March 18, 2014 — Representatives of the Thai seafood industry and the Thai government met with reporters and the public today in a special seminar during Seafood Expo North America to respond to criticisms that the government has not done enough to fight forced labor and human trafficking in the fishing industry.
In a two-hour series of presentations on 17 March, the panelists described new policies, training programs and laws governing fisheries management, all designed to improve tracking of vessels and workers, ensure workers are paid adequately and on time, and that workers are not subjected to physical violence.
"We are making forced labor and child labor a government top priority," said Saroj Thanasunti, deputy chief of mission of the Royal Thai Embassy in Washington, who opened the seminar.
The industry's image has suffered a series of blows, most notably from the nonprofit group Environmental Justice Foundation, which has published several reports since June 2013 alleging workers, particularly immigrants from neighboring Myanmar, are lured onto fishing boats where they are forced to work long hours for little or no pay. Often, according to the foundation's reports, workers are transferred from one fishing vessel to another at sea, so they do not have a chance to escape during a return to port, and some workers are beaten and cast overboard if they object to their treatment.
In 2013, the U.S. State Department released its annual Trafficking in Persons report, which placed Thailand on its Tier 2 Watch list. This means Thailand has shown an effort to control trafficking, but there is still a substantial problem there. It was the fourth year in a row that Thailand was given this designation, which means this year the department must decide whether to upgrade Thailand to Tier 2 or higher, or downgrade it to Tier 3, which would open up the country to trade sanctions.
In his remarks, Thanasunti acknowledged that the government has not yet stopped the problem, but added that he felt the new measures being put in place have already accomplished a great deal.
Read the full story at SeafoodSource.com