employment agents expired.

"Doing so is detrimental to their lives and safety, as they will have no legal protection, and I must urge that Thai nationals stop doing so. We'll talk to their employers and move all of them out of the area when I arrive in Gaza Stripe", he said.

--TNA 2004-12-15

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I read in the paper the labour fees for her contract came to over 300,00 baht what with extortionate interest rates; she earned 40,000baht a month, and with her Thai husband working in Israel also, they had just managed to pay off the debt.

According to her parents she had been on the phone earlier in the day telling them to change the corrugated iron roof, get ready for tiles. So sad.

bannork.

[igotworms]

The female Thai worker, identified as Ms. Chitralada Tap-asa from Thailand's northeastern province of Udon Thani, was killed yesterday when the hardline armed Palestinian group stormed foreign workers' shelters in Gaza Stripe with heavy arms.

The armed Palestinian hardliners claimed that the attack was a 'warning' message to foreign nationals working in the Israel's occupied area.

Evil is rampant. What a loss to bear for this family. This never-ending conflict is sickening.

Edited December 16, 2004 by igotworms

[p_brownstone]

I am pretty sure that Thai workers who went to Israel to work were well aware of the risks involved, but chose to accept them for the opportunity to earn substantially more than they could in Thailand.

The posturing of the Labour Ministry will only result in these people being forced to return to Thailand to work on subsistence level salaries – almost certainly still owing huge debts to Brokers who secured them the overseas jobs …… Brokers who obtained their licenses to recruit workers by colluding with Officials in the Ministry.

The cynic in me suspects that this episode is mainly directed to benefit these same Brokers and Ministry Officials – within a few months after the current workforce has been “rescued” everything will have been forgotten and new workers from Thailand will be recruited, once again having to pay hefty Fees to the Brokers.

Patrick

Edited December 17, 2004 by p_brownstone