Human trafficking and violence still rife in Thai fishing industry

Thailand is the world’s largest seafood exporter - with the UK its biggest importer
Thailand is the world’s largest seafood exporter - with the UK its biggest importer Credit: ATHIT PERAWONGMETHA/ REUTERS

Human trafficking and forced labour is still rife across Thailand’s fishing industry, despite government pledges to reform, a new report has revealed.

The 134-page investigation – Hidden Chains: Forced Labour and Rights Abuses in Thailand’s Fishing Industry – was conducted by Human Rights Watch between 2015 and 2017, by interviewing 248 current and former fisheries workers, and also boat owners and Thai officials.

It discloses that fishermen, mainly from Burma and Cambodia, are still being trafficked into bonded labour, forced to work in dirty and dangerous conditions, and chronically underpaid.

The disturbing findings mean that British, European, American and Japanese consumers of Thai fish have no guarantees that the food on their plates has not been provided by abused workers.

Shrimp, snapper, bream, mackerel and tuna are among the fish caught by Thai boats. As the world’s largest seafood exporter, with an annual market value of $6.5 billion, Thailand sells most of its fish to the US and Japan. The UK is the biggest European importer, buying about £135 million worth in 2015.

Barrels of fish sit on a dock after being unloaded from a boat at the port in Songkhla in southern Thailand
Barrels of fish sit on a dock after being unloaded from a boat at the port in Songkhla in southern Thailand Credit: Paula Bronstein/Getty

The report, which will be presented to the European Parliament on Tuesday morning, comes as Thailand continues to face the prospect of an EU ban on its seafood exports if it fails to clean up the industry.

Following damning media reports of human trafficking and violence against fishermen in 2014 and 2015, Thailand received a “yellow card” warning from Brussels over its illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices.

The US also placed the country on its “Tier 2” watch list, just one rung up from the worst rating, in its latest trafficking in persons report.

The Thai government responded by issuing a new ordinance to regulate the fishing industry, requiring migrant workers to have legal documents and be accounted for as vessels left and returned to port.

Migrant workers sort fish and seafood unloaded from a fishing ship at a port in Samut Sakhon province
Migrant workers sort fish and seafood unloaded from a fishing ship at a port in Samut Sakhon province Credit:  ATHIT PERAWONGMETHA/ REUTERS

However, new inspections were largely a “theatrical exercise for international consumption,” said Human Rights Watch.

Official inspections of 474,334 fishery workers had failed to identify a single case of forced labour. Meanwhile, fishermen told HRW that they were overworked, their ID cards were confiscated and they were not allowed to leave.

“It was torture. One time I was so tired I fell off the boat, but they pulled me back on board,” said Zin Met Thet, one Burmese trafficking survivor.

HRW’s Asia director Brad Adams warned against being fooled by unenforced regulations. “The EU and US urgently need to increase pressure on Thailand to protect the rights, health and safety of fishers,” he said.

License this content