Cambodian migrant workers face an uncertain future as Thai border conflict drives them home
Tensions between the countries have escalated due to disputes over pockets of land along their 800-kilometer (500-mile) border. A five-day clash in July left at least 43 people dead and displaced more than 260,000 in both Southeast Asian nations.
A fragile ceasefire brokered by Malaysia, with backing from the US and China, appears to be holding while officials try to resolve issues underlying the conflict. The retreat has left many of the workers streaming back to Cambodia wondering how to get by after they left jobs that enabled them to send money back to their families.
Kri Phart, a 56-year-old poultry worker, said he began packing after reading a post by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Facebook urging migrants to return to Cambodia.
'I have no idea if the fighting will really stop and with fewer and fewer Cambodians in Thailand, I got nervous,' said Kri Phart, seated on a stoop with two big bags of belongings and a big electric fan. 'I didn't want to be the last Cambodian migrant in Thailand.'
'I got scared because of the border conflict,' said Kri Phart, one of thousands of Cambodians streaming shoulder-to-shoulder through the Daung International Border Gate last week, hauling rainbow colored bags, appliances and even guitars in the 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) heat.
'Many of the Cambodians I knew working in Thailand ran away. Everyday more and more of us fled,' he said.
The reasons driving Cambodians to flee Thailand are varied. Human rights activists reported that some migrant workers had been attacked by gangs of young Thais. Others were alarmed by unsubstantiated rumors that the Cambodian government would seize their land and revoke their citizenships if they didn't return home by mid-August.
Cambodia's Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training estimates 1.2 million Cambodians were working in Thailand when the border disputes began to escalate in June. Estimates vary, but Sun Mesa, a ministry spokesman said at least 780,000 — about 65 percent — have returned to Cambodia.
He said the workers could find jobs with equal pay and benefits back home. Many of those who were driven by poverty or climate change to leave for work in Thailand expressed doubts.
'Now that I am back, there is going to be no income for a while and this will really put my family in a bad situation,' said Thouk Houy, 26, who left a job at a leather factory south of Bangkok that enabled her to send $70 to $100 a month back to her parents.
'I'm the last of my siblings who is still single, meaning it's my responsibility to support my parents. I don't know how I can do that now that I am back home,' she said.
Minor spats between Cambodian and Thai workers at the factory and her mother's nightly pleas for her to go home were factors behind her decision to leave, she said. Handing over her belongings to be strapped into the back of a precariously packed van, Thouk Houy said the clincher was a claim by influential former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, father of the current prime minister, Hun Manet, that Thailand was preparing to invade.
'Now that I'm home, what will I do to make a living?' she said.
Migrant workers fill vital roles in Thailand's farming, construction and manufacturing industries. They also send home close to $3 billion in remittances each year, according to labor ministry data.
The loss of that income can be devastating for families relying on it to manage big debts, said Nathan Green, an assistant professor of geography at the National University of Singapore.
'These kinds of conflicts demonstrate how precarious migrant livelihoods are in Cambodia,' Green said.
An overseas advocacy group, the Khmer Movement for Democracy, has urged the government to defer loan payments and provide incentives for companies to hire returning migrants.
'Without economic safeguards, families of returning migrants will not be able to repay their debts and financial institutions will be at their throats,' said Mu Sochua, the group's president. 'We are talking about the poorest of the poor, who will be deprived of incomes.'
Meng Yeam, who was trying to wave down a taxi while keeping an eye on his belongings, said he managed to send his family back home 20,000 baht (roughly $600) while working as a manager at a rubber factory in eastern Thailand's Chonburi Province.
More than 90 percent of the Cambodians working in the factory have left, the 32-year-old said.
Meng Yeam said he expected his family to be okay, though it won't be able to save as much as it did while he was working in Thailand. And he was glum about the prospects for things to return to normal.
'Cambodia and Thailand need each other to do well, but for now, it seems like we just cannot get along,' Meng Yeam said. 'I hope we can work in Thailand again one day, but who knows, maybe I will be retired by the time we stop fighting.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Asharq Al-Awsat
4 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Mistrust and Fear: The Complex Story behind Strained Syria-Lebanon Relations
A lot has happened in just a year on both sides of the Lebanon-Syria border. A lightning offensive by opposition factions in Syria toppled longtime autocrat Bashar Assad and brought a new government in place in Damascus. In Lebanon, a bruising war with Israel dealt a serious blow to Hezbollah — the Iran-backed and Assad-allied Shiite Lebanese militant group that had until recently been a powerful force in the Middle East — and a US-negotiated deal has brought a fragile ceasefire. Still, even after the fall of the 54-year Assad family rule, relations between Beirut and Damascus remain tense — as they have been for decades past, with Syria long failing to treat its smaller neighbor as a sovereign nation. Recent skirmishes along the border have killed and wounded several people, both fighters and civilians, including a four-year-old Lebanese girl, The Associated Press said. Beirut and Damascus have somewhat coordinated on border security, but attempts to reset political relations have been slow. Despite visits to Syria by two heads of Lebanon's government, no Syrian official has visited Lebanon. Here is what's behind the complicated relations. A coldness that goes way back Many Syrians have resented Hezbollah for wading into Syria's civil war in defense of Assad's government. Assad's fall sent them home, but many Lebanese now fear cross-border attacks by Syria's militants. There are new restrictions on Lebanese entering Syria, and Lebanon has maintained tough restrictions on Syrians entering Lebanon. The Lebanese also fear that Damascus could try to bring Lebanon under a new Syrian tutelage. Syrians have long seen Lebanon as a staging ground for anti-Syria activities, including hosting opposition figures before Hafez Assad — Bashar Assad's father — ascended to power in a bloodless 1970 coup. In 1976, Assad senior sent his troops to Lebanon, allegedly to bring peace as Lebanon was hurtling into a civil war that lasted until 1990. Once that ended, Syrian forces remained in Lebanon for another 15 years. A signature of the Assad family rule, Syria's dreaded security agents disappeared and tortured dissidents to keep the country under their control. They did the same in Lebanon. 'Syrians feel that Lebanon is the main gateway for conspiracies against them,' says Lebanese political analyst Ali Hamadeh. Turbulent times It took until 2008 for the two countries to agree to open diplomatic missions, marking Syria's first official recognition of Lebanon as an independent state since it gained independence from France in 1943. The move came after the 2005 truck-bombing assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri that many blamed on Damascus. Two months later, Syria pulled its troops out of Lebanon under international pressure, ending 29 years of near-complete domination of its neighbor. When Syria's own civil war erupted in 2011, hundreds of thousands of Syrians fled across the border, making crisis-hit Lebanon the host of the highest per capita population of refugees in the world. Once in Lebanon, the refugees complained about discrimination, including curfews for Syrian citizens in some areas. Hezbollah, meanwhile, rushed thousands of its fighters into Syria in 2013 to shore up Assad, worried that its supply lines from Iran could dry up. And as much as the Lebanese are divided over their country's internal politics, Syria's war divided them further into those supporting Assad's government and those opposing it. Distrust and deadlock A key obstacle to warming relations has been the fate of about 2,000 Syrians in Lebanese prisons, including some 800 held over attacks and shootings, many without trial. Damascus is asking Beirut to hand them over to continue their prison terms in Syria, but Lebanese judicial officials say Beirut won't release any attackers and that each must be studied and resolved separately. In July, family members of the detainees rallied along a border crossing, demanding their relatives be freed. The protest came amid reports that Syrian troops could deploy foreign fighters in Lebanon, which Damascus officials denied. Another obstacle is Lebanon's demand that Syrian refugees go back home now that Assad is gone. About 716,000 Syrian refugees are registered with the UN refugee agency, while hundreds of thousands more are unregistered in Lebanon, which has a population of about 5 million. Syria is also demanding the return of billions of dollars worth of deposits of Syrians trapped in Lebanese banks since Lebanon's historic financial meltdown in 2019. The worst post-Assad border skirmishes came in mid-March, when Syrian authorities said Hezbollah members crossed the border and kidnapped and killed three Syrian soldiers. The Lebanese government and army said the clash was between smugglers and that Hezbollah wasn't involved. Days later, Lebanese and Syrian defense ministers flew to Saudi Arabia and signed an agreement on border demarcation and boosting their coordination. In July, rumors spread in Lebanon, claiming the northern city of Tripoli would be given to Syria in return for Syria giving up the Golan Heights to Israel. And though officials dismissed the rumors, they illustrate the level of distrust between the neighbors. Beirut was also angered by Syria's appointment this year of a Lebanese army officer — Abdullah Shehadeh, who defected in 2014 from Lebanon to join Syrian insurgents — as the head of security in Syria's central province of Homs that borders northeastern Lebanon. In Syria, few were aware of Shehadeh's real name — he was simply known by his nom de guerre, Abu Youssef the Lebanese. Syrian security officials confirmed the appointment. What's ahead Analysts say an important step would be for the two neighbors to work jointly to boost security against cross-border smuggling. A US-backed plan that was recently adopted by the Lebanese government calls for moving toward full demarcation of the border. Radwan Ziadeh, a senior fellow at the Arab Center in Washington, says the best way forward would be for Syria and Lebanon to address each problem between them individually — not as a package deal. That way, tensions would be reduced gradually, he said and downplayed recent comments by prominent Syrian anti-Assad figures who claimed Lebanon is part of Syria and should return to it. 'These are individual voices that do not represent the Syrian state,' Zaideh said.
Arab News
5 hours ago
- Arab News
Mistrust and fear: The complex story behind strained Syria-Lebanon relations
BEIRUT: A lot has happened in just a year on both sides of the Lebanon-Syria border. A lightning offensive by Islamist insurgents in Syria toppled longtime autocrat Bashar Assad and brought a new government in place in Damascus. In Lebanon, a bruising war with Israel dealt a serious blow to Hezbollah — the Iran-backed and Assad-allied Shiite Lebanese militant group that had until recently been a powerful force in the Middle East — and a US-negotiated deal has brought a fragile ceasefire. Still, even after the fall of the 54-year Assad family rule, relations between Beirut and Damascus remain tense — as they have been for decades past, with Syria long failing to treat its smaller neighbor as a sovereign nation. Recent skirmishes along the border have killed and wounded several people, both fighters and civilians, including a four-year-old Lebanese girl. Beirut and Damascus have somewhat coordinated on border security, but attempts to reset political relations have been slow. Despite visits to Syria by two heads of Lebanon's government, no Syrian official has visited Lebanon. Here is what's behind the complicated relations. A coldness that goes way back Many Syrians have resented Hezbollah for wading into Syria's civil war in defense of Assad's government. Assad's fall sent them home, but many Lebanese now fear cross-border attacks by Syria's Islamic militants. There are new restrictions on Lebanese entering Syria, and Lebanon has maintained tough restrictions on Syrians entering Lebanon. The Lebanese also fear that Damascus could try to bring Lebanon under a new Syrian tutelage. Syrians have long seen Lebanon as a staging ground for anti-Syria activities, including hosting opposition figures before Hafez Assad — Bashar Assad's father — ascended to power in a bloodless 1970 coup. In 1976, Assad senior sent his troops to Lebanon, allegedly to bring peace as Lebanon was hurtling into a civil war that lasted until 1990. Once that ended, Syrian forces — much like a colonial power — remained in Lebanon for another 15 years. A signature of the Assad family rule, Syria's dreaded security agents disappeared and tortured dissidents to keep the country under their control. They did the same in Lebanon. 'Syrians feel that Lebanon is the main gateway for conspiracies against them,' says Lebanese political analyst Ali Hamadeh. Turbulent times It took until 2008 for the two countries to agree to open diplomatic missions, marking Syria's first official recognition of Lebanon as an independent state since it gained independence from France in 1943. The move came after the 2005 truck-bombing assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri that many blamed on Damascus. Two months later, Syria pulled its troops out of Lebanon under international pressure, ending 29 years of near-complete domination of its neighbor. When Syria's own civil war erupted in 2011, hundreds of thousands of Syrians fled across the border, making crisis-hit Lebanon the host of the highest per capita population of refugees in the world. Once in Lebanon, the refugees complained about discrimination, including curfews for Syrian citizens in some areas. Hezbollah, meanwhile, rushed thousands of its fighters into Syria in 2013 to shore up Assad, worried that its supply lines from Iran could dry up. And as much as the Lebanese are divided over their country's internal politics, Syria's war divided them further into those supporting Assad's government and those opposing it. Distrust and deadlock A key obstacle to warming relations has been the fate of about 2,000 Syrians in Lebanese prisons, including some 800 held over attacks and shootings, many without trial. Damascus is asking Beirut to hand them over to continue their prison terms in Syria, but Lebanese judicial officials say Beirut won't release any attackers and that each must be studied and resolved separately. In July, family members of the detainees rallied along a border crossing, demanding their relatives be freed. The protest came amid reports that Syrian troops could deploy foreign fighters in Lebanon, which Damascus officials denied. Another obstacle is Lebanon's demand that Syrian refugees go back home now that Assad is gone. About 716,000 Syrian refugees are registered with the UN refugee agency, while hundreds of thousands more are unregistered in Lebanon, which has a population of about 5 million. Syria is also demanding the return of billions of dollars worth of deposits of Syrians trapped in Lebanese banks since Lebanon's historic financial meltdown in 2019. The worst post-Assad border skirmishes came in mid-March, when Syrian authorities said Hezbollah members crossed the border and kidnapped and killed three Syrian soldiers. The Lebanese government and army said the clash was between smugglers and that Hezbollah wasn't involved. Days later, Lebanese and Syrian defense ministers flew to Saudi Arabia and signed an agreement on border demarcation and boosting their coordination. In July, rumors spread in Lebanon, claiming the northern city of Tripoli would be given to Syria in return for Syria giving up the Golan Heights to Israel. And though officials dismissed the rumors, they illustrate the level of distrust between the neighbors. Beirut was also angered by Syria's appointment this year of a Lebanese army officer — Abdullah Shehadeh, who defected in 2014 from Lebanon to join Syrian insurgents — as the head of security in Syria's central province of Homs that borders northeastern Lebanon. In Syria, few were aware of Shehadeh's real name — he was simply known by his nom de guerre, Abu Youssef the Lebanese. Syrian security officials confirmed the appointment. What's ahead Analysts say an important step would be for the two neighbors to work jointly to boost security against cross-border smuggling. A US-backed plan that was recently adopted by the Lebanese government calls for moving toward full demarcation of the border. Radwan Ziadeh, a senior fellow at the Arab Center in Washington, says the best way forward would be for Syria and Lebanon to address each problem between them individually — not as a package deal. That way, tensions would be reduced gradually, he said and downplayed recent comments by prominent Syrian anti-Assad figures who claimed Lebanon is part of Syria and should return to it. 'These are individual voices that do not represent the Syrian state,' Zaideh said.
Al Arabiya
6 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Europe to mull over plan for peace in Ukraine after Trump-Putin summit
Leaders of France, Germany and Britain will host a video call on Sunday for their so-called 'coalition of the willing' to discuss steps towards ending the war in Ukraine, after Donald Trump dropped his push for a ceasefire after his Alaska summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Securing a ceasefire in Ukraine, more than three years after Russia's invasion, had been one of the US president's core demands before the summit, to which Ukraine and its European allies were not invited. For the latest updates on the Russia-Ukraine war, visit our dedicated page. But after a meeting that yielded no clear breakthrough, Trump ruled out an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine -- a move that would appear to favor Putin who has long argued for negotiations on a final peace deal. Ukraine and its European allies have criticized it as a way to buy time and press Russia's battlefield advances. Trump spoke with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders on his flight back from Alaska to Washington, saying afterward that 'it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement which would end the war.' Ceasefire agreements 'often times do not hold up,' Trump added on his Truth Social platform. But Zelenskyy, who is due to visit Washington on Monday, appeared unconvinced by the change of tack, saying on Saturday that it 'complicates the situation.' If Moscow lacks 'the will to carry out a simple order to stop the strikes, it may take a lot of effort to get Russia to have the will to implement far greater -- peaceful coexistence with its neighbors for decades,' he said on social media. 'Harsh reality' Trump expressed support during his call with Zelenskyy and European leaders for a proposal by Putin to take full control of two largely Russian-held Ukrainian regions in exchange for freezing the frontline in two others, an official briefed on the talks told AFP. Putin 'de facto demands that Ukraine leave Donbas,' an area consisting of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine, the source said. In exchange, Russian forces would halt their offensive in the Black Sea port region of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine, where the main cities are still under Ukrainian control. Several months into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia in September 2022 claimed to have annexed all four Ukrainian regions even though its troops still do not fully control any of them. 'The Ukrainian president refused to leave Donbas,' the source said. Trump notably also said the United States was prepared to provide Ukraine security guarantees, an assurance German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hailed as 'significant progress.' But there was a scathing assessment of the summit outcome from the European Union's top diplomat Kaja Kallas, who accused Putin of seeking to 'drag out negotiations' with no commitment to end the bloodshed. 'The harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war any time soon,' Kallas said. Zelenskyy back in White House The main diplomatic focus now switches to Zelenskyy's talks at the White House on Monday. An EU source told AFP that a number of European leaders had also been invited to attend. The Ukrainian president's last Oval Office visit in February ended in an extraordinary shouting match, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly berating Zelenskyy for not showing enough gratitude for US aid. Zelenskyy said Saturday after a 'substantive' conversation with Trump about the Alaska summit that he looked forward to his Washington visit and discussing 'all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war.' In an interview with broadcaster Fox News after his sit-down with Putin, Trump had suggested that the onus was now on Zelenskyy to secure a peace deal as they work towards an eventual trilateral summit with Putin. 'It's really up to President Zelenskyy to get it done,' Trump said. European pressure
