The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), the nonprofit group that produced a scathing report last year on human trafficking in the Thai fishing industry, has released a new report saying there has been little progress on the issue.
The report, "Slavery at Sea: The Continued Plight of Trafficked Migrants in Thailand's Fishing Industry," follows up on the EJF's June 2013 report, "Sold to the Sea," which featured a number of migrant workers from neighboring nations such as Myanmar who told stories of abuse, violence and even murder aboard Thai fishing boats.
The new report claims the victims have seen little to no justice in Thai
The EJF acknowledged that its 2013 report has led to arrests of some fishing boat operators and protection by the government of the workers who alleged abuses, but the group said follow-up interviews reveal the cases have taken months to prosecute with no real progress. The EJF also claims the accommodations for the workers have been cramped and oppressive, a deliberate attempt by the government to discourage them from pressing charges against their former captors.
"Some can't take it so they go home — they can't contact their families so they want to go back," said one interpreter who has been translating for the workers. "They don't care if they win or not, they just want to go home and tell their parents that they are still alive."
The U.S. State Department is expected to make a determination on the American government's stance toward Thailand's trafficking issues in June. There is no official word from the department on what it will decide, but in its 2013 Trafficking in Persons Report, an annual study of the status of human trafficking worldwide, the department indicated it was putting Thailand on its Tier 2 Watch List for the fourth year in a row. The department's tiers indicate how responsive a particular country is to allegations of trafficking. Tier 2 countries are not complying with U.S. minimum standards of trafficking control, "but are making significant efforts" to improve.
The Tier 2 Watch List status, where Thailand is now and has been since 2010, indicates that the state department believes Thailand's government is trying to improve, but at the same time the number of reported trafficking victims is "very significant or is significantly increasing."
According to the department's 2013 report, "Thailand was granted a waiver from an otherwise required downgrade to Tier 3 because the government has a written plan that, if implemented, would constitute making significant efforts to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is devoting sufficient resources to implement that plan."
A Tier 3 classification indicates a country's efforts to curb human trafficking are so poor, the U.S. government may choose to impose sanctions and possible trade bans on specific goods. State department regulations indicate it must upgrade or downgrade a country's status after that country has been on the watch list for four years.
"Based on evidence gathered by EJF in the last two years, as well as that of others monitoring the industry, EJF believes a downgrade to Tier 3 is the only suitable course of action," EJF investigators wrote in their report.
SeafoodSource has attempted to contact the Thai government through embassies in the United States, but so far the government has not responded to requests for comment.
Keep checking SeafoodSource for all the latest news on the Thailand human trafficking issue
