After spending two years on Tier 3 of the US State Department’s annual human trafficking index, Thailand has been upgraded to Tier 2 Watch List.
The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) has voiced its concerns on this upgrade, after making the case earlier this year that Thailand needed to remain on Tier 3 of the Trafficking in Persons Report for making insufficient progress in eradicating human trafficking from its seafood industry.
EJF says it acknowledges that the Royal Thai Government (RTG) introduced important legislative frameworks to strengthen its fisheries management regime in 2015 and has acted on intelligence provided by Civil Society Organisations to combat trafficking and identify victims of human trafficking. However, the organisation says that substantial shortcomings still exist and the RTG’s new legislation has not achieved substantial progress in eliminating severe forms of trafficking compared to the previous year.
EJF claims that the RTG has in particular failed to:
- Pro-actively implement forensic investigations and enforcement action to gather evidence over time with the specific aim of initiating prosecutions and convictions against those engaged in the use of trafficking, forced, bonded and slave labour
- Successfully prosecute and convict Thai nationals involved in human trafficking on the scale and to the extent required to reflect the magnitude of the problem in Thailand
- Develop and implement reforms of its labour regulations to improve the recruitment of migrant workers and enhance worker protection mechanisms
- Establish effective working mechanisms to identify and screen victims of exploitation and abuse in ports or onboard fishing vessels
- Adopt a victim-centred approach towards those who have escaped or who have been rescued from trafficking, forced and bonded labour
EJF says it now worries that Thailand’s higher ranking could inhibit and disincentivise further progress towards effectively addressing these abuses.
“The US State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons has played a vital leadership role in the global fight against human trafficking,” said EJF executive director, Steve Trent.
“By upgrading Thailand to Tier 2 Watch List in 2016 we are worried that a wrong signal has been sent to the RTG. The actions taken by the RTG must be sustainable and address the many structural problems within the Thai seafood sector, such as the powerful economic incentives to use trafficked, bonded, forced and slave labour. We are now looking to see what decision the European Union will make on Thailand’s yellow card later this year after reviewing the country’s progress on the improvement of its fisheries and labour practices”.
