The U.S. State Department released its annual Trafficking in Persons report this week, and has once again labeled Thailand as a hub for human trafficking.
The new report comes less than a month after the nonprofit group Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) released its own report, detailing slavery and murder in the Thai fishing industry.
The state department designation, in short, is an acknowledgement that the Thai government has made an effort to address the issue, but significant problems still remain.
“The Government of Thailand does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking,” Secretary of State John Kerry said in the report. “The government has not shown sufficient evidence of increasing efforts to address human trafficking compared to the previous year; therefore, Thailand is placed on Tier 2 Watch List for a fourth consecutive year.”
The EJF met with state department officials prior to the report’s release, discussing the results of the EJF’s own investigation into seafood industry worker trafficking.
The EJF’s investigation found evidence of traffickers picking up workers at factories on the mainland, then forcing them into labor on fishing vessels, often without pay, and amid sometimes violent conditions. Some victims, according to the EJF, reported other workers being murdered at sea, the bodies tossed overboard.
Both the EJF and the state department concluded that not only were the human rights abuses happening, but corruption in the Thai government was permitting it to continue. The state department report indicated the problems extended way beyond the seafood industry there.
“Thailand is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking,” the report said.
Steve Trent, EJF’s executive director, praised the state department for keeping Thailand on the Tier 2 watchlist level. He called on the Thai government and the global seafood industry to do more to stop the trafficking.
“Thailand needs to address this issue head on, by rooting out corruption, prosecuting offending boat owners and companies, and ensuring a rigorous inspection regime,” Trent said. “Meanwhile seafood businesses need to urgently investigate their supply chains to ensure that no products linked to human trafficking are present.”
