A comprehensive study tracing how migration systems across Southeast Asia shape risks of forced labor among workers bound for Thailand.
This research maps the formal and informal migration infrastructures that connect Cambodia, Myanmar, and Lao PDR to Thailand’s labor market. Based on field interviews with 168 stakeholders, it reveals how high recruitment costs, weak regulation, and complex bureaucracy drive workers toward informal channels—where they face greater risks of debt, coercion, and exploitation. The report analyzes the interplay between social networks, brokers, and state systems, and offers policy recommendations for building safe, transparent, and rights-based migration pathways across the region.
Humanity United, Recruitment, Labor migration, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar
