Mae Sot, Thailand
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NOVEMBER 2011 Strengthening the humanity and dignity of people in crisis through knowledge and practice Developing a Profi ling Methodology for Displaced People in Urban Areas Case Study: Mae Sot, Thailand Gift of the United States Government ©2011 Feinstein International Center. All Rights Reserved. Fair use of this copyrighted material includes its use for non-commercial educational purposes, such as teaching, scholarship, research, criticism, commentary, and news reporting. Unless otherwise noted, those who wish to reproduce text and image fi les from this publication for such uses may do so without the Feinstein International Center’s express permission. However, all commercial use of this material and/or reproduction that alters its meaning or intent, without the express permission of the Feinstein International Center, is prohibited. Feinstein International Center Tufts University 200 Boston Ave., Suite 4800 Medford, MA 02155 USA tel: +1 617.627.3423 fax: +1 617.627.3428 fi c.tufts.edu Cover photo: Man driving rickshaw. Mae Sot, Thailand 2 Feinstein International Center ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In 2010-11 the US State Department’s Bureau of migrant vulnerability and key indicators. Population, Refugees and Migration funded research by the Feinstein International Center to • The profi ling methodology (including the develop a profi ling methodology for urban survey, qualitative approaches, and mapping migrants and refugees. The purpose of the tools, all designed to be easily utilizable by methodology was to capture a range of livelihood, fi eld organizations). integration and vulnerability data in urban settings, so as to enable comparisons between • An outline of a two-day training workshop, refugees and other migrant and non-migrant and a full description of each of the tools. groups living in the same urban districts. The In this report, we present the case study of Mae research built on earlier studies by the principal Sot, Thailand. investigator (Karen Jacobsen) and our partners, and sought to make the mixed methodology The following people contributed to this report: easily utilizable by operational agencies. In Thailand: As part of developing the methodology, we conducted case studies in three urban settings in • The authors would like to thank the IRC key host countries. In each country we team of enumerators for their work collaborated with the following local partners: conducting the survey and qualitative interviews and for entering data for this • Aden, Yemen – INTERSOS report. Their names have been withheld for their security. • Polokwane, South Africa – African Center for Migration Studies, University of • At IRC, key support for fi eld supervision Witwatersrand, Johannesburg came from Mu Cheng, Saw Khu, Surachai Punpuing, and Sukullaya Panjad. Kunlawut • Mae Sot, Thailand – International Rescue Amnuaymongkhonphon, Narachinun Committee Kerdtong, and Thanadol Thanai-nopparat The goals of the case studies were to test and were instrumental in arranging logistics for adapt a profi ling methodology, and to gather the research process. Dr. Nyunt Naing data that would contribute to urban livelihoods Thein, Wannee Ritwongsakul, Dr. Aung programming for vulnerable migrant groups. Kay Tu, Koreeya Manuchae, Jirapaat Each case includes a contextual background of Manotipcharoen, Suttinee Seechailkham all migration to the urban setting, our methods, assisted in accessing and identifying migrant demographics and fi ndings on vulnerability, and communities and lent us their expertise on recommendations. We include maps of the study legal and health related issues. site and sampling strategy. The full profi ling • At IRC, Joel Harding, Mona Fetouh, Roisai methodology, in the form of a toolkit, can be Wongsuban, Saw Khu, Surachai Punpuing, found here [insert link to other sections]. The and Shane Scanlon assisted in managing the toolkit includes: project and made themselves available to provide essential feedback on drafts. • An introduction to profi ling and why it is useful • As a consultant for the Feinstein Center and IRC, Adam Saltsman, oversaw the • Recommendations for donors to assist in quantitative and qualitative data collection identifying best practices for livelihoods process. programming. This report was written by Adam Saltsman. • Our conceptual framework describing Study design, data analysis and the development Developing a Profi ling Methodology for Displaced People in Urban Areas 3 of the conceptual framework were by Karen Administrative support was provided by staff at Jacobsen, the principal investigator for this report, the Feinstein International Center, Tufts Adam Saltsman, a consultant for IRC and the University. Feinstein center, and Rebecca Furst-Nichols, the Project Manager. Additional data analysis Funding for the study was received from the US assistance was performed by Anastasia Marshak, Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Ashirul Amin, and Danielle Grigsby. Refugees, and Migration. ■ Map of Thailand Source: UNHCR 4 Feinstein International Center Contents Executive Summary . 6 Part 1: Forced migrants and economic migrants from Burma . 11 1.1 Background: profi ling migration and displacement in Thailand . 13 1.2 The provision and restriction of rights for Burmese migrants . 15 1.3 Migrant registration and nationality verifi cation . 16 1.4 Mae Sot as a case study . 18 Part 2: Methods . 21 Part 3: A cross-section of Mae Sot’s residents . 23 3.1 Demographics . 23 3.2 Migration characteristics . 25 Part 4: Measuring Vulnerability and Resilience . 28 4.1 Mae Sot’s vulnerability index: Overview . 29 4.2 Applying the causal model . 30 4.3 Community Security & Access to Justice . 32 4.3.1 Community interdependence . 35 4.4 Household & Physical Security . 36 4.4.1 Access to healthcare . 38 4.5 Assets & Housing . 39 4.5.1 Assets . 40 4.5.2 Remittances . 40 4.5.3 Housing . 41 4.6 Employment . 43 Part 5: Recommendations . 47 Annex 1: Vulnerability Scorecard . 50 Annex 2: Additional Graphs & Charts . 51 Annex 3: Methods . 57 Annex 4: Urban Household Profi ling Survey: Mae Sot . 67 Annex 5: Qualitative Interview Protocols . 89 Developing a Profi ling Methodology for Displaced People in Urban Areas 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY As a regional hub for migration, light Undocumented migrants were those who manufacturing, and trade in gems, drugs, and were born in Burma and who identifi ed as illegal timber from Burma, the smoky, industrial undocumented, with expired documentation, town of Mae Sot, Thailand, epitomizes in many stateless, or with an informal card. In addition, ways life for migrants on the Thai-Burma we regarded those with various IDs or border, and to some extent elsewhere in documents from UNHCR as undocumented Thailand. Over the last year, one in fi ve migrants because this is eff ectively how Thai authorities sampled in this study experienced eviction, one regard those migrants outside the camp with in ten suff ered physical assault, and one in six UNHCR cards or papers. was a victim of theft. More than a third of the migrants live in unsafe or unsanitary housing Documented migrants were those who were and six out of ten migrant households are in born in Burma and had a foreign passport with dangerous locations. In each of these cases, those valid visa, a temporary passport from the migrants without any form of work authorization Nationality Verifi cation process, a work permit, in Thailand are worse off . Undocumented registration, an ethnic minority card, or migrants are more likely to experience abusive permanent residency. treatment and to feel powerless to fi nd redress for Thai citizens/native Thai residents were 1 these injustices. those who were born in Thailand, had Thai citizenship, and were either ethnically Thai or These fi ndings from this study’s survey of close ethnically Karen. to 800 residents of Mae Sot confi rm long-held notions about the precarious existence migrants The sample for this study leaned heavily towards face in this town and elsewhere along the border. women, who made up 67% of respondents. The (The term “migrants” here is used as an umbrella largest proportion of respondents were between term in this report to cover all categories of 31-45 years old (278 respondents / 36%), while people migrating from Burma, including 212 were between 46 and 50 (28%), 107 were 61 refugees, asylum seekers, economic migrants and and above (14%), and 172 respondents were others). This survey also looks into the lives of between 17 and 30 (22%). Mae Sot’s Thai residents, comparing their well being with that of their neighbors from Burma. In-depth qualitative interviews with 50 town While Thai citizens in Mae Sot generally fare residents and 15 key informants deepen fi ndings better than Burmese migrants there, many are from the survey, enabling a more nuanced also susceptible to a number of challenges understanding of the situation in Mae Sot. including theft, unemployment, and insuffi cient Analysis of these methods together identifi es four income. By comparing undocumented migrants, major components for measuring vulnerability in those with work authorization in Thailand, and Mae Sot: Thai citizens in Mae Sot, this study sheds light • Employment security on what it means to be vulnerable in Mae Sot. • Household security/Physical safety Within the 772 respondents who participated in • Community security/Access to Justice the survey, 274 respondents (35%) were • Assets & housing undocumented migrants, 180 respondents (23%) were documented migrants, and 318 respondents A factor analysis