CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M & SLAVERY
Key fish supplier Thailand again faces questions over industry abuses2023/12/05
Tuna from Thailand is currently not an ethical choice, according to activists, as fishing industry workers, some held against their will, continue to endure abuse.
Franziska Gabbert/dpa
Ethically-minded shoppers might want to think carefully about what tuna or shrimp they put on their shopping lists.
According to Justice for Fishers, a campaign run by the International Transport Workers' Federation, there remains a lack of "robust evidence" that Thailand's seafood is free of "forced labour" and other forms of exploitation.
The South-east Asian nation is one of the world’s main sources of frozen shrimp and canned tuna. But the massive Thai fishing industry, worth around $5-6 billion in exports each year, has for decades been blighted by accusations that workers, particularly foreign sailors, suffer abuses, even being held as slaves or captives, and of murder at sea.
The industry has in recent years made efforts to clean up in the wake of some of the more lurid revelations, with the European Union at one point issuing the government in Bangkok an "ultimatum" to do something about abuses on boats and to rein in captains who fish illegally in other countries’ waters.
As part of its reforms, Thailand’s government in 2019 signed the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 188, which covers fishing work.
But Justice for Fishers believes Thai officials have struggled to "effectively enforce" inspection provisions and said the ILO, a United Nations body, faces "critical questions" about its willingness to hold countries accountable.
There are hundreds of thousands of fishers around the world who experience "exploitation and the abuse of their fundamental rights," according to the campaign group.
© Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
Ethically-minded shoppers might want to think carefully about what tuna or shrimp they put on their shopping lists.
According to Justice for Fishers, a campaign run by the International Transport Workers' Federation, there remains a lack of "robust evidence" that Thailand's seafood is free of "forced labour" and other forms of exploitation.
The South-east Asian nation is one of the world’s main sources of frozen shrimp and canned tuna. But the massive Thai fishing industry, worth around $5-6 billion in exports each year, has for decades been blighted by accusations that workers, particularly foreign sailors, suffer abuses, even being held as slaves or captives, and of murder at sea.
The industry has in recent years made efforts to clean up in the wake of some of the more lurid revelations, with the European Union at one point issuing the government in Bangkok an "ultimatum" to do something about abuses on boats and to rein in captains who fish illegally in other countries’ waters.
As part of its reforms, Thailand’s government in 2019 signed the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 188, which covers fishing work.
But Justice for Fishers believes Thai officials have struggled to "effectively enforce" inspection provisions and said the ILO, a United Nations body, faces "critical questions" about its willingness to hold countries accountable.
There are hundreds of thousands of fishers around the world who experience "exploitation and the abuse of their fundamental rights," according to the campaign group.
© Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
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