6 - Migrants of the Mekong: Lessons

Summary

INTRODUCTION

International labour migration can be characterized in three ways — as human aspiration, tradition, and necessity. For some people, working overseas where the environment is different and/or where their service is considered necessary is a dream; better earnings may be a goal, but failure to get that does not make them vulnerable. For other people, international labour mobility is a tradition. It is a long established practice for families with cross-border ties and intermingled with other reasons for cross-border movements such as visiting friends, attending social functions and doing favours for relatives. For a great number of people however, international labour migration is a need. It is the only viable solution to realize their basic human right to a decent life and certain freedoms. It is the only panacea to economic and human rights deprivation. GMS worker movements to Thailand typify all three characterizations of international labour mobility but, as can be gleaned in the previous chapters, more so the latter two.

Economic reasons have traditionally been considered the dominant explanations for labour mobility. While this book focuses on the economic wins and losses from international labour emigration, it recognizes at the very outset the equal standing of non-economic motivations for migration, especially in light of the nature of Myanmarese emigration. There is no single configuration of interests among the migrants. The extent to which net monetary returns are central to a foreign worker can be partially gauged by looking at whether his or her movement is a human aspiration, tradition or need as described above. For the first type of movement, the satisfaction of other wants such as simply the desire to experience something different, or contribute to the development of another country, may count more than the desire for more money. For the second type, doing work across the border may be considered part and parcel of the effort to preserve kinship ties or cultural networks, and not simply as a means to earn a fast buck.