Thailand's seafood industry: state-sanctioned slavery?

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Stranded Thai fishermen return safely today

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Abby Phillip
April 10



(Ugeng Nugroho/Ministry of Fishery/AFP) investigation by the Associated PressIndonesian government dispatched help:

The dramatic rescue came after a round of interviews Indonesian officials held with the fishermen, where they confirmed the abuse reported in the AP story, which included video of eight men locked in a cage and a slave graveyard. The men, mostly from Myanmar, talked of how they were beaten and shocked with Taser-like devices at sea, forced to work almost nonstop without clean water or proper food, paid little or nothing and prevented from going home.

Some 300 men initially came forward, enticed by the prospect of freedom; they were taken off the island by some of the same boats that had brought them there in the first place. That number has since grown to nearly 550, according to the AP.fisherman Kyaw Yelin told Al Jazeera.according to Voice of America.Burmese fishermen prepare to leave the island on April 3.
(Dita Alangkara/AP) stranded on neighboring islands.told the APaccording to Agence France-Presse.Global Slavery Indexthe report found.

The hundreds of captives freed on Benjina are just a drop in the bucket for Indonesia, where an estimated 700,000 people live and work in conditions of slavery, according to the Global Slavery Index.

For years, advocates with the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (also known as Kontras) have brought to light blatant cases of abuse and slavery that occur on a smaller, though no less abhorrent scale in Indonesia.

In 2013, Kontras worked with police to uncover a case of 30 people who had been forcedaccording to CCTV News.
In this Nov. 22 image, Kyaw Naing, a slave from Myanmar, talks to a security guard through the bars of a cell in Benjina.
(Dita Alangkara/AP)

The problem of modern slavery has been particularly difficult to address in the remote island regions where the practice is flourishing.

The Indonesian government has sought to crack down on illegal workers and shell companies that are suspected to be using slave labor. But the problem is an international one.

The company at the center of the AP investigation is Pusaka Benjina Resources, one of the largest fishing companies in Eastern Indonesia. It operates dozens of boats that the AP found to have had Thai captains and are suspected to be Thai-owned.

Workers on those boats are often given fake Thai names and documentation, the AP reported. And they continue to operate, in part due to bribery at top levels of the Indonesian government:Thai workers alleged to have been working under slave labor conditions in Indonesia arrive back in Thailand on April 9.
(Narong Sangnak/EPA)


In this Nov. 27 image from video, Tun Lin Maung sits with a group of slave fishermen from Myanmar, behind a fishing company building in Benjina.
(APTN/AP)

washingtonpost.com

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Another 210 enslaved fishermen found on Indonesian island
Margie Mason
Fri Apr 10 2015

Last week, authorities rescued 330 migrants who said they were tricked or even kidnapped before being put on boats in Thailand and taken to Indonesia.


Rescued Thai fishermen sit aboard a Thai military plane in Ambon airport in Indonesia's Maluku province on Thursday during their repatriation. A large number of fishermen from Burma and Thailand with smaller group from Cambodia and Laos were rescued by Indonesia's illegal fishing task force
AFP/GETTY IMAGES

JAKARTA, INDONESIAinvestigation

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Interview: Fisherman speaks of Benjina captivity
PETER AUNG
11 April 2015


Street view of Mahacai, a port town west of Bangkok where Thet Swe Thint boarded a boat bound for Benjina.
(Photo: Feliz Solomon)

Over 550 enslaved fisherman have now been found on the Indonesian island of Benjina. Last month an in depth investigation carried out by the Associated Press uncovered a sinister web of human trafficking and forced labour, spanning the Southeast Asian region.

Reporters traced slave-caught seafood from Bejina and its surrounding waters to Thailand and on to major US food retailers.

The majority of the trafficked fisherman are Burmese. On Friday Peter Aung spoke to one such victim, Thet Swe Tint.

Thet Swe Tint is now on the island of Tual, having been evacuated from Benjina by Indonesian authorities in a dramatic rescue.

DVB: How did you get from Burma to Thailand and how did you come to work as a fisherman?

TST: I am from South-Okkalapa, Rangoon. I first travelled to Thailand through the land border crossing at Myawaddy. After spending one year in Thailand, I went to Indonesia. I left for Indonesia on 26 November 2011. That was the year of the flooding in Bangkok. It was difficult to find work, so I signed up for a fishing boat at MahachaiDVB: Did all the fisherman join the boats freely?

TST

DVB: What happened when you arrived in Benjina?

TSTDVB: Were you always paid for your work?

TSTDVB: There have been reports of torture on the island. Were you or your colleagues harmed in any way?

TSTDVB: There are reports that some fishermen were cut with knives. Did you see this happening on Benjina?

TST

DVB: How did you get Tual from Benjina?

TSTDVB: Is what happened at Benjina continuing on other Indonesian islands?

TSTDVB: What do you plan to do now?

Now, the International Organization for Migration is interviewing us one by one. The Burmese embassy has also asked us to fill out forms and has gathered information.

We can now go back to Burma. I just want to return to my mother, if she is still there. I will work in whatever job I can get and stay with my mother until she dies. If my mother is not there or has passed away already, I will not stay. I may go to Thailand and stay there if I can get a real passport.

dvb.no

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Published on Apr 11, 2015


Hundreds of fisheries workers who died on remote Indonesian islands or at sea are finally mourned.

A few of the survivors who have made it back home to Thailand, pray with the monks.

Al Jazeera's Veronica Pedrosa reports from near Bangkok.



youtube.com

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More than 450 rescued Burmese fishermen to get travel documents
PETER AUNG
12 April 2015


File photo of a Burmese fisherman
(Photo: Wikicommons Media)

The Burmese embassy in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta says it is gathering information to provide travel documents to 450 trafficked fisherman.

The Burmese nationals are among 550 enslaved men who were rescued by the Indonesian navy after being held captive and forced to work on fishing boats on the remote island of Benjina.

Last month an in-depth investigation by the Associated Press (APDVB.

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Indonesia Investigates Allegations of Forced Labour at Sea
14 April 2015



JAKARTA (DPA) - Indonesia's national rights commission said Tuesday it was investigating allegations that hundreds of people, mostly from Myanmar, are forced to work on fishing boats with little or no pay.

Police said the labourers from Myanmar and Thailand were promised jobs in Thailand but were instead taken to Benjina on Indonesia's Aru Islets where they were forced to work for Thai fishing boat captains.

More than 300 of them were freed and returned to Thailand and Myanmar this month after the practice was exposed.

"Our team is currently interviewing all people involved in the business," said Siti Noor Laila, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights.

The head of the police's human trafficking division, Arie Darmanto, said officers from Mynamar were to arrive Wednesday to join the criminal investigation, the Kompas daily reported.

Arie said the workers were denied payment and mistreated.

"When they asked for their wages, they were locked up in cells," Arie was quoted as saying.

khaosodenglish.com

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Is your cat food linked to slavery?

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Mixed catch in Indonesian waters
Prangthong Jitcharoenkul
20/04/2015

Even though more than 100 Thai fishermen recently joined a rescue mission from "slave" vessels operating in Indonesian waters, not all found life on that country's waters brutal.

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EU to put Thailand 1 step away from fish ban
RAF CASERT
April 20, 2015


In this Feb. 4, 2010 file photo, a fishmonger cuts a joint of Bluefin tuna, which was caught off Thailand, at a stall at the Nice fish market, southeastern France. In a decision, to be officially announced on Tuesday, April 21, 2015, the European Union is to give Thailand six months to drastically change its policies on illegal and unregulated fishing or face an EU fish import ban at the end of the year.


The European Union is to give Thailand six months to drastically change its policies on illegal and unregulated fishing or face an EU seafood import ban by the end of the year.

Two people with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press Monday that the 28-nation bloc will give Thailand an ultimate warning or it could face export losses of over half a billion euros (dollars) a year.

The move is to be officially announced on Tuesday.

The sources, including one EU official, spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement has yet to be made. They said Thailand now has six months to come forward with a new approach to stave off the ban.

Thailand is a major exporter of seafood, with yearly revenues of almost 5 billion euros ($5.4 billion), and an EU ban would seriously affect the industry. Annual exports to the EU are estimated to be worth between 575 million euros and 730 million euros.

As the global stocks of fish are dwindling, the EU has started to take increasingly tough action against EU nations which it feels are not playing by the rules.

The EU says that illegal fishing around the globe accounts for some 15 percent of catches and has created a 10 billion euro black market that is hurting the environment and fishing communities alike.

Now, the EU hopes it can start cooperating with Thailand so that it improves its practices by tightening the practical and legal loopholes that the illegal fishing industry now exploits.

After the so-called "yellow card" it can go back to a green card for nations that fully meet EU standards, or the EU can issue a red card and impose the trade ban.

bradenton.com

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European Commission - Press release

European Commission - Press release

EU acts on illegal fishing: Yellow card issued to Thailand while South Korea & Philippines are cleared
Brussels, 21 April 2015

The European Commission has today put Thailand on formal notice for not taking sufficient measures in the international fight against illegal fishing (IUU).

As a result of a thorough analysis and a series of discussions with Thai authorities since 2011, the Commission has denounced the country's shortcomings in its fisheries monitoring, control and sanctioning systems and concludes that Thailand is not doing enough.

European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Karmenu Vella

Today's Decision starts a formal procedure of dialogue with the Thai authorities to make them take the necessary corrective measures.

They will be given six months to implement a corrective tailor-made action plan.

Should the situation not improve, the EU could resort to banning fisheries imports from Thailand. Such measure was taken in the past with Belize, Guinea, Cambodia and Sri Lanka. Imports from Belize were banned last year but due to the reforming efforts of the authorities they are now allowed.

On a more positive note, the European Commission acknowledges today that two fishing nations, Korea and the Philippines, have carried out appropriate reforms of their legal systems and are now equipped to tackle illegal fishing. It therefore stops the "identification" procedure that had started with a yellow card to Korea in November 2013 and the Philippines in June 2014.

Commissioner Vella noted that; "By using our market weight the EU is getting important players on board. Both Korea and the Philippines have taken responsible action, amended their legal systems and switched to a proactive approach against illegal fishing".

Since they were issued with warnings, both Korea and the Philippines embarked on a series of reforms to upgrade their fisheries governance. Their legal systems are now aligned to international law.

As a result of the action taken by Korea and the Philippines, the Commission has stopped formal discussions with the countries' authorities and looks forward to Korea and the Philippines becoming valuable allies on sustainable management within global and regional organisations.

Background

Between 11 and 26 million tonnes of fish, i.e. at least 15% of world catches, are caught illegally every year. This is worth between 8 and 19 billion euros. As the world's biggest fish importer, the EU does not wish to be complicit and accept such products into its market.

The so-called 'IUU Regulation', which entered into force in 2010^[1]the latter leading to a trade ban[1] Council Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 establishing a Community system to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

europa.eu

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Despite law, U.S. lets in Thai fish caught by slaves
MARTHA MENDOZA
04/21/2015


In this Friday, Dec. 12, 2014, file photo, Min Min, from Myanmar, tears at his hair in agitation as he tries to remember details about his family. Min Min was rescued from a tiny island in December, on the verge of starvation, and brought back to Thailand.
(Wong Maye-E/AP photo)

WASHINGTON -- In its first report on trafficking around the world, the U.S. criticized Thailand as a hub for labor abuse. Yet 14 years later, seafood caught by slaves on Thai boats is still slipping into the supply chains of major American stores and supermarkets.

The U.S. has not enforced a law banning the import of goods made with forced labor since 2000 because of significant loopholes, The Associated Press has found. It has also spared Thailand from sanctions slapped on other countries with weak records in human trafficking because of a complex political relationship that includes cooperation against terrorism.


In this Nov. 2014, file photo, workers in Benjina, Indonesia, load fish onto a cargo ship bound for Thailand.
(Dita Alangkara/AP photo)

The question of how to deal with Thailand and labor abuse will come up at a congressional hearing Wednesday, in light of an AP investigation that found hundreds of men beaten, starved, forced to work with little or no pay and even held in a cage on the remote island village of Benjina. While officials at federal agencies would not directly answer why the law and sanctions are not applied, they pointed out that the U.S. State Department last year blacklisted Thailand as among the worst offenders in its report on trafficking in people worldwide.

Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division, said the plight of about 4,000 forced laborers in Thailand's seafood industry can no longer go unheeded.

"There have been problems with systematic and pervasive human trafficking in Thailand's fishing fleets for more than a decade, but Washington has evidently considered it too hard to find out exactly what was happening and is not taking action to stop it," he said.

"No one can claim ignorance anymore. This is a test case for Washington as much as Bangkok."

Hlaing Min, a 32-year-old migrant fisherman from Myanmar who worked around the clock for more than two years before he ran away, also begged the U.S. for help.

"Basically, we are slaves -- and slavery is the only word that I can find -- but our condition is worse than slavery," he said. "On behalf of all the fishermen here, I request to the Congressmen that the U.S. stop buying all fish from Thailand. ... This fish, we caught it with our blood and sweat, but we don't get a single benefit from it."

The AP investigation tracked fish caught by slaves to the supply chains of large food sellers such as Wal-Mart, Sysco and Kroger, as well as popular brands of canned pet food such as Fancy Feast, Meow Mix and Iams. The companies all said they strongly condemn labor abuse and are taking steps to prevent it. While some human rights advocates say boycotts are effective, many U.S. seafood companies say cutting off all imports from an entire country means they no longer have any power to bring about change.


In this Nov. 2014, file photo, a security guard talks to detainees inside a cell at the compound of a fishing company in Benjina, Indonesia. The imprisoned men were considered slaves who might run away.
(Dita Alangkara/AP photo)

During a recent visit to Jakarta, State Department Undersecretary Catherine A. Novelli was asked what the U.S. would now do.

"I'm sure that your public would be concerned that the fish that they ate came from a slave," said an Indonesian reporter.

Novelli's response was quick.

"In the United States we actually have a law that it is illegal to import any product that is made with forced labor or slave labor, and that includes fish," she said. "To the extent that we can trace ... where the fish are coming from, we won't allow fish to come into the United States that has been produced with forced labor or slavery."

However, the Tariff Act of 1930, which gives Customs and Border Protection the authority to seize shipments where forced labor is suspected and block further imports, has been used only 39 times in 85 years. In 11 cases, the orders detaining shipments were later revoked.

The most recent case dates back to 2000, when Customs stopped clothing from Mongolian firm Dong Fang Guo Ji based on evidence that factory managers forced employees, including children, to work 14-hour days for low wages. The order was revoked in 2001, after further review found labor abuse was no longer a problem at the company.

Detention orders that remain in place can have mixed results.

In 1999, Customs blocked hand-rolled unfiltered cigarettes from the Mangalore Ganesh Beedie Works in India, suspecting child labor.

However, the AP found that Mangalore Ganesh has sent 11 large shipments of the cigarettes to Beedies LLC of Kissimee, Florida, over the past four years through the ports of New York, Miami and Savannah, Georgia. Beedies LLC said the cigarettes go straight from the U.S. ports to a bonded warehouse, and are then exported outside the country.

To start an investigation, Customs needs to receive a petition from anyone -- a business, an agency, even a non-citizen -- showing "reasonably but not conclusively" that imports were made at least in part with forced labor. But spokesman Michael Friel said that in the last four years, Customs has received "only a handful of petitions," and none has pointed to seafood from Thailand. The most recent petition was filed two years ago by a non-profit against cotton in Uzbekistan.

"These cases often involve numerous allegations that require extensive agency investigation and fact-finding," he said.

Experts also point to two gaping loopholes in the law. Goods made with forced labor must be allowed into the U.S. if consumer demand cannot be met without them. And it's hard, if not impossible, to prove fish in a particular container is tainted, because different batches generally mix together at processing plants.

Former Justice Department attorney Jim Rubin said Customs can't stop trafficked goods without the help of other federal agencies to investigate overseas.

"You can't expect a Customs guy at the border to know that a can of salmon caught on the high seas was brought in by a slave," he said.

The U.S. response to Thailand is also shaped by political considerations.

For years, the State Department has put Thailand on the watchlist in its annual trafficking report, saying the Thai government has made efforts to stop labor abuse. But last year, after several waivers, it dropped Thailand for the first time to the lowest rank, mentioning forced labor in the seafood industry. Countries with the same ranking, such as Cuba, Iran and North Korea, faced full sanctions, and foreign aid was withheld. Others, like Sudan, Syria and Zimbabwe, faced partial sanctions.

Thailand did not: U.S. taxpayers provided $18.5 million in foreign aid to the country last year.

"If Thailand was North Korea or Iran, they'd be treated differently," said Josh Kurlantzick, a fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations. "They're a key ally and we have a long relationship with them."

In the 1960s and '70s, when the U.S. needed Thailand's help in the Vietnam War, the country "got a pass on everything," Kurlantzick said. Then Thailand's record on human rights gradually improved, along with its economy. That changed dramatically in 2006, when the military first ousted the prime minister. It declared martial law and then overtook the government again last year.

In response, the U.S. condemned the current regime and has suspended $4.7 million in military funding to the Southeast Asian nation.

However, the U.S. still includes Thailand in military exercises, and the country is considered a critical ally against terrorism. A U.S. Senate report in December detailed how top al-Qaida suspect Abu Zubaydah was water-boarded, slammed into a wall and isolated at a secret safe house in Thailand as part of CIA interrogations in 2002. And in 2003, a senior al-Qaida operative was arrested outside Bangkok after more than 200 people died in a Bali nightclub bombing.

The U.S. also wants strong relations with Thailand as a counterweight to China, whose influence is growing in the region.

Along with the State Department, the Labor Department has also flagged seafood from Thailand year after year as produced by forced labor in violation of international standards. Department of Homeland Security senior policy adviser Kenneth Kennedy referred to discussions for an action plan on labor abuse in Thailand that began in the fall.

"I think the U.S. government recently has realized that we need to pay attention to this area," he said. "We need to address conditions that have been reported for years and that are in the public minds and in the public eye very much."

Thailand itself says it is tackling labor abuse. In 2003, the country launched a national campaign against criminal organizations, including traffickers. In 2008, it adopted a new anti-human trafficking law. And last month, the new junta government cited the fight against trafficking as a national priority.

"This government is determined and committed to solving the human trafficking issues, not by words but by actions," Deputy Government Spokesman Maj. Gen. Sansern Kaewkamnerd said. "We are serious in prosecuting every individual involved in the network, from the boats' captains to government officials."

However, a Thai police general on a fact-finding mission earlier this month to Benjina declared conditions were good and workers "happy." A day later, Indonesian authorities rescued more than 320 abused fishermen from the island village, and the number of workers waiting to be sent home has since risen to more than 560.

Under United Nations principles adopted in 2011, governments must protect against human rights abuses by third parties. However, some local authorities in Thailand are themselves deeply implicated in such practices, said Harvard University professor John Ruggie, who wrote the principles, known as the "Ruggie Framework," as a U.N. special representative. Also, Thailand's seafood industry, with annual exports of about $7 billion, is big business for the country and depends on migrant labor.

Migrant fishermen rescued from Benjina were bewildered to learn that their abuse has been an open secret for years. Maung Htwe, a 26-year-old migrant worker from Myanmar, did backbreaking work for Thai captains in Indonesian waters over seven years, earning less than $5 a day, if he was lucky.

"Sometimes I'm really angry. It's so painful. Why was I sold and taken to Indonesia?" asked Htwe, who was among the workers rescued from Benjina. "If people already knew the story, then they should have helped us and taken action."

mercurynews.com

youtube.com

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The EU threatened to ban imports of seafood from Thailand because of concerns about unlawful fishing, a step that would hit trade of more than 600 million euros ($641 million) a year.

Bloomberg's Haslinda Amin has more on "First Up."
(Source: Bloomberg)

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Thailand to monitor 7,000 of its fishing vessels