Child Slaves May Have Caught the Fish in Your Freezer + Slaves at sea (CNN) + (TIME)

[geovalin]

Slaves at sea: Report into Thai fishing industry finds abuse of migrant workers

By Dean Irvine, CNN

(CNN) -- When leaving Myanmar one year ago, Tay thought he would find a better life in Thailand. Instead he found himself a victim of modern slavery.

The soft-spoken 21-year old was smuggled across the border by labor brokers with the promise of a safe and stable job at the end of the journey.

He was prepared for hard work at a pineapple factory that would enable him to save money and pay back the man who helped take him across the border.

Instead he said that he and 12 others who made the journey with him were sold for around $430 each into jobs that made them virtual slaves.

"I felt very depressed when I first arrived on the boat, like I was in hell, and was beaten because I didn't know how to do the work properly.

Tay, trafficked Myanmar fisherman

To Tay's horror he was taken onto a fishing boat, despite no experience of fishing, and for the next six months was forced to work without pay.

According to Tay, some of the girls in his group were sent to work in seafood processing factories, while the prettier ones were sent to brothels.

Thai fishing boats have to venture further for longer for less catch.

"I felt very depressed when I first arrived on the boat, like I was in hell," he said. "I was beaten because I didn't know how to do the work properly."

Tay's story is not unique. According to a new report by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), a British-based human rights charity, the Thai fishing and seafood industry, worth $7 billion annually, involves considerable exploitation of trafficked migrant workers, most from neighboring Myanmar and Cambodia.

Tay was fortunate to escape after nine months working on the boat. By pretending to be ill he was able to go ashore long enough to flee to Pattaya, a resort town to the south of Bangkok, and take refuge in a temple. He remains there, unsure of his future or if any of the people involved in his ordeal will face prosecution. He asked CNN not to use his real name for fear of reprisals.

Brutal conditions

Many others echo his testimony of coercion and harsh conditions on board fishing boats.

A group of 14 men from Myanmar rescued from boats last year told the EJF of 20 hour work days with little or no pay and beatings at the hands of Thai crew members. According to reports from the EJF some even witnessed murder, with bodies being thrown overboard as causally as unwanted catch.

Speaking from a government shelter in the south of Thailand where they have been for nearly one year, most are now disillusioned and more interested in just going home than finding justice, said Steve Trent, founding director of the EJF.

"If they give up and say 'we just want to go home,' the case that surrounds everyone that exploits them collapses and there won't be further action," he said.

"It's not good enough to say the judicial process is slow in Thailand. In effect they are punishing these people again. They are the innocents involved."

The rise in forced labor on board Thai fishing boats is tied to growing global demand for cheap seafood and diminishing fish stocks, say the EJF.

Fishing boats have to make longer trips for less catch, making an already tough job harder and less attractive to domestic workers, as well as threatening profit margins for all involved in the industry.

Taking action

Last year the Thai government announced a national action plan to prevent human trafficking and support its victims. Together with national fishing associations and civil action groups, the Ministry of Labor assisted the International Labor Organization (ILO) with its 2013 report on trafficked workers in the fishing sector.

It's not good enough to say the judicial process is slow in Thailand; they are punishing these innocent people again.

Steven Trent, EJF

The report found that one in six working on long-haul fishing boats did not decide to do so willingly, but acknowledged that the vast majority of workers in the sector are Thai and work voluntarily.

"There are real concerns regarding forced labor in the fishing industry, said Max Tunon, senior program officer for the ILO.

The Thai seafood industry is worth around $7 billion annually.

"In the past years there has been engagement from the government and national fishing associations to ILO initiatives and we've seen more commitment from the central level but not yet seen concrete results.

"The sector has been this way for a long time and there are no quick or easy fixes. Turning this around is long process, but we're hoping to see the result."

Both the U.S. State Department and EJF have been critical of Thai attempts to clampdown on human trafficking in the country citing widespread corruption among law enforcement officials.

According to a 2013 U.S. State Department report, the Thai marine department and navy inspected 608 fishing vessels in 2012 but found no cases of trafficked workers, suggesting corruption and inadequate financial and human resources were allowing the continued exploitation of workers.

Thailand's Ministry for Labor and the Ministry for Social Development have not responded to CNN's requests for comment, but the government has said in the past that it is committed to fighting human trafficking.

Pressure to change

Tay said he witnessed police taking bribes from boat owners who had undocumented crew members. But Trent believes that links between authority figures, boat owners and human traffickers can be even more brazen.

"We have documented evidence of marked police cars transporting trafficked victims who are then sold onto boats as slaves," said Trent. "It's an absurd situation where you have those paid to protect people conniving in their abuse."

CNN could not reach the Department for Special Investigations for comment on the claims.

"The problem really lies with many of the people that run these local businesses who are brutal and corrupt," said Trent.

"It seems that political and market driven pressure combined is the only way the industry is going to change."

Thailand is currently listed as a Tier 2 watch-list country on the U.S. State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP) and will drop to Tier 3 -- the lowest classification this year -- if it does not improve, something the EJF is calling for.

The results could be the withdrawal of international financial aid.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/06/world/asia/thailand-fishing-modern-slavery-report/

[geovalin]

These CNN and TIME reports do not regard specially Cambodia but we know all that Cambodian migrant fishermen are not better considered than the Burmese (possibly even worse)

They also feed the fishes thanks to Thai nationals who own boats and are just criminals.

[geovalin]

Child Slaves May Have Caught the Fish in Your Freezer TIME REPORT Charlie Campbell Thailand is the third largest seafood exporter in the world, but much of the tuna, sardines, shrimp and squid it exports has been caught by victims of human trafficking

After two years toiling without pay on a Thai fishing boat, Sai Ko Ko fell ill. “[The captain] verbally abused me but I was so sick I couldn’t work,” recalls the 21-year-old. “He knocked me down, dragged me and threw me into the sea.”

Luckily, Sai Ko Ko was rescued by another vessel and ended up in an Indonesian immigration center. But countless other illegal Burmese migrants like him fair much worse. Many are mere children forced to endure slave-like conditions. And, shockingly, the fruits of their anguish continue to be unwittingly enjoyed by families across the U.S., Europe and elsewhere.

Thailand is the third largest seafood exporter in the world. The sector was worth some $7.3 billion dollars in 2011, and around a fifth of the catch ends up on American dinner tables — particularly tuna, sardines, shrimp and squid. But the industry heavily relies on trafficked and forced labor on unlicensed vessels. Victims typically hail from Cambodia, Laos and, most commonly, Burma. Beatings and starvation are commonplace.

On Tuesday, the London-based Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) released a report detailing Sai Ko Ko’s plight and that of tens of thousands like him. Slavery at Sea calls on the Thai government, international community and consumers to demand “net to plate” traceability on all seafood products.

“Migrant workers in the Thai fishing industry, many of them trafficked illegally, are suffering terrible abuses and all too often are denied their basic human rights,” said EJF executive director Steve Trent, blaming endemic corruption, poor enforcement, inadequate victim support, unacceptable working conditions and deficient migration policy.

Much has been made of recent reforms in Burma, officially known as Myanmar, as the former pariah state transforms into a quasi-democracy following a half-century of brutal junta rule. But for many on the ground, especially myriad ethnic minorities, precious little has changed. Most of the 55-million population subsists on less than a dollar a day, and three quarters don’t have electricity. Promises of well-paid jobs in neighboring nations continue to entice.

Around three millions Burmese migrants currently live in Thailand. (When in May 2012 Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi made her first trip abroad for 24 years, she tellingly visited compatriots in Mahachai, a commercial fishing hub 20 miles south of Bangkok known as “Little Burma.”) Many would-be migrants, not possessing valid documentation, pay brokers several hundred dollars to arrange their passage over the border, with the promise of well-paying jobs upon arrival.

In reality, vulnerable individuals are sold to fishing boat captains for a huge profit, and must then work off several thousand dollars of “debt.” Thai immigration and law enforcement officials are often complicit in these deals. Prosecution of perpetrators is rare. Many migrants get sold from boat to boat and don’t see land for years, sleeping in the open and forced to take bizarre amphetamine cocktails to stay awake for days on end. Due to dangerous conditions and tortuously long hours, work-related injuries are commonplace, and many throw themselves overboard to their deaths as their only means of escape.

Even for young slaves who are rescued, there is no end to the nightmare. Aye Ko Ko, 17, was among 14 people rescued from a fishing boat last March only to spend the next year at a detention center. “No one helps us,” he told EJF in January. “No organizations come to see us, like they did before. Some people are tired of it all and just want to go home.”

Overfishing has compounded the problem. Back in 1961, fishermen in the Gulf of Thailand caught 300 kg (661 lb) of fish an hour. Fast-forward half-a-century, and they now pull in a measly 25 kg, says Greenpeace. Falling profits leads to a demand for cheaper labor. According to the International Labor Organization, last year the Thai fishing industry had a 50,000-worker shortfall, “both a cause and an effect of the abusive labor practices that are seen in the fishing sector.”

The Thai government says it is working on the issue. Thai Labor Ministry Deputy Permanent Secretary Boontharik Samiti told Associated Press that “all agencies have collectively come together in an effort to prevent this problem in a sustainable and long-term fashion.” But lack of progress in human trafficking has been noticed by the U.S State Department, which produces the annual Trafficking in Persons Report, and this year will likely move Thailand to the worst of four categories. Restrictions on fish imports could follow as a consequence.

Andy Hall, a migrant labor expert based in Thailand and Burma, tells TIME that consumers hold the key. “People are still buying the fish from Thailand so there’s no really an incentive to get serious about this issue,” he says, adding that the enforcement resources available to the Thai authorities are “miniscule compared to the size of the problem.”

Hall highlights how pressure by Finnish retailers has led to a boycott in Thai pineapple products after similar abuses were highlighted. “We don’t see that kind of pressure in other parts of Europe, and especially not in the U.S,” he says. “Your average consumer in the West doesn’t have so much interest in where their products are coming from.” Human traffickers count on that apathy.

http://time.com/12628/human-trafficking-rife-in-thai-fishing-industry/

[robertthebruce]

How sad is this..

Breaks my heart, reading stories like this..

2014 ??