Thailand's seafood industry: state-sanctioned slavery?

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Slave labor practices behind seafood sourced from Thailand
Karen Graham
7 hours ago

Eating our shrimp scampi or other seafood dishes, we don't give much thought to the hazardous and inhumane living, and working conditions laborers live under in Thailand while harvesting the seafood we are enjoying.

The use of either forced or slave labor in the Thailand seafood industry is not a new revelation, but an ongoing series of human-rights abuses and human trafficking. Thailand's outrageous abuses against workers in the country's multibillion-dollar seafood industry was documented in June of 2014 by Digital Journal, which pointed out how corruption, going all the way to the highest levels of government succeeded in keeping the abuses under wraps.


Prawns are both sold directly and to other distributors as a result of this slave labor.
Thamizhpparithi Maari

While the Digital Journal story said the United States would soon rate Thailand in the most severe tier of human trafficking countries alongside North Korea, nothing has been done. Seven months ago,
These fishing boat laborers were sold to the captain for $480 each.
YouTube

Lawsuits bring the abuses back into the public eye On August 20, 2015, a federal lawsuit was filed against Costco demanding they company stop buying shrimp from suppliers in Thailand. According to the filing, it alleges that Costco is deceiving customers by not including an advisory about slavery on product packaging. "Any representation by Costco that slavery in the supply chain is not allowed is simply false," the lawsuit alleges. "Costco continues to unlawfully induce consumers to buy Costco farmed prawn products ... through the use of slave labor." One week after the Costco lawsuit was filed, Nestle was hit with a class-action lawsuit that alleges the company's Fancy Feast cat food, imported from its partner, Thai Union Frozen Products, was the product of slave labor. Nestle is one of the biggest food companies in the world, with brands that include Perrier, Purina pet food, Haagen-Dazs, and Nescafe, to name just a few. Surely, they already knew of the allegations against the Thai seafood industry, but they commissioned an investigation from Verite, a U.S.-based fair labor advocacy group. The report
Seafood destined for a store near you.
YouTube

The report also details life for workers on the fishing boats, saying there is "limited access to medical care for injuries or infection, and working 16-hour days, seven days a week; enduring chronic sleep deprivation; and suffering from an insufficient supply of water for drinking, showering or cooking" is routine. The same or worse treatment is foisted on land-based workers, with the laborers being locked in cages at night. But all the workers interviewed by Verite spoke of not being paid for over a year, and then being billed for "services" that took most of their money. There was also many descriptions of verbal and physical abuse, including beatings, and even deaths from abuse. Nestle has publicly stated it would work on improving the situation, claiming they would educate fishing boat captains on proper practices, as well as tracking the source of their seafood ingredients. This is a step in the right direction, but many people wonder if its enough. Steve Berman, a managing partner of the law firm Hagens Berman, which in August filed the class-action lawsuit

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Trafficking, abuse systemic on Thai fishing boats, says UK rights group
30 November 2015


A young girl packs crab at the port of Ranong in southern Thailand.
(PHOTO: John Hulme) Thomson Reuters FoundationThomson Reuters FoundationThomson Reuters Foundation could not immediately find a working telephone number or email address for Wor Wattana.

Illegal Fishing
Read more about dvb.no

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2 Myanmar fishermen tell Indonesian court they were enslaved
Dec 4

An Indonesian court has overruled defense objections and decided to proceed with the trials of five Thais and three Indonesians accused of human trafficking in connection with slavery in the seafood industry.

The three-judge panel on Friday rejected arguments by defense lawyers that a government moratorium on foreign fishing boats was chiefly responsible for the stranding of hundreds of foreign fishermen, many trafficked or enslaved, on remote Indonesian islands.

The defendants are accused of violating a law against people smuggling that carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years and a fine of up to $46,000.

The court heard testimonies Friday from two Myanmar fishermen, who said they had been tortured, forced to work up to 24 hours a day, and were not paid.

hosted.ap.org

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Fri, December 04 2015


Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti and Thailand Agriculture minister Chatchai Sarikulya speak to journalists at Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry in Jakarta on Friday.
(kompas.com)kompas.com.

He said that the Thai government would follow Susi's methods to tackle illegal fishing.

"I really appreciate being warmly welcomed here and I will do the same in Thailand later," he said.

On the same occasion, Susi expressed her appreciation for the Thai government acting more firmly on illegal fishing.

"Ships (guilty of IUU fishing) that get sent back there will be punished well," Susi explained.

The cooperation with Thailand to tackle illegal fishing will not change a lot of what has already been implemented in Indonesia, according to Susi.

She said if ships pleaded guilty, they would be sunk.

"We want to solve (IUU fishing) together. But it does not mean boats that were stolen will not still be sunk," Susi said.

So far Indonesia has sunken more than 100 boats and ships that were found guilty of catching fish in Indonesian waters.

thejakartapost.com

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Vice Admiral Chumpol: Thailand has done its best to resolve IUU problem

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EU must come up with an explanation if Thailand is to be issued with a red card
Vice Admiral Chumpol Lumpikanont

can't see that being a problem

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Over 8,000 illegal boats forced to stop fishing
PETCHANET PRATRUANGKRAI
December 5, 2015



THAILAND NOW EYEING SUSTAINABLE LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT OF SECTOR

TO DEAL with the problem of illegal fishing, the authorities have terminated the operation of more than 8,000 illegal fishing trawlers, the Command Centre for Combating Illegal Fishing (CCCIF) said yesterday.

The centre has also settled a conflict between a local fishing community and big commercial trawlers by marking out borders for them, it said. The borders are about 10 kilometres from the shore in the Gulf of Thailand and some 5km into the Andaman Sea.

Trawlers that are larger than 6 gross tons must be equipped with a surveillance system, the CCCIF said, adding that this system has already been installed in 4,968 fishing trawlers so far.

Thailand has been making an effort to maintain order in the fishing industry since the European Union gave it a yellow card in April for its illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices. However, the EU extended its six-month deadline from October for the country to improve its fishing practices.

Measures to stop illegal practices have had some implications on small fishing operators, and in response to this, the Cabinet approved a Bt228-million budget to assist fishermen, the CCCIF said. Some of them have been granted soft loans to help them switch professions, it said.

The CCCIF also mapped out a five-year national action plan to counter illegal fishing and get fishing folk in the Kingdom to comply with international standards, it said.

Vice Admiral Jumpol Lumpiganon, as chairman of the CCCIF, told the press yesterday that Thailand had taken big steps in combating issues related to labour and illegal fishing over the past year in response to the EU's demands.

"The Kingdom is now looking beyond accomplishing the EU's decision on whether to upgrade Thailand, as the country is moving in the right direction, which meets international standards. We hope Thailand will pass all assessments in the future," he said.

Jumpol added that the government had been working closely with the private sector and had set up a management plan to deal with IUU fishing by issuing and enforcing many laws and regulations.

He added that 22 EU envoys had said in an initial meeting that they were quite satisfied with Thailand's moves to fix IUU issues. He said the EU would send a team to check on Thailand's efforts next month, before deciding whether it will maintain the country's yellow card or upgrade or downgrade its status.

He said the EU would have to provide a clear explanation if it decides to continue maintain the yellow card or downgrade its status, especially since the Kingdom has been making strong efforts to tackle IUU.

In addition to the sustainable development of the fishing industry, the government is drawing up a new bill on protecting national marine interests by integrating the work of 16 government agencies. The process of enacting this new bill is expected to be completed in six months to a year, after which the government will turn its Command Centre for Combating Illegal Fishing into a centre for protecting national marine interests.

Arak Prommanee, director-general of the Department of Employment, said the government was also going ahead with enforcing stringent laws to protect youth. Under the new labour-protection law, anybody in the fishing industry employing workers under the age of 18 will be subject to maximum punishment.

nationmultimedia.com

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Michael Peel
December 10, 2015


When made an extraordinary admission last month, it was just the latest sign of mounting pressure on a trade that has become a byword for brutality.

The Swiss food giant acknowledged its Thai seafood operationsslave ships 2015 Seasonal Appeal, the Financial Times is working in partnership with Stop The TraffikCostcoThailand

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Thai Union to bring all shrimp processing in-house by year end
Neil Ramsden
December 10, 2015


A Thai shrimp peeling shed.
Credit: Environmental Justice Foundation Undercurrent News.

"MWRN shall be working with TUG on a new project to transparently map and monitor conditions in their in house establishments, train workers on basic rights and promote social dialogue with Thai Union management, in a new project project beginning on Jan. 1 2016," he revealed.

"MWRN have continually pushed Thai Union, and worked with them constantly for many years -- particularly throughout 2015 -- to take seriously ongoing abuses in their supply chain, including in primary processing, shrimp farms, and of course on boats."

undercurrentnews.com

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Global supermarkets selling shrimp peeled by slaves

Global supermarkets selling shrimp peeled by slaves
MARGIE MASON, ROBIN McDOWELL, MARTHA MENDOZA and ESTHER HTUSAN
Dec 14


AP Photo/Dita Alangkar

SAMUT SAKHON, Thailand (AP) -- Every morning at 2 a.m., they heard a kick on the door and a threat: Get up or get beaten. For the next 16 hours, No. 31 and his wife stood in the factory that owned them with their aching hands in ice water. They ripped the guts, heads, tails and shells off shrimp bound for overseas markets, including grocery stores and all-you-can-eat buffets across the United States.

After being sold to the Gig Peeling Factory, they were at the mercy of their Thai bosses, trapped with nearly 100 other Burmese migrants. Children worked alongside them, including a girl so tiny she had to stand on a stool to reach the peeling table. Some had been there for months, even years, getting little or no pay. Always, someone was watching.

No names were ever used, only numbers given by their boss - Tin Nyo Win was No. 31.

Pervasive human trafficking has helped turn Thailand into one of the world's biggest shrimp providers. Despite repeated promises by businesses and government to clean up the country's $7 billion seafood export industry, an Associated Press investigation has found shrimp peeled by modern-day slaves is reaching the U.S., Europe and Asia.

The problem is fueled by corruption and complicity among police and authorities. Arrests and prosecutions are rare. Raids can end up sending migrants without proper paperwork to jail, while owners go unpunished.

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More than 2,000 trapped fishermen have been freed this year as a result of an ongoing Associated Press investigative series into slavery in the Thai seafood industry. The reports also have led to a dozen arrests, millions of dollars' worth of seizures and proposals for new federal laws.

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Hundreds of shrimp peeling sheds are hidden in plain sight on residential streets or behind walls with no signs in Samut Sakhon, a port town an hour outside Bangkok. The AP found one factory that was enslaving dozens of workers, and runaway migrants led rights groups to the Gig shed and a third facility. All three sheds held 50 to 100 people each, many locked inside.

As Tin Nyo Win soon found out for himself, there's no easy escape. One woman had been working at Gig for eight years. Another man ended up peeling shrimp there after breaking free from an equally brutal factory.

"I was shocked after working there a while, and I realized there was no way out," said Tin Nyo Win, 22, who has a baby face and teeth stained red from chewing betel nut.

"I told my wife, 'We're in real trouble. If something ends up going wrong, we're going to die.'"

Last month, AP journalists followed and filmed trucks loaded with freshly peeled shrimp from the Gig shed to major Thai exporting companies and then, using U.S. customs records and Thai industry reports, tracked it globally. They also traced similar connections from another factory raided six months earlier, and interviewed more than two dozen workers from both sites.

U.S. customs records show the shrimp made its way into the supply chains of major U.S. food stores and retailers such as Wal-Mart, Kroger, Whole Foods, Dollar General and Petco, along with restaurants such as Red Lobster and Olive Garden.

It also entered the supply chains of some of America's best-known seafood brands and pet foods, including Chicken of the Sea and Fancy Feast, which are sold in grocery stores from Safeway and Schnucks to Piggly Wiggly and Albertsons. AP reporters went to supermarkets in all 50 states and found shrimp products from supply chains tainted with forced labor.

European and Asian import and export records are confidential, but the Thai companies receiving shrimp tracked by the AP all say they ship to Europe and Asia as well.

The businesses that responded condemned the practices that lead to these conditions. Many said they were launching investigations when told their supply chains were linked to people held against their will in sheds like the Gig factory, which sat behind a gate off a busy street, between railroad tracks and a river.

Inside the large warehouse, toilets overflowed with feces, and the putrid smell of raw sewage wafted from an open gutter just outside the work area. Young children ran barefoot through suffocating dorm rooms. Entire families labored side-by-side at rows of stainless steel counters piled high with tubs of shrimp.

Tin Nyo Win and his wife, Mi San, were cursed for not peeling fast enough and called "cows" and "buffalos." They were allowed to go outside for food only if one of them stayed behind as insurance against running away.

But escaping was all they could think about.

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Shrimp is the most-loved seafood in the U.S., with Americans downing 1.3 billion pounds every year, or about 4 pounds per person. Once a luxury reserved for special occasions, it became cheap enough for stir-fries and scampis when Asian farmers started growing it in ponds three decades ago. Thailand quickly dominated the market and now sends nearly half of its supply to the U.S.

The Southeast Asian country is one of the worst human trafficking hubs on earth. It has been blacklisted for the past two years by the U.S. State Department, which cited complicity by Thai officials. The European Union issued a warning earlier this year that tripled seafood import tariffs, and is expected to decide next month whether to impose an outright ban.

Consumers enjoy the convenience of dumping shrimp straight from freezer to skillet, the result of labor-intensive peeling and cleaning. Unable to keep up with demand, exporters get their supply from peeling sheds that are sometimes nothing more than crude garages adjacent to the boss's house. Supply chains are so complicated that, on any given day, buyers may not know exactly where the shrimp comes from.

The Thai Frozen Foods Association lists about 50 registered shrimp sheds in the country. However, hundreds more operate in Samut Sakhon, the country's main shrimp processing region. Here the humid air hangs thick with the smell of dead fish. Refrigerated trucks with seafood logos barrel down streets straddled by huge processing plants. Just as ubiquitous are the small pickups loaded with migrant workers from neighboring Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar being taken to gut, fillet, de-vein and peel the seafood that fuels this town's economy.

Abuse is common in Samut Sakhon. An International Labor Organization report estimated 10,000 migrant children aged 13 to 15 work in the city. Another U.N. agency study found nearly 60 percent of Burmese laborers toiling in its seafood processing industry were victims of forced labor.

Tin Nyo Win and his wife were taken to the Gig Peeling Factory in July when they made the long drive from Myanmar across the border, crammed so tightly into a truck with other workers that they could barely breathe. Like many migrants, they were lured from home by a broker with promises of good-paying jobs, and came without visas or work permits.

After being sold to the Gig shed, the couple learned they would have to work off what was considered their combined worth - $830. It was an insurmountable debt.

Because they were illegal workers, the owners constantly threatened to call police to keep them in line. Even documented migrants were vulnerable because the boss held onto identification papers so they could not leave.

Under the U.S. government's definition, forced labor and debt bondage are considered slavery.

In the Gig shed, employees' salaries were pegged to how fast their fingers could move. Tin Nyo Win and his wife peeled about 175 pounds of shrimp for just $4 a day, less than half of what they were promised. A female Thai manager, who slapped and cursed workers, often cut their wages without explanation. After they bought gloves and rubber boots, and paid monthly "cleaning fees" inside the trash-strewn shed, almost nothing was left.

Employees said they had to work even when they were ill. Seventeen children peeled alongside adults, sometimes crying, at stations where paint chipped off the walls and slick floors were eaten away by briny water.

Lunch breaks were only 15 minutes, and migrants were yelled at for talking too much. Several workers said a woman died recently because she didn't get proper medical care for her asthma. Children never went to school and began peeling shrimp just an hour later than adults.

"We had to get up at 3 in the morning and then start working continuously," said Eae Hpaw, 16, whose arms were a patchwork of scars from infections and allergies caused by the shrimp. "We stopped working around 7 in the evening. We would take a shower and sleep. Then we would start again."

After being roughed up one night by a supervisor, five months into their captivity, Tin Nyo Win and his wife decided they couldn't take the threats anymore.

"They would say, 'There's a gun in the boss's car and we're going to come and shoot you, and no one will know,'" he said.

The next morning, the couple saw an opportunity when the door wasn't being watched.

They ran.

Less than 24 hours later, Tin Nyo Win's wife was captured at a market by the shed manager. He watched helplessly as she was dragged away by her hair, terrified for her - and the baby they recently learned she was carrying.

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Tracking shipments from just the Gig Peeling Factory highlights how fast and far slave-peeled shrimp can travel.

The AP followed trucks from the shed over five days to major Thai exporters. One load pulled into N&N Foods, owned by one of the world's largest seafood companies, Tokyo-based Maruha Nichiro Foods. A second drove to Okeanos Food, a subsidiary of another leading global seafood supplier, Thai Union. Still more went to Kongphop Frozen Foods and The Siam Union Frozen Foods, which have customers in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia. All the exporters and parent companies that responded said they abhor human rights abuses.

Shrimp can mix with different batches of seafood as it is packaged, branded and shipped. At that point, there's no way to tell where any individual piece was peeled. Once it reaches American restaurants, hospitals, universities and military chow halls, all the shrimp from those four Thai processors is considered associated with slavery, according to United Nations and U.S. standards.

U.S. customs records linked the exported shrimp to more than 40 U.S. brands, including popular names such as Sea Best, Waterfront Bistro and Aqua Star. The AP found shrimp products with the same labels in more than 150 stores across America - from Honolulu to New York City to a tiny West Virginia town of 179 people. The grocery store chains have tens of thousands of U.S. outlets where millions of Americans shop.

In addition, the Thai distributors state on their websites that they export to Europe and Asia, although specific records are confidential. AP reporters in Germany, Italy, England and Ireland researched shrimp in supermarkets and found several brands sourced from Thailand. Those stores said the names of their Thai distributors are proprietary. Royal Greenland - an importer whose shrimp was seen under store brands as a product from Thailand but has not been linked to the sheds - said it now has shifted its sourcing to Ecuador.

By all accounts, the work at the Gig shed was off the books - and thus even businesses carefully tracking the provenance of the shrimp called the AP's findings a surprise.

"I want to eliminate this," said Dirk Leuenberger, CEO of Aqua Star. "I think it's disgusting that it's even remotely part of my business."
Some, including Red Lobster, Whole Foods and H-E-B Supermarkets, said they were confident - based on assurances from their Thai supplier - that their particular shrimp was not associated with abusive factories. That Thai supplier admits it hadn't known where it was getting all its shrimp and sent a note outlining corrective measures to U.S. businesses demanding answers last week.

"I am deeply disappointed that despite our best efforts we have discovered this potential instance of illegal labor practice in our supply chain," Thai Union CEO Thiraphong Chansiri wrote. His statement acknowledged "that illicitly sourced product may have fraudulently entered its supply chain" and confirmed a supplier "was doing business with an unregistered pre-processor in violation of our code of conduct."
After AP brought its findings to dozens of global retailers, Thai Union announced it will bring all shrimp-processing in-house by the end of the year and provide jobs to workers whose factories close as a result. It's a significant step from the industry leader whose international brands include John West in Britain, Petit Navire in France and Mareblu in Italy; shrimp from abusive factories in Thailand has not been associated with them.

Susan Coppedge, the U.S. State Department's new anti-trafficking ambassador, said problems persist because brokers, boat captains and seafood firms aren't held accountable and victims have no recourse.

"We have told Thailand to improve their anti-trafficking efforts, to increase their prosecutions, to provide services to victims," she said. She added that American consumers "can speak through their wallets and tell companies: 'We don't want to buy things made with slavery.'"

The State Department has not slapped Thailand with sanctions applied to other countries with similarly weak human trafficking records because it is a strategically critical Southeast Asian ally. And federal authorities say they can't enforce U.S. laws that ban importing goods produced by forced labor, citing an exception for items consumers can't get from another source. Thai shrimp slips right through that loophole.

Thailand is not the only source of slave-tainted seafood in the U.S., where nearly 90 percent of shrimp is imported.

The State Department's annual anti-trafficking reports have tied such seafood to 55 countries on six continents, including major suppliers to the U.S. Earlier this year, the AP uncovered a slave island in Benjina, Indonesia, where hundreds of migrant fishermen were trafficked from Thailand and sometimes locked in a cage. In November, food giant Nestle disclosed that its own Thai suppliers were abusing and enslaving workers and has vowed to force change.

Human trafficking in Thailand also stretches far beyond the seafood industry. Earlier this year, high-ranking officials were implicated in a smuggling syndicate involving tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in Myanmar. A crackdown came after dozens of victims died in Thai jungle camps because they were unable to pay ransoms.

The junta military government has singled out the country's fisheries sector for reforms. It says it has passed new laws to crack down on illegal activities aboard fishing boats and inside seafood-processing factories and is working to register undocumented migrant workers.

"There have been some flaws in the laws, and we have been closing those gaps," said M.L. Puntarik Smiti, the Thai Labor Ministry's permanent secretary. "The government has made human trafficking a national agenda. The policy is clear, and every department is working in the same direction. ... In the past, most punishments focused on the laborers, but now more focus is put on punishing the employers."

Police point to a new law that goes after officers involved in human trafficking, and say rooting out corruption and complicity is a priority.

Critics argue, however, the changes have been largely cosmetic. Former slaves repeatedly described how police took them into custody and then sold them to agents who trafficked them again into the seafood industry.

"There are laws and regulations, but they are being selectively enforced to benefit one side," said Patima Tungpuchayakul, manager of the Thai-based nonprofit Labor Rights Promotion Network Foundation. "When you find there is a child working 16 hours a day and getting paid ($2.75) ... the government has to put a stop to this."

The peeling sheds that supply to major Thai seafood companies are supposed to be certified and inspected, but the stamp of approval does not always prevent abuses.

A factory just a few miles away from Tin Nyo Win's shed provided shrimp to companies including Thai Union; a half-dozen former workers said a Thai Union employee visited the shed every day. A runaway worker alerted a local migrant labor group about slave-like conditions there after being brutally beaten across his ear and throat with iron chains. Police raided the factory in May.

Former employees told the AP they had been locked inside and forced to work long hours with no days off and little sleep.

The conditions they described inside were horrific: A woman eight months pregnant miscarried on the shed floor and was forced to keep peeling for four days while hemorrhaging. An unconscious toddler was refused medical care after falling about 12 feet onto a concrete floor. Another pregnant woman escaped only to be tracked down, yanked into a car by her hair and handcuffed to a fellow worker at the factory.

"Sometimes when we were working, the tears would run down our cheeks because it was so tiring we couldn't bear it," said the worker who ran away. His name is being withheld due to concerns about his safety.

"We were crying, but we kept peeling shrimp," he said. "We couldn't rest. ... I think people are guilty if they eat the shrimp that we peeled like slaves."

Shrimp from that factory entered the supply chains of Thai Union, which, in the six months prior to the bust, shipped 15 million pounds of frozen shrimp to dozens of U.S. companies, customs records show. Those included Red Lobster and Darden Restaurants, which owns outlets such as Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and several other popular American chains.

The runaway worker was a free man after the May raid. But five months later, running low on cash with a pregnant wife, he felt desperate enough to look for a job in another shrimp factory. He hoped conditions would be better this time.

They weren't. His wages were withheld, and he ended up in the Gig factory peeling shrimp next to Tin Nyo Win - No. 31.

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Modern-day slavery is often just part of doing business in Thailand's seafood export capital. Some shed owners believe they are providing jobs to poor migrant workers in need. Police are paid to look the other way and say officers frequently do not understand that practices such as forced labor and debt bondage are against the law.

"We just need to educate everyone on this issue," said Jaruwat Vaisaya, deputy commissioner of Bangkok's Metropolitan Police. "I don't think they know what they're doing is called human trafficking, but they must know it's wrong."

News surfaces about an abusive shed only when workers become so hopeless they're willing to risk everything to escape. Once on the street, without documentation, they are in some ways even more vulnerable. They face possible arrest and deportation or being resold.
After fleeing the Gig shed, Tin Nyo Win was alone. He didn't even know where the shed manager had taken his wife. He sought help from a local labor rights group, which prompted police to take action.

At dawn on Nov. 9, nearly two weeks after running away, he returned to the shed wearing dark glasses, a hat and a mask to keep the owners from recognizing him. He burst through the gate with dozens of officers and military troops, and frantically searched for his wife in the dim quarters on both floors of the maze-like complex.

Frightened Burmese workers huddled on the dirty concrete floor, the men and women separated. Some could be heard whispering: "That's 31. He came back." One young mother breast-fed a 5-month-old baby, while 17 children were taken to a corner.
Tin Nyo Win's wife was nowhere.

With law enforcement leading the way, it didn't take long to find her, though: Mi San was at a nearby fish factory. After being caught by the shed manager, she was taken to police. But instead of treating her as a trafficking victim, she said they put her back to work. Even as police and her husband escorted her out of the second factory, the Thai owner followed them into the street, complaining that Mi San still owed $22 for the pork and chicken she ate.

For Thai police, it looked like a victory in front of the cameras. But the story does not end there.

No one at the Gig shed was arrested for human trafficking, a law that's seldom enforced. Instead, migrants with papers, including seven children, were sent back there to work. Another 10 undocumented children were taken from their parents and put into a shelter, forced to choose between staying there for years or being deported back to Myanmar alone. Nineteen other illegal workers were detained.

Tin Nyo Win and his wife soon found out that not even whistleblowers are protected. Just four days after being reunited, the couple was fingerprinted and locked inside a Thai jail cell without even a mattress. They were held on nearly $4,000 bail and charged with entering the country illegally and working without permits.

Back at the shed where their nightmare began, a worker reached by phone pleaded for help as trucks loaded with slave-peeled shrimp continued to roll out.

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Epilogue:

The Gig Peeling Factory is now closed, with workers moved to another shed linked to the same owners, said Chaiyuth Thomya, the superintendent of Samut Sakhon's main police station. A Gig owner reached by phone by the AP declined to comment.

Jaruwat, the Bangkok police official, was alerted to how the case was being handled and has ordered local authorities to re-investigate it for human trafficking, and arrests have since been made. Tin Nyo Win and his pregnant wife were released from jail 10 days after they were locked up and are now being housed in a government shelter for victims of human trafficking.

Chaiyuth called a meeting to explain human trafficking laws to nearly 60 shed owners, some of whom were confused about raids that swept up illegal migrants. Later, Chaiyuth quoted one shed owner as saying, "I'm not selling drugs, why did they take possession of my things?"

Meanwhile, the AP informed labor rights investigators who work closely with police about another shed where workers said they were being held against their will. It is being examined.

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Associated Press videographer Tassanee Vejpongsa in Samut Sakhon, Thailand, contributed to this report.

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Other stories in this series include:

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/98053222a73e4b5dab9fb81a116d5854/ap-investigation-slavery-taints-global-supply-seafood

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d8afe2a8447d4610b3293c119415bd4a/myanmar-fisherman-goes-home-after-22-years-slave

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/c2fe8...pua-new-guinea

ap.org

[Mid]

Thai Union seafood allegedly connected to forced and child labour - Greenpeace statement New York Times and Associated Press

[Mid]

Australia

Woolies, Coles, Aldi caught up in child labour scandal
Sarah Danckert
December 14, 2015


Prawns from the company at the centre of the child and forced labour scandal are sold in Woolworths, Coles and Aldi.
Photo: Bradley Kanaris

Woolworths, Coles and Aldi are embroiled in a child labour scandal, with all three supermarket chains confirming they sell prawns or seafood supplied by a Thai company at the centre of the allegations.

Graphic evidence of forced labour, including child labour, has been uncovered at a prawn peeling factory owned by major seafood supplier Thai Union.

An investigation by Associated Press found hundreds of workers at the company's factories working under poor conditions with some workers, mainly from Myanmar, locked inside or otherwise unable to leave the factory.

Children were observed working the production line and witnesses told the news wire service they worked under the threat of violence.
The Thai Department of Fisheries shows Thai Union has several facilities approved to export seafood to Australia.

The child and forced labour was seen at the Gig Peeling Factory in Samut Sakhon, about an hour's drive from Bangkok.

The scandal could lead to a prawn shortage over summer with consumers expected to hunt out Australian farmed prawns and pressure retailers to withdraw the products from its shelves.

All three of Australia's major supermarket retailers are conducting investigations into their supply chain after confirming to Fairfax Media they use Thai Union as a supplier.

"Thai Union is one of our suppliers as they are to most large western retailers and brands. We will investigate this further with our supplier and seek advice from our NGO partners," a spokesman for Woolworths said.

Coles confirmed its frozen prawns were sourced from Thai Union, but noted its fresh prawns sold from its deli section were Australian prawns.

"Coles takes a proactive approach to labour standard issues and works closely with our suppliers, key NGOs and stakeholder groups including the International Labour Organisation to engage on these issues," a Coles spokesman said.

A spokeswoman for Aldi confirmed the chain also used Thai Union as a supplier.

"We will review the Associated Press' investigative report as soon as it is released," the spokeswoman said.

A major global supplierreleased a report on the prawn industry in Thailand that found several companies engaging in poor labour and environmental practices.

theage.com.au

[Mid]

Are slaves peeling my shrimp? Here's what you need to know
Dec 14


AP Photo/John Raoux

SAMUT SAKHON, Thailand (AP) -- An Associated Press investigation found enslaved migrant workers and children ripping the heads, tails, shells and guts off shrimp at processing factories in Thailand.

AP journalists followed and filmed trucks loaded with freshly peeled shrimp going from one peeling shed to major Thai exporting companies. Then, using U.S. customs records and Thai industry reports, they tracked it globally. They also traced similar connections from another factory raided six months earlier, and interviewed more than two dozen workers from both sites.

U.S. customs records show the farmed shrimp made its way into the supply chains of major U.S. food stores and retailers such as Wal-Mart, Kroger, Whole Foods, Target, Dollar General and Petco, along with restaurants such as Red Lobster and Olive Garden. AP reporters in all 50 states went shopping and found related brands in more than 150 stores across America.

The businesses that responded condemned the practices that lead to labor abuse, and many said they were launching investigations.

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Q: How do I know if my shrimp or other seafood is tainted by labor abuses?

A: That's a big part of the problem. Most companies do not make their supply chains public. And even if they did, there are many places for abuses to occur that are not documented or take place far from any type of scrutiny. For example, slaves have been forced to work on boats catching trash fish used for feed at shrimp farms, and migrants have been brought across borders illegally and taken straight to shrimp sheds where they are locked inside and forced to peel. Fishing boats are going farther and farther from shore, sometimes not docking for months or years at a time, creating floating prisons.

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Q: What can I do as a consumer to help stop this problem, and how can I ensure the shrimp and other seafood I'm buying is not peeled by children or forced laborers?

A: The first thing you can do is ask. Make it clear to your grocery store managers and restaurant servers that you want to know what they are doing to guarantee that their shrimp and other seafood is free from slavery. Read labels and get to know the origin and history of your seafood. Another option is to buy local, including American wild-caught shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico. Ultimately, consumers have the most power. Experts say if shoppers demand change or stop buying, businesses will be forced to listen, and that's often how reform begins within industry.

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Q: What shrimp brands and companies did the AP find linked to tainted supply chains in its investigation?

A: Cape Gourmet; Certifresh; Chef's Net; Chicken of the Sea; Chico; CoCo; Darden (owner of Olive Garden Italian Kitchen, Longhorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze Island Grille, Seasons 52 Fresh Grill, The Capital Grille, Eddie V's Prime Seafood and Yard House); Delicasea; Fancy Feast cat food; Farm Best; Fisherman's Wharf; Winn-Dixie; Fishmarket; Great American; Great Atlantic; Great Catch; Harbor Banks; KPF; Market Basket; Master Catch; Neptune; Portico; Publix; Red Lobster; Royal Tiger; Royal White; Sea Best; Sea Queen; Stater Bros.; Supreme Choice; Tastee Choice; Wal-Mart; Waterfront Bistro; Wellness canned cat food; Whole Catch; Wholey; Xcellent.

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Q: AP reporters visited supermarkets chosen at random in all 50 states. Where did they find shrimp linked to tainted supply chains in its investigation?

A: Acme Markets; Albertsons; Aldi; Bi-Lo; Carrs-Safeway; Cash Wise; Crest Foods; Cub Foods; D'Agostino Supermarket; Dan's Supermarket; Dollar General; Edwards Food Giant; Family Dollar; Foodland; Fred Meyer; Giant Eagle; Harris-Teeter; H-E-B; Hy-Vee; Jerry's Foods; Jewel-Osco; Jons International Marketplace; Kroger; Lowes Foods; Mariano's; Market Basket; Marsh Supermarkets; Martin's Super Markets; McDade's Market; Pavilions; Petco; Piggly Wiggly; Price Chopper; Publix; Ralphs; Randall's Food Market; Redner's Warehouse Markets; Russ's Market; Safeway; Save Mart; Schnucks; Shaws; ShopRite; Smart & Final; Sprouts Farmers Market; Stater Bros.; Stop & Shop; Sunshine Foods; Target; Van's Thriftway; Vons; Wal-Mart; Whole Foods; Winn-Dixie.

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Q: Thailand has been in the news a lot lately with problems linked to human trafficking in its seafood industry. Why is this still an issue?

A: Thailand is one of the world's biggest seafood exporters, and relies heavily on migrant workers from poor neighboring countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos. These laborers often are misled by brokers in their home countries and illegally brought to Thailand with promises of good-paying jobs. They are then sold onto fishing boats or put into seafood processing plants where they become trapped and forced to work long hours for little or no money. Thailand has repeatedly vowed to crack down on the abuses. It has created new laws and is helping to register undocumented workers, but arrests and prosecutions are still rare.

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Q: What are buyers and governments doing to try to stop slave-tainted seafood from reaching their countries?

A: The U.S. State Department has blacklisted Thailand for the past two years for its dismal human rights record, placing it among the world's worst offenders such as North Korea and Syria. However, it has not issued sanctions. The European Union put out a "yellow card" warning earlier this year that tripled seafood import tariffs, and is expected to decide next month whether to impose an outright ban on products. Companies such as Nestle have vowed to force change after conducting their own audits and finding that their Thai suppliers were abusing and enslaving workers. Others are working with rights groups to monitor their supply chains and ensure laborers are treated fairly and humanely.

ap.org

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Supermarkets Selling Shrimp Peeled By Slaves

youtube.com

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Activist urges EU to rethink approach
14/12/2015

European Union governments and citizens should take action to ensure the money they are injecting into a UN programme to fight slave labour in Thailand is well spent, urged an activist.

Andy Hall, a British human rights defender and a migrant worker specialist based in Thailand, tweeted shortly on Monday after the AP report on slave labour in the seafood industry was published.

He cited as an example the International Labour Organization's GLP (Good Labour Practices) programme funded by the US Department of Labour from 2011 to 2015 and focusing on seafood factories, peeling sheds and farms, as well as fishing boats, saying it "fundamentally failed".

"Thai seafood primary processing facilities (peeling sheds) remain another world, often devoid of rule of law/basic respect for human rights.

"The EU is now pumping millions of taxpayers' euros into the new ILO GLP programme to address Thai seafood slavery. EU citizens, taxpayers, consumers, buyers, unions and civil society groups must hold the EU and ILO accountable to deliver this time and effective programme by the UN's tripartite labour agency that empowers migrant workers and all workers for change, and not the bureaucratic targetless employer and government focused unmeasured mess of the past," he wrote.

The ILO must publicly acknowledge, learn and be held accountable for its past weaknesses and failure to implement a successful GLP programme if the second phase of the GLP programme is to learn and move forward properly, he wrote.

In his view, a key obstacle to the programme's success is inadequate representation of workers.

"The MWRN attended ILO's GLP main task force meeting last week. However, it was more of the poorly planned, confused thinking as before. Employer, government and ILO led, worker participation severely lacking.

Migrant Worker Rights Network (MWRN) is a membership based organisation for migrant workers from Myanmar residing and working mainly in Thailand.

"What the ILO should add is the element of tripartite negotiation between workers, employers and governments," Mr Hall wrote.

The previous phase of GLP essentially excluded migrant workers and trade unions and didn't focus adequately on raising workers awareness of their basic human and labour rights and promoting social dialogue between workers and employers, he added.

Mr Hall also criticised the ILO's solutions, saying they were "confusing".

"I often felt ILO GLP made implementation more distracting than beneficial by introducing another level of confusing voluntary compliance at a very academic and removed theoretical level to companies and in what is already a full marketplace of codes of practice and audit systems.

"What's worse, the ILO GLP was used clearly as a propaganda tool by some in the industry and governments, a smokescreen to show cooperation and compliance with international community's wishes in something that wasn't working or clearly isn't having impact."

On Thailand, Mr Hall said while there was increasing evidence the Thai seafood industry was aware of the need to change, there were limitations to capacities and commitment visible from major stakeholders

"Thailand must acknowledge/respond to today's major AP seafood slavery story with more deep reflection and acknowledgement that slavery remains systematic problem in shrimp/seafood supply chains," he wrote.

"Thai Union, the major target of AP story, must be commended for belatedly moving seafood primary processing in house."

The MWRN has committed to working with Thai Union from Jan 1 next year on a major new project to educate and empower migrant workers in its main seafood-processing export facilities through full access and transparent dialogue, he wrote.

"To genuinely address Thailand's migration chaos/slavery, rule of law must be strengthened, workers empowered and social dialogue created," he wrote.

He added the Thai industry is wealthy and capable enough to make change itself sustainably in migrant worker conditions if committed.
Before the EU agreed to fund the new expensive ILO GLP programme, the Thai seafood industry has already developed their own industry-funded GLP.

"The programme was and is underway. The ILO entry into the marketplace confused the industry at that time too.

"It's very unclear what the ILO can actually add right now in the Thai seafood sector for migrant workers, and certainly the ILO track record in adding proven and documented value in seafood industry is seriously under doubt and must now be proven before a lot of EU taxpayer money is brought in here.

"What did the last four years and millions of dollars of taxpayers' money bring for seafood sector workers through the ILO GLP and did the industry move forward? Statistics? Indicators of their programme? How effective are ILO programmes and money spent compared with other actor programmes, including NGOs, INGOs, CBOs, industry action itself? Has the ILO really assisted?"

If the EU is to fund the GLP, it must be a programme that is built on genuine ILO tripartite principles and must prove this too empowered migrant workers and communities with higher worker standards, he concluded.

Met EU, explained support money must be used effectively @MyoGhettalae @sdwbrussels @TUCGlobal @KentBKK @FinEmbThai pic.twitter.com/oF2TaC4QAdDecember 14, 2015

bangkokpost.com