Executives from Thai Union Frozen Products, including President and CEO Thirapong Chansiri, met with Thailand’s deputy prime minister to discuss the ongoing problem of human trafficking in the fishing industry in Thailand.
Chansiri met with General Prawit Wongsuwon, deputy prime minister and minister of defense, to ask the Thai government “to take significant steps” to control forced labor and bring those responsible to justice, the company said in a statement.
“As a world-leading seafood player, Thai Union is proactively addressing the issues beyond the industry itself to the national level in Thailand, as we can no longer tolerate what is happening in our home,” Chansiri said. “We are committed to giving full support to the government in fighting the problems of human rights violations in the Thai seafood industry with a sense of urgency.”
Thailand has been under pressure to take steps especially since last June, when the U.S. State Department issued its annual Trafficking in Persons report, where Thailand was downgraded to Tier 3, the lowest grade possible.
Just a few weeks ago, the Associated Press published an investigative report that named TUF itself as a company that took seafood products from companies linked to forced labor.
TUF said the Thai government has already implemented some plans to control the trafficking and is expected to make suppressing human trafficking part of its national agenda on 3 April 2015.
