The Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF) campaigns and advocates for human rights in Thailand – including the legal rights of migrant workers, including through strategic litigation to instigate systemic change.
Chon works with communities of migrant workers and families from Myanmar, Cambodia and Lao PDR to increase their access to justice systems through the provision of legal aid and strategic litigation. Migrant workers are employed in many Thai industries – including fishing, construction and manufacturing. Abuses, including modern day slavery, have been documented by the UN and international NGOs and have attracted international condemnation.
More recently, HRDF have been using guidelines and standards on Business and Human Rights to encourage and persuade international companies to clean-up their supply chain, to make sure they are not using or benefitting from forced labour etc.
Chon works on the ground, directly assisting migrant workers to exercise and claim their rights – to payment, and to safe and decent working conditions. Litigation is one strategy. Chon assists with documenting cases, helping with interpretation and to engage with government authorities. Chon and HRDF have successfully helped workers access worker compensation and claim back wages with minimum wage rates.
Chon has used her knowledge of the UN system and its mechanisms in her advocacy work to protect human rights.
“I have met with several UN representatives who came to Thailand to meet with stakeholders including activists working on migrant worker issues in the context of business and human rights. With the knowledge from the training, I appreciated the importance of these meetings and how these could possibly enhance our advocacy work.”
Participation in the DTP course has also helped build useful networks for Chon and HRDF – including in Nepal – one of the source countries for migrant workers in Thailand:
“We have worked together subsequently on cases and issues through Migrant Forum in Asia of which our organizations are a member.”
DTP acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we work, the Bedegal people of the Eora Nation. We recognise their lands were never ceded, and we acknowledge their struggles for recognition and rights and pay our respects to the Elders – past, present – and the youth who are working towards a brighter tomorrow. This continent always was and always will be Aboriginal land.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that this website contains images or names of people who have passed away.
We are a proud partner of UNSW Law & Justice
DTP acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we work, the Bedegal people of the Eora Nation. We recognise their lands were never ceded, and we acknowledge their struggles for recognition and rights and pay our respects to the Elders – past, present – and the youth who are working towards a brighter tomorrow. This continent always was and always will be Aboriginal land.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that this website contains images or names of people who have passed away.
We are a proud partner of UNSW Law & Justice
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