Labor exploitation, human trafficking and bondage of migrant workers from Burma continues in Samut Sakhon’s shrimp-processing factories and onboard trawlers despite the passing of an anti-human-trafficking law nearly four years ago, said Sompong Srakaew, founder and director of Labour Rights Promotion Network Foundation (LPN).
Exactly how many workers are trapped in bondage inside shrimp factories or lured and forced to work on deep-sea fishing trawlers is unknown. But, Sompong, who worked in this area for eight years, estimates about 30 percent of the 400,000-plus Burmese workers in the province are exploited beyond Thai laws.
Bosses confiscate work permits, temporary passports and identity cards so that Burmese in fish-processing factories cannot seek employment elsewhere. Worse still, some are held in small factories and not allowed to leave the compound and forced to work like slaves.
Young migrant men are also being trafficked into forced labor aboard deep-sea fishing boats via false documentation with the aid of corrupt Thai officials and police.
“It’s hard to pin down the figures by making an estimate,” Sompong said. “But they are definitely there and they end up as virtually slave labor.”
