June 20, 2014 — The U.S. State Department has downgraded Thailand to a Tier 3 trafficking nation designation, indicating the country has not done enough to curb the ongoing problems of human trafficking in a number of industries, including its seafood industry.
The department released the new designation today in its 2014 Trafficking in Persons report, an annual ranking of nations identified as having problems with human trafficking.
“It is slavery, even in the 21st century,” said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. "There cannot be impunity for those who traffick in human beings. It must end."
Thailand has been facing pressure from NGOs such as the Environmental Justice Foundation, which has published graphic reports of poor treatment of workers on Thai fishing boats. Many of the workers are immigrants from neighboring countries, conned into getting on the boats, then forced into what some have called modern-day slavery, including beatings, physical restraint and in extreme cases, being murdered and cast overboard for resisting their captors.
Read the full story at SeafoodSource.com