Thailand placed 20th out of 167 countries in Global Slavery Index
By Coconuts Bangkok


A commercial fishing boat. Photo: AFP

BANGKOK: -- This year’s Global Slavery Index has put Thailand in 20th place based on the country's percentage of slaves among the population. It estimates that almost a half-million people in Thailand are victims of forced labor.

There are 425,500 modern-day slaves in Thailand (0.63 percent of the country’s population of 68 million) who are forced labor in the commercial fishing, domestic labor trades and in commercial sexual exploitation, according to the report, which was conducted by Walk Free Foundation, an organization that aims to end modern day slavery.

So, while we have less slaves than countries like North Korea, which topped the global list with 1.1 million slaves (4.3 percent), followed by Uzbekistan (3.9 percent), and Cambodia (1.6 percent), we have more slaves than places like Nigeria, Kuwait, Malaysia, and Kenya, UAE, Saudi Arabia and China.

Full story: http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2016/06/02/thailand-placed-20th-out-167-countries-global-slavery-index


-- Coconuts Bangkok 2016-06-03

Hub of slave labor

Shame.

W

What is this year's Global Slavery Abusers Index?

Shame? To say the least.

Criminal? DEFINITELY.

Edited June 2, 201610 yr by selftaopath

That;ll help the TIP report and the EU fishing thang.

Not.

W

Hub of slave labor

Not quite! But soon they could be.

Of course the tiger temple story will get far more attention.

That;ll help the TIP report and the EU fishing thang.

Not.

W

Wait for the positive statement from the govt that they are sure this will not affect how the EU etc sees LoS and the ' great progress ' being made.

Regardless of what country , you don't want to be on this list , the manufacturing and fishing industry buying sector should lead the way and demand their suppliers have a set standard, however their morals are subject to price variation , even Malaysia is on the list , the only index Thailand should strive to be on is the Dow jones.........................

Don't forget the so called 'maids' the so called 'elite' have. These are usually treated just like slaves. If anyone remembers the show ' Upstairs , Downstairs' from the UK years ago, those servants were treated much better than modern day servants in Thailand. The rich have such a bad attitude towards people they think are below them that their workers are nothing but slaves.

Only 20th ... EU will extend time for Thailand until it reaches 1st

I'm sure very easy to count slaves. And I'm sure being a slave in Thailand is just like being a slave in China.

Unfortunately, a lot were born in the wrong place at the wrong time.

we should all be thankful, but we still will find something to complain about!!!!

10 likes or I'm not getting my 30 baht soup to help the economy!!!!!

Don't forget the so called 'maids' the so called 'elite' have. These are usually treated just like slaves. If anyone remembers the show ' Upstairs , Downstairs' from the UK years ago, those servants were treated much better than modern day servants in Thailand. The rich have such a bad attitude towards people they think are below them that their workers are nothing but slaves.

Do you have anything backing this up?

At least there is one growing sector of the economy on track to meet targets

I think all these articles saying 'slavery is closer than you think' are rubbish.----

.

There's absolutely no information on where I can get one......................

Hub of slave labor

The hub comments are my job!!!!

Of course the tiger temple story will get far more attention.

Nail on the head...

Don't forget the so called 'maids' the so called 'elite' have. These are usually treated just like slaves. If anyone remembers the show ' Upstairs , Downstairs' from the UK years ago, those servants were treated much better than modern day servants in Thailand. The rich have such a bad attitude towards people they think are below them that their workers are nothing but slaves.

Whilst I'm as appalled as anyone by this, this attitude is sadly a pan-Asian disease. In Singapore the Indonesian Embassy maintains a very busy refuge out the back for Indonesian maids who have been mistreated by their employers.

Edit: to be fair, every well off Thai family I am in contact with treat their staff well as far as I can see. When we first rented in BKK years back we were suggested good staff (a housekeeper) by the owners and it came with a list of required employment benefits.

Edited June 3, 201610 yr by Snig27

Hub of slave labor

Not quite! But soon they could be.

Almost there... su su na!

The slaver fishing boats, the island of the slaves in Indonesia, the good general reprimanding the journalist for breaking the story, the police investigator running for his life, it defies fiction. Sadly, it was a well known fact for years that there were slaves on the fishing boats.

People do not jump to the instant conclusion that things have got much worse ( I am appalled as anyone in the concept of modern day slavery )

The numbers have actually gone down.

This organisation's methodology takes into account another 25 factors that enable to come up with the list of counties.

This includes things such as personal freedom etc.

It is more a reflection of the type of Government that we have at the moment.

Don't forget the so called 'maids' the so called 'elite' have. These are usually treated just like slaves. If anyone remembers the show ' Upstairs , Downstairs' from the UK years ago, those servants were treated much better than modern day servants in Thailand. The rich have such a bad attitude towards people they think are below them that their workers are nothing but slaves.

Do you have anything backing this up?

Yes! Seen it myself.

Just looked up the actual ranking details:

http://www.globalslaveryindex.org/findings/

Based on their figures, the ranking of Thailand should actually be joint 56th - not 20th - out of 167 countries (a more precise calculation shows Thailand in 58th place). Bad enough but not quite the headline grabber as noted in the article.

They have made the schoolboy error of simply advancing to the next number even where there are a number of countries with the same ranking number.

If they can't get that simple calculation correct...............

Is 20th place "good", or "bad", it's so hard to tell with these polls?

Does this qualify Thailand for the Slavery Olympics? They might win a gold medal in the "Burmese throw" event?

The USA does not have clean hands in this matter or Child Sex Abuse but always seems to evade the issue. The interstate trafficking of women and children has become an enormous problem. Somme states are thought to have up to fifty thousand worn and kids in enslavement - branded or tatooed with their owners names. If one were to factor in prison labour in the privatised prison system the USA would be high up the list. These surveys are blinkered to tarnish reputation of certain developing countries. Same with corruption indexes. But a recent survey using different metrics classified the UK as the mother corrupt country in the world.

Well, you have a Labor Minister instructing the Department of Employment to see to it that migrant workers all will do the provided jobs as unskilled laborers or servants.

In their defense (if there is any) a lot of the surrounding coutries are doing worse than Thailand. Cambodia, Myanmar, Brunei is according to the index worse, Malayisa follows on 29th, Philippines is on 33, Laos on 37, Indonesia is 39 and Singapore 45th place. Vietnam follows on 47.

Instead the usual ASEAN nonsense talk, perhaps this is really where ASEAN could play a role in eliminating this disgusting behavior?

Well, you have a Labor Minister instructing the Department of Employment to see to it that migrant workers all will do the provided jobs as unskilled laborers or servants.

In their defense (if there is any) a lot of the surrounding coutries are doing worse than Thailand. Cambodia, Myanmar, Brunei is according to the index worse, Malayisa follows on 29th, Philippines is on 33, Laos on 37, Indonesia is 39 and Singapore 45th place. Vietnam follows on 47.

Instead the usual ASEAN nonsense talk, perhaps this is really where ASEAN could play a role in eliminating this disgusting behavior?

These sort of surveys work very much on extrapolation - ie you genuinely find some fishing boats who exploit people from Cambodia , Laos etc - then you apply that to the entire fishing fleet. It is true - who knows.

They also seem to take great store in a documentary from Chris Kelly - I think this was the guy who went ' under cover ' ( OK) to work on Thai fishing boats- a photo of a boat features on the report.

They talk a lot about under age prostitution - young men for the tourists etc. Maybe but not mainstream .

The Chattering Classes would totally hate to think their prawn cocktails came from slave labour , yet not consider that their TShirts are probably made from cotton picked by slsve labour - need that $2 T-shirt

Yes it's appalling - these reports are produced by people with a political agenda- look through their detailed report and methodology - make up your own mind . .

Just looked up the actual ranking details:

http://www.globalslaveryindex.org/findings/

Based on their figures, the ranking of Thailand should actually be joint 56th - not 20th - out of 167 countries (a more precise calculation shows Thailand in 58th place). Bad enough but not quite the headline grabber as noted in the article.

They have made the schoolboy error of simply advancing to the next number even where there are a number of countries with the same ranking number.

If they can't get that simple calculation correct...............

On the list Thailand is joint 20th, along with those countries (there are 8 of them) who have been estimated to have the same percentage of their populations (0.626%) in slavery as Thailand.

Please let everyone else know what the "precise calculation", which you have made and they have not, is.

Edited June 3, 201610 yr by Enoon

Don't forget the so called 'maids' the so called 'elite' have. These are usually treated just like slaves. If anyone remembers the show ' Upstairs , Downstairs' from the UK years ago, those servants were treated much better than modern day servants in Thailand. The rich have such a bad attitude towards people they think are below them that their workers are nothing but slaves.

Do you have anything backing this up?

Yes! Seen it myself.

Did you see it around 8:30PM on Channel 7 on a daily basis maybe?