The Bankok Post Tuesday quoted a Foreign Ministry statement saying that the initiative had been an “exploratory idea” and was part of government plans to help prisoners reintegrate into society.
By Saksith Saiyasombut & Siam Voices Jan 20, 2015 10:32PM UTC
By Mark Inkey | @markinkey
Thailand has nixed plans to use convicts to man fishing boats following pressure from human rights organisations.
The Bankok Post Tuesday quoted a Foreign Ministry statement saying that the initiative had been an “exploratory idea” and was part of government plans to help prisoners reintegrate into society.
The ruling junta had proposed to allow convicts with a year or less of their sentences left to volunteer to work in the nation’s notorious fishing industry.
Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch Asia said: “Common sense has prevailed. This was an incredibly bad idea from the outset because the government wasn’t going to be able to offer any human rights protection to the people on these boats.”
According to a previous Human Rights Watch statement: “Problems include widespread and systematic use of forced labor, frequent physical abuse leading in some cases to extrajudicial killings, excessive work hours, … non-payment of wages, inadequate food and medical services, and dangerous working conditions causing many injuries.”
Many of the people working on the Thai boats come from Burma (Myanmar), though there are also Cambodians and others from poor countries in the region working in the industry.
Many of the Burmese workers on the trawlers are tricked into the work by unscrupulous brokers. They are reportedly promised far more lucrative, safer work in factories, restaurants or as home help.
The move to put convicts on the trawlers is seen as an attempt by the Thai government to address manpower shortages in the fishing industry after damaging revelations last year.
Phil Robertson said: “Putting convicts on boats was not going to solve any of those problems. Instead of solving the root problem of why people don’t want to be there they just looked to put another more vulnerable group of people on the boats which was the wrong way to solve the problem.”
In June 2014 the USA dropped Thailand to the lowest level, tier 3, in its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report.
Thailand is the world’s third largest seafood exporter and over 300,000 people work in the fishing industry.
About the author:
Mark Inkey is a freelance journalist specialising in Burma and Southeast Asia. He is also an English editor with Burmese ethnic news umbrella group BNI Online. He usually blogs for Asian Correspondent here.