Thailand's continuous effort to eradicate human trafficking activities: Special report

[webfact]

Special Report: Thailand’s continuous effort to eradicate human trafficking activities

BANGKOK: -- Foreign importers remain confident in Thai seafood products and there have been no order cancellations, following the release of the US State Department’s 2014 Trafficking in Person (TIP) Report placing Thailand in Tier 3.

President of the Thai Frozen Foods Association Poj Aramwattananont said that Walmart, the largest food retailer in the United States, still ordered products from Thailand.

Regarding a possibility for the removal of a number of Thai products from the US Department of Labor’s list of goods produced by child labor or forced labor, Mr. Poj believed that the possibility was high for sugar cane to be removed from the list. He stressed the need to reorganize labor in Thailand in order to bring foreign labor into the system.

Mr. Songsak Saicheua, Director General of the Department of American and South Pacific Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that the US National Fisheries Institute had met eight large retail buyers, which reaffirmed that they would not stop buying goods from Thailand.

However, they would like to see concrete developments and progress being made in combating human trafficking and unfair treatment of laborers. The buyers have expressed their desire to cooperate with the Thai government and producers to pinpoint existing problems.

Mr. Songsak also denied the rumor that Whole Foods Market, an American supermarket chain, had cancelled orders for products from CP Group, which was an attempt to put more pressure on consumers. He said that the Thai Ambassador to the United States had called on Mr. Scot Marciel, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, to reiterate Thailand’s disappointment and disagreement with the assessment made by the United States in its 2014 TIP Report.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked Royal Thai embassies and Royal Thai consulates in the United States and Europe to evaluate impacts on Thai products and meet key figures from the public sector, the legislative branch, large buyers, the media, and NGOs to create better understanding of the issue.

In another related story, M.L. Puntarik Smiti, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Labor, reiterated the intention of the Thai government to seriously combat human trafficking, forced labor, and child labor. She said that the Ministry of Labor and relevant agencies were working out measures to provide better protection for child labor. One of the measures is to increase the minimum age of the workers from sixteen to eighteen.

Moreover, the Marine Department and other agencies involved will introduce new measures on registration of workers and labor protection. In order to promote confidence among buyers, workplaces in the shrimp processing and seafood industries will be urged to comply with the Good Labor Practice guideline. The Department of Labor Protection and Welfare, the Department of Fisheries, and the International Labor Organization are joining forces in dealing with the child labor problem. An action plan will be worked out, as well, for the reduction of child labor in the future.

-- NNT 2014-06-30

[Thai at Heart]

I am still confused by this story. How many contradictions in this post.

Any embargo hasn't been signed into law yet. Didn't it say on day one that Obama had 30 days to decide whether to act?

[thesetat2013]

Just wait and see if the US doesnt change theit mind. Or when walmarts start getting people protesting at their stores about exploiting slave and child labor for their products. Unless Thai and the US are keeping this a secret from the general population there eventually will be groups petitioning against the large buyers and protesting their outlets

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[Mango Bob]

It took the good old USA to get Thailand off it's.butt and do something about human trafficking. Someone had to do it, you can't depend on those European countries or the UK to act.

[FangFerang]

First a thread about "amnesty for human traffickers", then this one story of literally millions showing contradictions from the first sentence, then the announcement that it will take two years to fix this (and the junta said they will be in office for less time than that).

Sorry guys, this smells...fishy. The time needed is just a little longer than they will be in power (while simultaneously supporting amnesty for human slavery), and the next government is expected to finish what the military started...

Yeah...right...

BS alert...BS alert, warning...warning...

[TonyChiangMai]

Many children still working in the streets, but then they are Hill Tribe, a nation without a country, so I guess they do not qualify as Thai even though they and all their ancestors were born here.

[Emster23]

"reiterate Thailand’s disappointment and disagreement with the assessment made by the United States in its 2014 TIP Report." Whinging seems to be the continuous effort here. Have an impact on the economy? Duh. That's the idea, smuck! Like we say "money talks and BS walks".

"desire to cooperate with the Thai government and producers to pinpoint existing problems." AND THEN DO SOMETHING TO STOP IT! Jeez, how dense can they be??? (Not a dare, btw)

[northernjohn]

How?

Special Report: Thailand’s continuous effort to eradicate human trafficking activities

Did the word continuous get into that headline. That would indicate that Thailand had been doing some thing besides covering it up.