Revealed: Asian slave labour producing prawns for supermarkets in US, UK

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Revealed: Asian slave labour producing prawns for supermarkets in US, UK

THAILAND:-- Thai "ghost ships" that enslave, brutalise and even kill workers are linked to global shrimp supply chain, Guardian investigation discovers

Slaves forced to work for no pay for years at a time under threat of extreme violence are being used in Asia in the production of seafood sold by major US, British and other European retailers, the Guardian can reveal.

A six-month investigation has established that large numbers of men bought and sold like animals and held against their will on fishing boats off Thailand are integral to the production of prawns (commonly called shrimp in the US) sold in leading supermarkets around the world, including the top four global retailers: Walmart, Carrefour, Costco and Tesco.

The investigation found that the world's largest prawn farmer, the Thailand-based Charoen Pokphand (CP) Foods, buys fishmeal, which it feeds to its farmed prawns, from some suppliers that own, operate or buy from fishing boats manned with slaves.

Men who have managed to escape from boats supplying CP Foods and other companies like it told the Guardian of horrific conditions, including 20-hour shifts, regular beatings, torture and execution-style killings. Some were at sea for years; some were regularly offered methamphetamines to keep them going. Some had seen fellow slaves murdered in front of them.

Fifteen migrant workers from Burma and Cambodia also told how they had been enslaved. They said they had paid brokers to help them find work in Thailand in factories or on building sites. But they had been sold instead to boat captains, sometimes for as little as £250.

"I thought I was going to die," said Vuthy, a former monk from Cambodia who was sold from captain to captain. "They kept me chained up, they didn't care about me or give me any food … They sold us like animals, but we are not animals – we are human beings."

Another trafficking victim said he had seen as many as 20 fellow slaves killed in front of him, one of whom was tied, limb by limb, to the bows of four boats and pulled apart at sea.

"We'd get beaten even if we worked hard," said another. "All the Burmese, [even] on all the other boats, were trafficked. There were so many of us [slaves] it would be impossible to count them all."

CP Foods – a company with an annual turnover of $33bn (£20bn) that brands itself as "the kitchen of the world" – sells its own-brand prawn feed to other farms, and supplies international supermarkets, as well as food manufacturers and food retailers, with frozen or cooked prawns and ready-made meals. It also sells raw prawn materials for food distributors.

In addition to Walmart, Carrefour, Costco and Tesco, the Guardian has identified Aldi, Morrisons, the Co-operative and Iceland as customers of CP Foods. They all sell frozen or cooked prawns, or ready meals such as prawn stir fry, supplied by CP Foods and its subsidiaries. CP Foods admits that slave labour is part of its supply chain.

"We're not here to defend what is going on," said Bob Miller, CP Foods' UK managing director. "We know there's issues with regard to the [raw] material that comes in [to port], but to what extent that is, we just don't have visibility."

The supply chain works in this way: Slave ships plying international waters off Thailand scoop up huge quantities of "trash fish", infant or inedible fish. The Guardian traced this fish on landing to factories where it is ground down into fishmeal for onward sale to CP Foods. The company uses this fishmeal to feed its farmed prawns, which it then ships to international customers.

The alarm over slavery in the Thai fishing industry has been sounded before by non-governmental organisations and in UN reports.

But now, for the first time, the Guardian has established how the pieces of the long, complex supply chains connect slavery to leading producers and retailers.

"If you buy prawns or shrimp from Thailand, you will be buying the produce of slave labour," said Aidan McQuade, director of Anti-Slavery International.

The Guardian conducted dozens of interviews with fishermen, boat captains, boat managers, factory owners and Thai officials in and around various ports in Thailand.Thailand enjoys a prime position as the world's largest prawn exporter in a vast seafood-export industry estimated to be worth some $7.3bn. Through multinationals such as CP Foods, Thailand ships out roughly 50,000 tonnes of prawns every year – nearly 10% of which is farmed by CP Foods alone.

Although slavery is illegal in every country in the world, including Thailand, some 21 million men, women and children are enslaved globally, according to the International Labour Organisation. These people may have been sold like property, forced to work under mental or physical threat, or find themselves controlled by their "employers". Thailand is considered a major source, transit and destination country for slavery, and nearly half a million people are believed to be currently enslaved within Thailand's borders. There is no official record of how many men are enslaved on fishing boats. But the Thai government estimates that up to 300,000 people work in its fishing industry, 90% of whom are migrants vulnerable to being duped, trafficked and sold to the sea. Rights groups have long pointed to Thailand's massive labour shortage in its fishing sector, which – along with an increased demand from the US and Europe for cheap prawns – has driven the need for cheap labour.

"We'd like to solve the problem of Thailand because there's no doubt commercial interests have created much of this problem," admits CP Foods' Miller.The Guardian's findings come at a crucial moment. After being warned for four consecutive years that it was not doing enough to tackle slavery, Thailand risks being given the lowest ranking on the US state department's human trafficking index, which grades 188 nations according to how well they combat and prevent human trafficking.

Relegation to tier 3 would put Thailand, which is grappling with the aftermath of a coup, on a par with North Korea and Iran, and could result in a downgrade of Thailand's trading status with the US.

"Thailand is committed to combatting human trafficking," said the Thai ambassador to the US, Vijavat Isarabhakdi. "We know a lot more needs to be done but we also have made very significant progress to address the problem."

Source: The Guardian

Read the full story here: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/jun/10/supermarket-prawns-thailand-produced-slave-labour

[Chao Lao Beach]

In Chanthaburi, the sorters make 300b a day.

[Local Drunk]

Well if it points the unmentionable finger at CP... Then I like it.

[taony]

What do I need to avoid buying now? How will I know its from CP? Will I get their stuff at restaurants, so avoid all seafood now? Or only prawns?

-*I typed this myself*-

[wdr]

Don't buy anything from CP. 7Eleven also belong to CP. I personally avoid to buy anything from CP.

Sent from my 6560 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Thai at Heart]

Well if it points the unmentionable finger at CP... Then I like it.

Indeed. These guys have had a free run for far too long. They are a big problem business and politics wise in Thailand.

[englishoak]

Yup I also avoid providing CP with revenue as much as possible, its a monster with no qualms about anything as long as its profitable. Bit like Monsanto

[Thai at Heart]

Yup I also avoid providing CP with revenue as much as possible, its a monster with no qualms about anything as long as its profitable. Bit like Monsanto

I once saw a China Daily article with the chairman of Chia Thai presenting a school and books to kids in Guandong. Going by a completely Chinese name with the governor of Guandong in tow.

Lo and behold, the chairman of CP.......hmmmm

[DeepInTheForest]

What do I need to avoid buying now? How will I know its from CP? Will I get their stuff at restaurants, so avoid all seafood now? Or only prawns?

-*I typed this myself*-

If you knew how shrimp are obtained by most restaurants and retailers, I think you would not want to eat it at all. There are some ethical shrimping operations (if you overlook the large-scale damage done by trawling), particularly in the Gulf of Mexico, but of course that area was subject to recent oil spills and their attendant pollution. Shrimp used to be an expensive treat, something for special occasions. Not any more-- the world markets supply it in bulk. With that huge volume come environmental and social costs.

If the farming operation is inland, it despoils whatever land it's on ( because of the salt water). If it's a shore operation, it trashes the mangroves.

Preparing a pond can and does include dousing it with urea, superphosphate, and diesel, followed by piscicides like chlorine and rotenone, pesticides and banned antibiotics. Then the shrimp are treated with borax, sodium tripolyphosphate, and caustic soda.

"The ponds he has dug where mangrove used to be are lined with blue plastic and he is using a boom to try to scoop out algae - a sign of pollution and disease - when we arrive. His shrimp are ill. He pulls a few out to show us - they are curled up and deformed and telltale black marks are visible along the shell. He will apply more antibiotics with the feed tomorrow, he says. He had cleared the pond with chemicals, he is not sure what, before he filled it for this crop, but it wasn't strong enough, he thinks."

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jun/19/food.fishing

The dirty business of shrimp farming was sold to the third world by the World Bank and other "development" institutions as a way to lift people out of poverty. It doesn't work that way.

""Only the rich make money, the big outside investors, who come because they have already polluted their own land and they need virgin territory. Then when it goes wrong here, they move on," Dr Tran Triet, a leading ecologist at Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh City says. Smaller farmers have no technical expertise and rarely survive. The environmental damage and social dislocations, which come with shrimp farming, make it completely unsustainable in its current form..."

Then there is the violence and dislocation associated with the industry. Since the US left in 1975, shrimp farming has been the leading destroyer of forests ( in this case, mangroves) in Vietnam. In Sri Lanka, 74% of fishermen who live near shrimp-farming operations no longer have drinking water. Once the land is trashed, it is difficult to reclaim. About half the shrimp ponds in Thailand are no longer used. Disease takes over, or economic realities prevail.

There is also the scraping clean of the seas for food to feed the shrimp-farming operations, the slavery called out in the original post here, and violence, as shrimp-growers are subject to armed robbers, and those who oppose shrimping are run off their land or targeted for assassination.

All in all, a rum go.

http://www.alternet.org/story/145369/shrimp%27s_dirty_secrets%3A_why_america%27s_favorite_seafood_is_a_health_and_environmental_nightmare

Edited June 10, 2014 by DeepInTheForest

[sumtingwong]

Mmmm prawns.

[sumtingwong]

"Although slavery is illegal in every country in the world"

Umm, only on the books, to prevent the dreaded "International alarm"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saleh_Al-Fawzan

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2003/11/11/16588041.php

[noitom]

What a sensational article. Hope it has some global impact on getting at the Thai slave and human trafficking in the Thai seafood industry. A long time coming.

[DP25]

Another trafficking victim said he had seen as many as 20 fellow slaves killed in front of him, one of whom was tied, limb by limb, to the bows of four boats and pulled apart at sea.

Give me a break, that never happened. It's fine to look in to fishing, but naive and sensationalistic westerners who speak no local languages, who are looking for a story and waving lots of money around, are going to be told what they want to hear.

[chooka]

Don't buy anything from CP. 7Eleven also belong to CP. I personally avoid to buy anything from CP.

Sent from my 6560 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

So does Macro

[rhythmworx]

What about the family of 5 columbians consisting of a mother and her 4 children aged 5-10 getting paid £1 a day for sacks of coffee beans after a 10 hour graft?

While just a cup in London or elsewhere cost £3-4

What about the slaves in the UK that work for just £6.31 an hour?

[englishoak]

Another trafficking victim said he had seen as many as 20 fellow slaves killed in front of him, one of whom was tied, limb by limb, to the bows of four boats and pulled apart at sea.

Give me a break, that never happened. It's fine to look in to fishing, but naive and sensationalistic westerners who speak no local languages, who are looking for a story and waving lots of money around, are going to be told what they want to hear.

Your exhibiting classic disconnect and disbelief that human beings can and do this to others. This does go on I can promise you.

How do you know it dosnt ? Your life might be easy and un traumatic but there are many for who this is a reality. These reports have been coming in for well over a decade, ive seen the reports first hand and know how hard it is to get the international community galvanised enough to act, its not as far fetched as you might imagine, life is cheap to many and torture and killing normal practice to instil fear and discipline at sea. It was ever thus why would you suppose it isnt now out of sight and out of mind they can do what they like, and do.

Life for many isnt about a job in an office or the sack when you lose it, for many it is literally life or death.

Its taken until now to get the story into the major western media headlines en masse. Hopefully now it will put enough pressure on the supermarkets and the supply chain to change it.

Dont be concerned with if everything is entirely accurate detail wise, realise this is slavery in the literal sense, pure and simple and slaves are effectively considered much like a barrel or a buoy or mule and afforded these unfortunate victims as much thought or respect. They are property to do with as the masters see fit. Slavery is the most reprehensible thing a person can inflict on another, it must be eradicated. The shameful thing is when westerners pass it off as just a story. The world isnt like you think bud, for a vast proportion it is hell.

Only mass awareness and public outrage and disgust will stop this and if a story thats so unbelievable and disgusting in treatment is what it takes to wake up people then thats what it takes,and still people like you refuse to believe it. You should understand why it happens to these extremes.... because no one does anything about it..

Dont judge whats true or not, you have no clue 1 or 20 witnessed killings, pulled apart or shot in the head it matters not. what matters is people are allowed do do this to others and no one is being held accountable. Never in your worst nightmare could you even begin to grasp what some people go through or what their lives can be like.

If prawns treble in price to put a stop to it or the market totally collapses I couldnt care less, This MUST change.

Thank your lucky stars you were born into the life you have

Edited June 11, 2014 by englishoak

[SOTIRIOS]

...meanwhile....send Thais overseas ....and sue for hundreds of thousands citing.....'unfair work conditions'.....

[hanuman2543]

Another trafficking victim said he had seen as many as 20 fellow slaves killed in front of him, one of whom was tied, limb by limb, to the bows of four boats and pulled apart at sea.

Give me a break, that never happened. It's fine to look in to fishing, but naive and sensationalistic westerners who speak no local languages, who are looking for a story and waving lots of money around, are going to be told what they want to hear.

Instead of denying reality you should read the report from HRW about this ongoing and massive abuse of fundamental human rights in Thailand. I think the title is " The tiger and the crocodile". Or watch the Pulitzer Price winning documentary from Reuters about the involvement of the Thai Navy in the slave trade.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ XA using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Edited June 11, 2014 by hanuman2543

[ggt]

Don't try to blame the US and UK for this debacle...clean up your own mess...don't sell to these countries...if it causes you grief...

[klauskunkel]

Thai ambassador to the US, Vijavat Isarabhakdi. "We know a lot more needs to be done but we also have made very significant progress to address the problem."

"...we transferred at least one police officer to an inactive post..."

Edited June 11, 2014 by metisdead
Oversize font reset to normal.

[Joe Mamma]

I also wonder if this is how those shrimp diseases that nearly wipe out the industry comes from?

[troglodyke]

I also wonder if this is how those shrimp diseases that nearly wipe out the industry comes from?

yes the shrimp diseases are transmitted from the burmese who catch them from the rohingas. horrible.

[troglodyke]

I also wonder if this is how those shrimp diseases that nearly wipe out the industry comes from?

yes the shrimp diseases are transmitted from the burmese who catch them from the rohingas. horrible.

and whats more if there wasnt a war on terror and an IATA transport monopoly there would even be any rohingas at all, at all, at all

[troglodyke]

where would you all be then? in a sorry shimpless state of affairs

[Stan7444]

Another trafficking victim said he had seen as many as 20 fellow slaves killed in front of him, one of whom was tied, limb by limb, to the bows of four boats and pulled apart at sea.

Give me a break, that never happened. It's fine to look in to fishing, but naive and sensationalistic westerners who speak no local languages, who are looking for a story and waving lots of money around, are going to be told what they want to hear.

Instead of denying reality you should read the report from HRW about this ongoing and massive abuse of fundamental human rights in Thailand. I think the title is " The tiger and the crocodile". Or watch the Pulitzer Price winning documentary from Reuters about the involvement of the Thai Navy in the slave trade.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ XA using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

There is no condoning of slavery of any kind, but might be useful to look at the definition of it. This article points out the worse form of slavery, bondage by being chained and working without pay. There are many other forms though, including economic slavery where a person is forced to work in a profession which they would otherwise not be willing to work, such as sex workers, but at least they get paid for such work.

Slavery has got to be the second, if not first, oldest form of work in the history of the world. There is currently slavery even in the US with Latinos being brought as workers and then working for no or very little money.

Question is how one can "embargo" CP or any other multinational that in effect supports such slavery in its supply chain? How do you know the shrimp you are enjoying at any particular restaurant, not only the UK, US EU but elsewhere, does not come from slavery, be it CP as the company mentioned, but also other suppliers? With "blood diamonds" this took years to find a way to potentially identify the good from the bad. How do you provide such IDs to shrimp?

One thing the US did was pass laws that clothing and other US manufacturers needed to check their supply chains on a regular basis to help ensure workers were not enslaved and were paid and treated fairly. Sure this program costs companies, and therefore consumers, huge amounts of money to monitor and would take a major effort by the Wal-Mart’s and Tesco of the world to monitor their entire supply chain, resulting in the cost of shrimp rising accordingly, possibly to beyond the range of what most people would wish to pay. A very difficult challenge to say the least, but personally I do not see that boycotting CP and 7/11 as more than, as they say, sticking a small nettle into an elephant's ass if even that much.

[slipperylobster]

Human trafficking involves much more than prawns.

The young ladies in Pattaya, Phuket and the likes are victims as well. Many are trafficked overseas in Korea, Japan, Dubai and Amsterdam (to name a few places).

Well to each his own...but if you are refraining from chowing down on a prawn, you might consider passing up on the Tuna as well.

Edited June 11, 2014 by slipperylobster

[Thai at Heart]

Another trafficking victim said he had seen as many as 20 fellow slaves killed in front of him, one of whom was tied, limb by limb, to the bows of four boats and pulled apart at sea.

Give me a break, that never happened. It's fine to look in to fishing, but naive and sensationalistic westerners who speak no local languages, who are looking for a story and waving lots of money around, are going to be told what they want to hear.

Instead of denying reality you should read the report from HRW about this ongoing and massive abuse of fundamental human rights in Thailand. I think the title is " The tiger and the crocodile". Or watch the Pulitzer Price winning documentary from Reuters about the involvement of the Thai Navy in the slave trade.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ XA using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

There is no condoning of slavery of any kind, but might be useful to look at the definition of it. This article points out the worse form of slavery, bondage by being chained and working without pay. There are many other forms though, including economic slavery where a person is forced to work in a profession which they would otherwise not be willing to work, such as sex workers, but at least they get paid for such work.

Slavery has got to be the second, if not first, oldest form of work in the history of the world. There is currently slavery even in the US with Latinos being brought as workers and then working for no or very little money.

Question is how one can "embargo" CP or any other multinational that in effect supports such slavery in its supply chain? How do you know the shrimp you are enjoying at any particular restaurant, not only the UK, US EU but elsewhere, does not come from slavery, be it CP as the company mentioned, but also other suppliers? With "blood diamonds" this took years to find a way to potentially identify the good from the bad. How do you provide such IDs to shrimp?

One thing the US did was pass laws that clothing and other US manufacturers needed to check their supply chains on a regular basis to help ensure workers were not enslaved and were paid and treated fairly. Sure this program costs companies, and therefore consumers, huge amounts of money to monitor and would take a major effort by the Wal-Marts and Tesco of the world to monitor their entire supply chain, resulting in the cost of shrimp rising accordingly, possibly to beyond the range of what most people would wish to pay. A very difficult challenge to say the least, but personally I do not see that boycotting CP and 7/11 as more than, as they say, sticking a small nettle into an elephant's ass if even that much.

The problem as always is the oligopoly that has been granted to CP by the rules in Thailand.

If there was reasonable competition, quite quickly a company with ethical practice's would pop up and replace CP and CP would change. But alas, CP is the beast that dominates and so the worlds only option is to boycott them.

[Thai at Heart]

Another trafficking victim said he had seen as many as 20 fellow slaves killed in front of him, one of whom was tied, limb by limb, to the bows of four boats and pulled apart at sea.

Give me a break, that never happened. It's fine to look in to fishing, but naive and sensationalistic westerners who speak no local languages, who are looking for a story and waving lots of money around, are going to be told what they want to hear.

Instead of denying reality you should read the report from HRW about this ongoing and massive abuse of fundamental human rights in Thailand. I think the title is " The tiger and the crocodile". Or watch the Pulitzer Price winning documentary from Reuters about the involvement of the Thai Navy in the slave trade.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ XA using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

There is no condoning of slavery of any kind, but might be useful to look at the definition of it. This article points out the worse form of slavery, bondage by being chained and working without pay. There are many other forms though, including economic slavery where a person is forced to work in a profession which they would otherwise not be willing to work, such as sex workers, but at least they get paid for such work.

Slavery has got to be the second, if not first, oldest form of work in the history of the world. There is currently slavery even in the US with Latinos being brought as workers and then working for no or very little money.

Question is how one can "embargo" CP or any other multinational that in effect supports such slavery in its supply chain? How do you know the shrimp you are enjoying at any particular restaurant, not only the UK, US EU but elsewhere, does not come from slavery, be it CP as the company mentioned, but also other suppliers? With "blood diamonds" this took years to find a way to potentially identify the good from the bad. How do you provide such IDs to shrimp?

One thing the US did was pass laws that clothing and other US manufacturers needed to check their supply chains on a regular basis to help ensure workers were not enslaved and were paid and treated fairly. Sure this program costs companies, and therefore consumers, huge amounts of money to monitor and would take a major effort by the Wal-Marts and Tesco of the world to monitor their entire supply chain, resulting in the cost of shrimp rising accordingly, possibly to beyond the range of what most people would wish to pay. A very difficult challenge to say the least, but personally I do not see that boycotting CP and 7/11 as more than, as they say, sticking a small nettle into an elephant's ass if even that much.

The problem as always is the oligopoly that has been granted to CP by the rules in Thailand.

If there was reasonable competition, quite quickly a company with ethical practice's would pop up and replace CP and CP would change. But alas, CP is the beast that dominates and so the worlds only option is to boycott them.

[Thai at Heart]

Another trafficking victim said he had seen as many as 20 fellow slaves killed in front of him, one of whom was tied, limb by limb, to the bows of four boats and pulled apart at sea.

Give me a break, that never happened. It's fine to look in to fishing, but naive and sensationalistic westerners who speak no local languages, who are looking for a story and waving lots of money around, are going to be told what they want to hear.

Instead of denying reality you should read the report from HRW about this ongoing and massive abuse of fundamental human rights in Thailand. I think the title is " The tiger and the crocodile". Or watch the Pulitzer Price winning documentary from Reuters about the involvement of the Thai Navy in the slave trade.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ XA using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

There is no condoning of slavery of any kind, but might be useful to look at the definition of it. This article points out the worse form of slavery, bondage by being chained and working without pay. There are many other forms though, including economic slavery where a person is forced to work in a profession which they would otherwise not be willing to work, such as sex workers, but at least they get paid for such work.

Slavery has got to be the second, if not first, oldest form of work in the history of the world. There is currently slavery even in the US with Latinos being brought as workers and then working for no or very little money.

Question is how one can "embargo" CP or any other multinational that in effect supports such slavery in its supply chain? How do you know the shrimp you are enjoying at any particular restaurant, not only the UK, US EU but elsewhere, does not come from slavery, be it CP as the company mentioned, but also other suppliers? With "blood diamonds" this took years to find a way to potentially identify the good from the bad. How do you provide such IDs to shrimp?

One thing the US did was pass laws that clothing and other US manufacturers needed to check their supply chains on a regular basis to help ensure workers were not enslaved and were paid and treated fairly. Sure this program costs companies, and therefore consumers, huge amounts of money to monitor and would take a major effort by the Wal-Marts and Tesco of the world to monitor their entire supply chain, resulting in the cost of shrimp rising accordingly, possibly to beyond the range of what most people would wish to pay. A very difficult challenge to say the least, but personally I do not see that boycotting CP and 7/11 as more than, as they say, sticking a small nettle into an elephant's ass if even that much.

The problem as always is the oligopoly that has been granted to CP by the rules in Thailand.

If there was reasonable competition, quite quickly a company with ethical practice's would pop up and replace CP and CP would change. But alas, CP is the beast that dominates and so the worlds only option is to boycott them.

[GuestHouse]

Another trafficking victim said he had seen as many as 20 fellow slaves killed in front of him, one of whom was tied, limb by limb, to the bows of four boats and pulled apart at sea.

Give me a break, that never happened. It's fine to look in to fishing, but naive and sensationalistic westerners who speak no local languages, who are looking for a story and waving lots of money around, are going to be told what they want to hear.

A fine example of an apologist.