Punish slavery vessels now

Nearly 100 victims of slave and forced labour on commercial trawlers have finally returned home after being stranded on Indonesia's Ambon and Benjina islands for years. Several hundred more, not only Thais but also men from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos — who managed to escape enslavement on fishing boats — are still waiting to be rescued.

The world is also waiting to see if the Thai government will punish the fishing vessel operators or let them get away with murder.

So far, the signs don't look good. All victims returned with similarly shocking stories of being cheated, suffering harsh labour, going into debt bondage and enduring severe punishment, sickness and deaths of boat mates. Yet, officials still only confirm two cases of human trafficking. 

Authorities' narrow mindset about human trafficking, lack of moral outrage about such cruelty and inhumanity, and inability to confront the powerful fishing industry, are reflected by this statistic. 

Rumours about slavery on commercial trawlers operating in international waters have circulated for years. So have stories about runaway workers stranded on Indonesian islands. Apart from the use of slave labour, it is widely known that commercial trawlers - many of them operating with fake licences - are destroying the ocean with overfishing and destructive fishing equipment. 

Yet, authorities do little — if anything at all — to stop these illegal and inhumane practices, when they should crack down on fishing boats, arrest the cross-border human trafficking rackets and punish corrupt officials. This is why Thailand was blacklisted in the US Trafficking in Person (TIP) Report last year, a massive international disgrace carrying the risk of a boycott. Europe has also threatened to stop buying seafood from Thailand if illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing continues.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's initial reaction to media reports of stranded slave workers on Indonesian islands was anger that the exposure might hurt the multi-billion-baht seafood export industry. This reflects authorities' general attitude that export money is more important than workers' human rights to decent work, or the health of the ocean. They have their priorities wrong. 

Only after a public uproar did the government make a U-turn by sending a team to save stranded workers — but still only rescued Thai nationals. Migrant workers from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos were left behind despite also being victims of the Thai trawlers. The move has seen Thailand criticised again for being morally irresponsible. The Indonesian government has sent teams to rescue all workers, pending assistance from their home countries.

To undo the country' negative record, the government must punish trawler operators in the Ambon and Benjina slavery scandal. It's not enough to work with a narrow definition of human trafficking. Even if workers initially accepted the job, if they were subject to slave-like conditions, operators must be punished. 

It's not enough to limit protection to Thai nationals. Labour laws provide equal protection to Thai nationals and migrant workers. All rescued workers, including migrants, must receive state assistance to file charges against their abusers and receive compensation.

Authorities must also probe trawlers who used fake fishing licences and fudged their seamen books. If the government continues to allow such boats to legally operate, the country will lose credibility.

If the government wants to remove itself from international blacklists and the risk of boycotts, it must show it cares more about human beings and the environment than dirty money. It can prove this by punishing the perpetrators.

http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/punish-slavery-vessels-now/