Thailand is struggling to end the bonded labor and human trafficking within its fishing vessels. However, to their biggest disappointment, the trend still seems to be rife.
Being the World’s largest seafood exporter is not a easy feat to maintain, and Thailand is known for this. But the abuse of the human-rights onboard the fishing ships equally as traumatic!
Horrific Results Revealed
In an investigation by the Human Rights Watch between 2015 and 2017, the Thailand’s situation aboard was clearly horrific. The investigation teams interviewed around 248 current and former fishermen in the Thai fishing industry. And the reports revealed that the fishermen that are mainly Cambodian and Burmese are still underpaid and are experiencing a poor working atmosphere and standard of living.
The report was mainly conducted to mainly minimize the effect of this menace as it plagues the $6.5 Billion industry. It also investigates the Government’s pledges to reform and how they have been successful to cleanse this industry.
The Fish On Your Plate Might Be One Too!
The report concludes that the fish meat that makes it to the markets of Europe, Americas and Japan has no proof that this food was not provided by abused workers. The situation is intense in this scenario and therefore imminent actions are required to uplift this curse.
Shrimp, snapper, bream, mackerel and tuna are among some of the fish that are delivered to the international markets by these Thai workers. So the next time you see the tins of international meals, just think about the poor working conditions and lifestyle people have to afford to get that platter of meal ready.
Shockwaves Around the World
The report is yielding some very disturbing results for the reputation of the Thai fishing industry in the international market. The European Union intends to put a ban on the Thai seafood imports owing to the life of the workers as depicted by the court.There were reports like this one before in the 2014 and 2015 where Brussels gave a warning to Thailand to improve the conditions. The government responded by enforcing a new ordinance that regulates the fishing industry. There was a requirement put on the immigrant workers to have all the necessary documentation on the vessels before leaving the port and after arrival. However, now it is being revealed that these attempts to control this issue have also failed.
The US on the other hand has also put Thailand on the watch list by categorizing it as “Tier 2” in the Global Human Trafficking rating. This is the second-worst rating category for the US and the effects of this inclusion would be felt by Thai international exports.
Government Also Made a Report
The government of Thailand also claimed to initiate official inspections and interviews of the fishing laborers. Out of those 474,334 people that got interviewed, none could identify the case of a forced labor. However, with this latest investigation, claims are being made that once the boat makes it into the waters, the IDs and official documents are confiscated by the workers and the leaves are not granted by the employers.
The issue of Thailand’s seafood industry still continues to be a tug of war.
Analysis
The Thailand’s fishing industry is huge in size owing to its clients and their distinct needs. The possibility of the industry running without international labor is impossible. However, there should be implemented proper means to make sure that the lifestyle both off and onboard the fishing vessels are bearable for immigrants.
The investigation in which none of the 474,334 fishermen experiencing a forced labor seems highly exaggerated. There could not be a case where such a gigantic number of investigations are made and on the other hand only a few hundred manage to rule them out. The government’s failure in projecting the true figures signifies how poor of a situation there is in the Thai industry of seafood.
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