In an industry that relies heavily on migrant labour – more than 90% of those working in the fishing sector are from neighbouring countries, many of them trafficked – it is up to the government to create a framework that protects migrant workers both on the ground and at sea. Yet Thailand has failed to implement such a strategy, putting millions of workers at unnecessary risk, claims migrant rights activist Andy Hall.
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“The government migration policy continues to be short term and, in many ways, continues to promote the smuggling and trafficking of people irregularly across borders and in and out of work whilst undermining formal and safer migration channels,” says Hall. “There have also been many kneejerk reactions to public pressure in the seafood sector that have impacted negatively on workers in the supply chain.”
Wiping out all forms of slavery – from trafficking to bonded work and everything in between – is no easy task in an industry that has depended on slavery, and profited from it, for decades.
But some local businesses say Thailand has already done enough cleaning up to prove the EU – and the world – wrong.
“Thailand can guarantee that as of January 2016, there is no illegal labour in the Thai fishing industry,” Thiraphong Chansiri, the president and chief executive of Thai Union Group, recently claimed. “The country does not deserve such a ban.”