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EU maintains close watch on #Thailand for signs of progress on fishing and democracy

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thailand-4_2921836bThailand  has been put on formal notice that it faces a potentially crippling exports ban unless further action is taken to tackle fishing irregularities, writes Martin Banks.

The European Union says that it is dissatisfied with progress made in improving conditions in the Thai fishing sector.

Brussels has now given Thailand another six months to end illegal fishing over a year after the European Commission threatened Bangkok with a trade ban.

A source at the European External Action Service (EEAS) said no decision had yet been taken on a red card, or export ban.

“But,” cautioned the spokesman, “we keep the yellow card and continue the dialogue with the Thai authorities.”

The EEAS says it will wait to see if “enough progress has been made” before it reaches a decision on whether to remove the yellow card.

Since receiving the warning from the EU in April 2015, an EU source said that several issues have yet to be addressed, particularly the installation of tracking systems on fishing trawlers and the enforcement of laws.

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The Thai authorities are making more regular checks on vessels and demanded employers give workers written contracts but the issue for many MEPs are human rights on boats, including labour abuses and human traffickers selling people on to boats.

The EU’s yellow card is seen as having been a "wakeup call" to deal with an obsolete fisheries law and if it fails to address the issue, Thailand risks getting a red card, which means the EU would ban the country's seafood imports.

David Martin, a British Socialist MEP, has urged the EU to “remain vigilant” regarding illegal and unregulated fishing and Thailand, which has just marked the second anniversary of military rule.

He told this website: “Reports of slave labour on Thai registered vessels have to be investigated thoroughly and if found to be accurate and no action is taken by the Thai authorities then  Thailand must be given a red card under IUU thus stopping any imports of sea products from Thailand into the EU.”

Further comment came from Somboon Siriraksophan, policy and programme co-ordinator at Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Centre based in Thailand, who said that IUU fishing remains a big challenge for the Asean community.

Their comments come after Thailand marks the second anniversary of the military coup in May 2014 that overthrew a democratically elected government.

Thailand’s military seized power from an elected government on May 22, 2014, with the justification that it wanted to end chaotic and violent political confrontations.

Some say it has achieved this but at the cost of suspending many civil liberties, most notably freedom of expression.

The military holds near-absolute power through Article 44 of the junta-imposed interim constitution which allows Prime Minister Prayuth-o-cha to take any measures deemed necessary to promote public order and unity.

Junta officials have also attracted criticism from rights groups over the policy of sending “offenders” to “re-education camps” and detainment. Another ominous development is the prosecution of human-rights lawyers.

Thailand’s ruling generals have made clear they are not planning to yield control anytime soon.

Initial plans to hold an election in 2015 were deferred until 2016, and are now deferred again until 2017.

The proposed draft constitution is due to go to referendum on 7 August but has been condemned as undemocractic.

It is fashioned to keep power in the hands of the junta’s allies in the traditional elite — using the courts and bureaucracy as their tools — at the expense of the voters’ political representatives.

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