Jump to content

Slavery on Thai fishing boats is straight from the 18th century


webfact

Recommended Posts

Slavery at sea has Thailand teetering toward US sanctions
Patrick Winn

Obama administration urges crackdown on forced labor that supplies seafood to Americans.

BANGKOK, Thailand — Their condition recalls dark tales from the 18th century: underfed men lorded over by seafaring captains who pay them nothing and maim the disobedient.


Yet these forced labor abuses play out on Thai-owned fishing trawlers each day. And the victims — typically destitute men from Myanmar or Cambodia lured by coyotes full of false promises — continue to wash ashore with accounts of torture and casual homicide.

For years, US officials have urged Thailand, one of America’s closest Asian allies, to rid its $7.3 billion fisheries export industry of these abuses. Though carried out on lawless seas, these crimes risk entangling supermarkets in America, where one in six pounds of seafood is imported from Thailand.

So far, these persistent abuses have hurt Thailand’s reputation but little else. That may change: if one more year passes without major strikes against Thai trafficking syndicates, the US State Department will be forced, by law, to hit Thailand with sanctions.

For four years running, a US State Department annual “Trafficking in Persons” report has labeled Thailand with its next-to-worst ranking. This year’s report, released this week, painted a similarly bleak portrait of Thailand’s efforts to fix what the report called “pervasive trafficking-related corruption.” [more...]

Full story: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/thailand/130621/thailand-human-trafficking-us-state-department-sanctions-fish-export

-- global post 2013-06-24

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 127
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Anyone surprised about this "Buddhist" nation?

whats your point of bringing religion to it? need no to beat around the bush

He's right, PaullyW. That being said; Anyone surprised about this "Gargoyle-wearing, Gucci-Bag-toting, Jet-setting Buddhists" nation? "Was in Tuk Com the other day and saw three more of them pawing over iPads. But I digress...

Regarding the OP; I truly find this story very difficult to believe. It seems that fish stories really do originate with sailors on the open sea. All that horrible telling, and not even one regaling of mutiny. Hmmm.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pretty soon some activist group in the USA will rise up and advocate a boycott of Thai seafood. Human rights organizations will initiate an attack on the Thai seafood, tuna fish trade and sales will sink. Then the Thais will come whining to the embassy that it's not their fault and promising all kinds of remedies. It's good old karma - what goes around comes around. Thais have been passing bad karma around in the seafood trade for a long time.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dont know why anybody is worried about hurting Thailand's reputation.

Thailand doesnt have a reputation to start with.

Anything goes here.

The only things they probably dont do (anymore) in LOS are turkey shoots and snuff movies.

I could be wrong.

Edited by jalansanitwong
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dont know why anybody is worried about hurting Thailand's reputation.

Thailand doesnt have a reputation to start with.

Anything goes here.

The only things they probably dont do (anymore) in LOS are turkey shoots and snuff movies.

I could be wrong.

Probe, ask and you will know the truth... maybe.

Walk around for a couple of days in Nana, Soi Cowboy, Pat-Pong, Pattaya and ask the patrons (not the BIB)...

You will then have a better answer to the question: Does Thailand have a reputation?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyone surprised about this "Buddhist" nation?

whats your point of bringing religion to it? need no to beat around the bush

He's right, PaullyW. That being said; Anyone surprised about this "Gargoyle-wearing, Gucci-Bag-toting, Jet-setting Buddhists" nation? "Was in Tuk Com the other day and saw three more of them pawing over iPads. But I digress...

Regarding the OP; I truly find this story very difficult to believe. It seems that fish stories really do originate with sailors on the open sea. All that horrible telling, and not even one regaling of mutiny. Hmmm.

Also pretty easy to criticize Christianity on many fronts.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

this can be good publicity to tell the farmers or whatever, to stay in their country and work there...at least they might have "some" rights as we non thais have non ...we are all long stay tourists

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If they push Rohinya's back on sea, better to take them onboard of a fish trawler and let them paint, fish, prepare food....at least the 'Buddhists' leave humans alive by doing so. Awful mentality. In the '70's Cambodian (Pol Pot era) refugees who knew to escape by boat via the Mekong to Thailand were first being robbed of all remaining possessions and abused by Thai fishers (pirates) before finding shelter.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

And ofcourse all the upset and selfrightious posters here will stop buying and eating seafood??whistling.gif

Or not?coffee1.gif

You ask the question and perhaps there is no particular issue within Thailand.But I assure you unless the Thai Government and seafood industry manage this problem intelligently there is a very real threat of an overseas boycott.It wouldn't kill the industry, not least because the supply chain is very complicated and it's very difficult to identify exactly what product is "Thai".But the public relations problem could be huge and there is every incentive for the Thais to clamp down hard on illegal and criminal behaviour within the industry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Imposition of Puritan morality

The other thing that bothers me is that you see this statement repeatedly in the report (across countries), this year and in past years: "The government did not make an effort to reduce the demand for

commercial sex acts during the year."

First of all, it's not clear to me how a government can reduce demand for commercial sex (rather than supply). Second, what gives the Americans the right to condemn 'commercial sex' between two free and consenting persons?? Absolutely ridiculous...

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyone surprised about this "Buddhist" nation?

whats your point of bringing religion to it? need no to beat around the bush

He's right, PaullyW. That being said; Anyone surprised about this "Gargoyle-wearing, Gucci-Bag-toting, Jet-setting Buddhists" nation? "Was in Tuk Com the other day and saw three more of them pawing over iPads. But I digress...

Regarding the OP; I truly find this story very difficult to believe. It seems that fish stories really do originate with sailors on the open sea. All that horrible telling, and not even one regaling of mutiny. Hmmm.

What surprise me is the number of Thai Visa posters so willing to drag religion or Buddhism into every thing that is negative and not a word of it on positive points in Thailand.

And they think the Thai system of education is bad. I wonder what kind of education they got.

Wake up people religions and Buddhism do not do wrong it is the members in them that do wrong. the same goes for atheist's. What does an atheist blame his wrong doing on. "lack of religion"?

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.










×
×
  • Create New...