Over 160 human-trafficking victims rescued in last 3 years

By Suriya Patathayo 
The Nation

 

 

Thai authorities rescued more than 160 human-trafficking victims from fishing trawlers between May 2015 and last Thursday. “Most victims were from Cambodia, Myanmar and Indonesia,” deputy national police commissioner Pol General Wirachai Songmetta said on Wednesday.

 

These victims were initially promised factory jobs but lured into staying overnight on a boat. When they fell asleep, the boats headed out to the sea, leaving them with no choice but to work on fishing trawlers instead, he said. 

 

“Some victims were forced to work more than 20 hours a day,” Wirachai revealed.

 

He said police had arrested more than 100 suspected wrongdoers in cracking down on illegal fishing and trafficking of humans working on fishing trawlers that violated laws. 

 

Between May 2015 and last Thursday, more than 40,000 fishing trawlers were found to have violated laws. Of them, about 9,000 trawlers have already been confiscated. 

 

A total of 4,243 cases of illegal fishing and human trafficking were filed during the period. 

 

Pol Lt-General Charuwat Waisaya, who heads the team against illegal fishing and human trafficking, said Thailand was firmly committed to fighting illegal fishing and had made the highest number of related arrests in Asia. 

 

“We will submit a report on our work to the government so that the information can be forwarded to the European Union,” he said. 

 

The EU is set to consider its illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) rankings in April. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30337062

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-1-24

3 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Thai authorities rescued more than 160 human-trafficking victims from fishing trawlers

And did what with them?

The humane thing would be to assist their return to their native country after giving testimony on their enslavement towards prosecuting boat owners and captains. But Thailand (and especially the military) has a history of jailing these people as illegal immigrants, where they seem to "disappear" in mass from jail.

So if the Thai authorities are just essentially transferring these people from one inhumane situation to another, their initial efforts might not be given credit by Western nations with regard to IUU.

4 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

He said police had arrested more than 100 suspected wrongdoers in cracking down on illegal fishing and trafficking of humans working on fishing trawlers that violated laws. 

 

4 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Between May 2015 and last Thursday, more than 40,000 fishing trawlers were found to have violated laws. Of them, about 9,000 trawlers have already been confiscated.

Only 100 suspected wrongdoers arrested but 9000 trawlers confiscated ??? Something not quite right in these figures methinks.

9000 trawlers confiscated ! That's a very big number how many are left? And more importantly on 2 hands how many fish are left ?