London. UK. On World Day against Human Trafficking, the Seafood Working Group, of which Human Rights at Sea is a member, has put out a statement in response to Thailand’s ranking in the 2020 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report. The SWG is a coalition of over 60 labor rights, human rights, and environmental non-governmental organizations....
Tag: Thailand
Seafood Working Group Publishes Statement on the U.S. Government Decision to Suspend Thailand’s Trade Preferences Due to Worker Rights Issues
Press Release Wednesday 11 December 2019 On Human Rights Day 2019, the Seafood Working Group has published a Statement on the U.S. Government Decision to Suspend Thailand’s Trade Preferences Due to Worker Rights Issues. The statement is a result of the co-drafting of diverse organizations with a unified message, including Human Rights at Sea....
Bangkok Post Op-Ed: Seafood industry must walk talk
The following Op-Ed was written by Art Prapha, Oxfam America’s Senior Private Sector Adviser and was published in the Bangkok Post on the 5th of November 2019. Human Rights at Sea replicates hereunder. “Recently, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced that the US will be suspending US$1.3 billion (39.2 billion baht)...
Joint Civil Society Statement concerning Implementation of the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930
PRESS RELEASE Friday 28 September 2018 London. UK. Human Rights at Sea, alongside 41 civil society organisations, have today issued in Bangkok through HRW a joint statement to the Thai Government to pass a stand-alone forced labor law that meets international standards and contains significant penalties for violators. Statement “Almost 40 years ago, Thailand...
Thai Union and Nestlé Launch Demonstration Boat to Promote Human Rights in Fishing Industry
Friday, December 15, 2017 – 10:00am NEWSROOM: Nestlé CONTENT: Press Release BANGKOK, December 15, 2017 /3BL Media/ — Thai Union Group PCL and Nestlé have launched a demonstration boat to promote the human rights of workers in the Thai fishing industry. The boat is the first of its kind in Thailand. The two companies, in collaboration with...
Escaping the Tiger, Then Meeting the Crocodile: Interview with Phil Robertson Human Rights Watch
HRAS Interview: Escaping the Tiger, Then Meeting the Crocodile Thousands of migrant workers from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos cross the border into Thailand each year. They trade poverty at home for the possibility of relative prosperity abroad. A Thai proverb – escaping from the tiger, then meeting the crocodile – describes the fate of...
The HRAS Interview with Abby McGill: Empowering Migrant Workers in Thailand
HRAS Interview: Empowering Migrant Workers in Thailand It is promising that the Thai government and big industry players like Costco are getting involved in the fight against human rights abuses in the Thai fishing industry, but there is more work to be done. For Abby McGill, that work focus is on empowering Thailand’s migrant...
Press Release: Thailand must cease prosecution of human rights defenders
Human Rights at Sea is pleased to overtly support the case of Andy Hall in Thailand alongside a global coalition of organisations spanning civil society in order to continue to highlight the abuses in the wrongful application of the rule of law towards human rights defenders through their arrest, detention and prosecution. 110 signatures from...
Thailand prematurely upgraded in annual anti-trafficking report
PRESS RELEASE Immediate Thailand prematurely upgraded in annual anti-trafficking report Move unwarranted and could slow progress, according to international coalition (Washington, DC) – The U.S. State Department has removed Thailand from the lowest ranking in its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report in a move that an international coalition of human rights, labor...
The HRAS Interview: Steve Trent Co-founder of the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF)
“In all my experience, over two decades, I cannot think of situations that I’ve seen where extreme violence has been as commonplace as it is in Thailand” _ Over fishing and Commonplace Violence in Thailand _ Read the Full Interview...
Thailand: First Court Hearing for Human Trafficking Case of Migrant Fishing Boat Workers
Press Release Trang Provincial Court Set First Court Hearing for Human Trafficking Case of Migrant Fishing Boat Workers from Myanmar on 13 May 2016 Background On 21 October 2015, officers from the Anti-Human Trafficking Center, Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and local police officers plus civil society organizations have raided and rescued 11 Myanmar...
Building a Rights Culture: How Workers can Lead Change in Thai Seafood
Photo credit: MWRN A joint publication by the International Labour Rights Forum (ILRF) and the Migrant Workers Rights Network (MWRN) Egregious labor rights abuses, including forced labor and human trafficking, have been documented across Thailand’s seafood sector in dozens of reports over more than a decade. Recently, unprecedented international attention on Thailand’s seafood industry,...
Press Release: Human Rights at Sea joins with global organisations in letter to EU Commission concerning Thai fishing and human rights abuses
Human Rights at Sea Press Release Human Rights at Sea joins with global organisations in letter to EU Commission concerning Thai fishing and human rights abuses Human Rights at Sea has joined fellow international labour, environmental and human rights organisations in support of a letter sent to Karmenu Vella, the EU Commissioner for fisheries, maritime...
New EJF report and film: Thailand’s Seafood Slaves
Released today, EJF’s new report underscores the shortcomings in public and private sector efforts to combat human trafficking, forced labour and debt bondage in Thailand’s fishing sector. A link to the accompanying film can be found here. EJF’s new investigation returns to Kantang to uncover that IUU fishing, modern slavery, torture and murder still plague the...
Thai Court sentences former official and orders him to pay compensation to Rohingya human trafficking victim
PRESS RELEASE: Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF) Photo: The Maritime Executive. Thai court sentences former official and orders him to pay compensation to Rohingya human trafficking victim Songkhla Provincial Court sentenced Former member of the Satun PAO to 22 years and six months and ordered him to pay Rohingya human trafficking victim 126,900 baht...