Thailand is a major destination for migrant workers in Southeast Asia, with a significant portion coming from Myanmar, the largest origin country. According to the International Organization for Migration Thailand, an estimated 1.5 million Myanmar nationals entered Thailand for short-term or long-term stays. As of March 2024, there are 2,308,166 Myanmar nationals registered as migrant workers, the highest number in recent years. Chiang Rai, the northernmost province of Thailand, has become a popular destination area for Myanmar migrant workers due to the two countries’ proximity. The migrant population from Myanmar to Thailand is expected to grow due to the ongoing civil war and military conscription law in addition to economic factors.
In November 2024, we, BEBESEA team, had an opportunity to get a glimpse of the life of Myanmar migrant workers in Chiang Rai, hosted by Suebsakun “Tok” Kidnukorn, one of BEBESEA’s advisory board members. Tok is a university lecturer at Mae Fah Luang University and he organises a community-led support centre for Myanmar workers (Read more about his work in a feature article here). Engaging closely with Myanmar migrant workers in Chiang Rai provided me with valuable insight into their lived experiences.
Mutual Support among Myanmar Migrant Workers
The Migrant Workers’ Aid Centre is located in a small area in Chiang Rai city centre. It occupies a humble space in a multipurpose building with a small Myanmar goods store beside it and is surrounded by different local businesses. Just outside their office, there is a huge government-built housing complex for migrant workers. It hosted around 150 families of migrant workers. It is a great initiative and location, and it offers a sense of community and access to essential support.
Around 4 in the afternoon, kids started to flock to the 2nd floor of the centre. It is time for their English lessons, facilitated by a religious non-profit group that the community connected with. With the growing migrant worker population in Chiang Rai, the centre’s services have expanded to include cultural exchange and educational programs.
Tok then took us to another cultural center, housed within an abandoned public market. In the farthest section, makeshift cultural centers with traditional mats on the floor provided learning spaces for children. Here, Myanmar teachers, many former participants in the Civil Disobedience Movement against the military coup, taught students language classes in English, Thai, and Burmese. Adult students had separate classrooms nearby, learning the same lessons that could enhance their employment opportunities. These initiatives showcased the resilience and resourcefulness of the migrant community.
Some of the workers decide to settle in Chiang Rai indefinitely or make it their permanent home. Tok invited us to join him and members of the Migrant Workers’ Aid Centre at a wedding celebration of a Myanmar couple who are well established in both the local and migrant communities, and attending the wedding was a way of expressing our solidarity and respect. It was attended by the couple’s friends, relatives, and many other community representatives. It was a whole-day celebration with savoury food, a live band, and Myanmar music. It is evident that they have created a close community in a foreign land, which is a beautiful thing to see.
Borders for Economic Activities
Those who seek more economic opportunity found their luck on the border, literally. Across the Mekong River is the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, a huge Chinese-leased land in Laos. The area started operating in 2007, and is dominated by casinos and luxurious hotels for visitors. Together with some members of the aid centre, we visited there with a tour guide who assisted us throughout the short trip across the river. The Golden Triangle refers to an area where three countries, Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos, share borders. Although the Myanmar border is heavily guarded, Myanmar people are the biggest demographic in the population in the special economic zone, after Chinese, said the guide, followed by Thai, then Laotians.
A few kilometres away from the Golden Triangle is another border area between Myanmar and Thailand in the northernmost part of the country. The Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge in the Mae Sai-Tachileik boundary serves as the connector between these two countries. Currently, it is crossed mainly by Myanmar people who commute to Mae Sai for work and education. At the time of our visit, it was almost 6:30pm, so the bridge was flocked with vehicles rushing to cross the border to make it back to Tachileik, Myanmar in time for the curfew. Children were also seen wearing uniforms in school buses or walking to cross the bridge. As of February 2025, it was reported that the military junta announced strict border control after Thailand cut power near the area (source).
Natural disasters also affect the lives of migrant workers. Weeks before our visit, Chiang Rai experienced heavy rain, which overflowed the rivers, resulting in floods affecting houses, schools, markets, and livelihoods. During our visit, the aftermath of the flood was still evident, with mud marks on walls, houses, and buildings that are over 5ft tall in the areas near the epicenter of the flood. In the neighborhood of our accommodation which was located on the riverside of Kok River, a number of houses of migrant workers were affected by the flood. Some of them were empty during our visit as they evacuated the area. The border below the Friendship Bridge is the Mae Sai River, where we could find markets for tourists and locals, but most of them were closed due to damage of the floods and submerged in thick mud. My colleague Mariko Hayashi who visited the place 2 years ago (see more in this article) said there were big differences in the area compared to the time of her previous visit in 2022.
Youth in the Border Region – Future Leaders of Migrant Rights
Tok told us that people in Chiang Rai, including migrant workers and students, have been working hand in hand to recover from the damages caused by the floods. At the time of our visit, it seemed like the community was recovering slowly as Chiang Rai citizens and residents were working together to clean up the city. The community of migrant workers in Tok and his students from the university also volunteered to help in the clean-up drive. This is a significant showcase of teamwork and solidarity that the city made an art exhibition at the Chiang Rai Contemporary Art Museum, documenting the floods and people’s efforts in supporting each other. There was an exhibition room of the stuffed toys collected and cleaned by the Migrant Workers’ Aid Centre’s community volunteers during the clean-up operations.
Our last agenda item in Chiang Rai was a workshop with students of Mae Fah Luang University (MFU). Twenty-six students from different programs attended and learnt about the complexities of migration and ways to advocate for migrant rights through interactive discussions and activities with us and with each other. Some of them are students from Myanmar and also advocating for the rights of the migrant workers as they themselves have firsthand the experiences as migrants in Thailand. During the exchanges, there were diverse stories on migration. A student talked about the bad conditions and treatment faced by migrant fishers in fishing vessels. There is also a story of how a student’s father connected the Myanmar community to the locality. It is how the youth has awareness on such topics in migration in Chiang Rai, home to many migrants. (Read more about the workshop at MFU)
One thing that my colleague said that struck my mind the most is that migration is not a negative thing, as we can be migrants but under different circumstances. Our modern cities are built around the people who migrated from different places and chose to settle. Some of our modern work is possible through the efforts of migrants. Thailand is becoming an economic powerhouse in Southeast Asia and its growth is with the help of migrant workers. Their skills and knowledge contribute to the growth of society. Despite their contributions, they often remain marginalized and oppressed. They need now more than ever the support of the international community and the least that we could do is to ensure that their basic human rights are respected and protected. To quote the Dean of the School of Social Innovation at MFU, Dr. Thanikun Chantra, who gave an opening remarks to our workshop, “At least, have empathy to them [migrants] and know their rights; how to make those rights equal so we can have inclusive and equitable development as what we always learn.”
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This article was written based on the author’s short trip to Chiang Rai, Thailand. All photos were taken by the author or given permission to publish.