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#Thailand EU urged to consider seafood ban and raise human-rights issues in trade talks with Thailand

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Thailand seafood banThe EU has come under fresh pressure to ban seafood products from Thailand and ensure that concerns over human trafficking are specifically raised in any trade negotiations between the two sides.

The demand to take action against "intolerable" conditions in the Thai fishing industry comes as the Bangkok trial starts on Monday of Briton Andy Hall who is being tried by the Thai authorities for criminal defamation and 'computer crimes' after raising instances of modern slavery in Thailand.

Hall's passport was confiscated by the Thai authorities and he has been forbidden from leaving the country. He faces up to seven years in jail if found guilty.

The researcher has fought to protect human rights in south east Asia for the past 10 years and took part in key research which documented the dreadful treatment of migrant workers in a large Thai seafood company.

Brussels-based Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF), an internationally respected NGO, says the time has come for the EU to clamp down on Thailand over continued abuses in its seafood sector.

Its director, Willy Fautre, told this website: "I am aware of the problem in Thailand. The EU can no longer tolerate a slavery situation in Thai fisheries and should ban any seafood import as long as Thailand has not provided strong evidence that it is seriously implementing policies aiming at the eradication of this practice.

“According to the International Labour Organisation, hundreds of migrants from neighbouring countries are trafficked by fishing factories. It is time for EU Commissioner for fisheries Karmenu Vella to send a delegation to Thailand. Their mandate should include meetings with the relevant authorities and with local civil society organizations dealing with human trafficking in the fishing industry.”

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His comments come after the European Commission last week said it was effectively extending a deadline given to the Thai authorities to improve problems in its seafood industry. A yellow card, or warning, issued last April expired in October but will now continue "indefinitely".

Pressure on the Thais further intensified on Monday with publication of a report by the respected Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) who reports that in Thailand, "forced labour, child labour, human trafficking and various other human rights abuses are widespread" in IUU fishing fleets. These fleets, says the EJF, "operate under the radar" and the only control mechanisms they are likely to encounter are spot checks from seafood processors on land.

The report by the UK-based group, seen by this website, says that activities to suppress and prevent human trafficking have remained "misguided, occasionally incompetent and at times corrupted by the interests of powerful and influential individuals at the local and regional level."

It argues that the European Commission, European Parliament and member states "should ensure that concerns over human trafficking are specifically raised in the context of trade negotiations between the EU and Thailand, in accordance with commitments made by the European Commission.

Consumers too have a key role to play, says the EJF, saying they should "demand retailers commit to ensuring all seafood products are produced sustainably and without trafficked, forced or bonded labour.

"They should also demand “net to plate” traceability for all seafood products to ensure that environmental or social and human rights abuses are identified and removed from every stage of production."

Thailand is the third largest seafood exporter in the world, with seafood exports valued at $7.3 billion. The European Union imported more than €835.5 million worth of seafood from Thailand  last year while the value of imports by the United States exceeded $1.6 billion.

Even so, the EJF, in the report, says that the Thai fishing industry "remains heavily reliant on trafficked and forced labour", adding: "It is clear that rising overheads, exacerbated by the need to spend more time at sea for smaller catches due to over-fishing and chronic mismanagement will continue to encourage these abuses.

"As boat operators have looked to cut costs, working conditions and wages have suffered, causing many workers to turn away from the industry and forcing some employers to rely on criminal trafficking networks to meet the labour shortfall."

Corruption, notes the EJF, "remains a major obstacle" to efforts to combat human trafficking in Thailand.

"EJF investigations uncovered evidence of continued police collusion in the trafficking and exploitation of migrant workers aboard Thai fishing boats."

Investigations, it adds, reveal that local officials often provide protection and even assistance to unscrupulous brokers and business owners engaged in the trafficking and abuse of migrant workers.

Operators are now taking greater precaution to avoid detection, including transhipping trafficked workers at sea, it says.

"Poor and chaotic fisheries management have further exacerbated and entrenched the situation as severely reduced catch volumes resulting from decades of over-fishing require boats to spend more time at sea."

The EJF is now calling for "determined action at the highest levels of Government" to "identify and successfully prosecute" criminals, corrupt officials and unscrupulous business operators.

The advocacy group says this should be accompanied by the introduction and enforcement of "comprehensive measures" to regulate Thailand’s fishing fleets and recruitment practices.

Failure to do so will mean that "violence, exploitation and slavery will remain an ongoing feature of Thailand’s seafood industry."

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