Thailand’s Government said on Monday it is not ignoring the slavery and forced labour in its lucrative shrimp industry that was highlighted in an Associated Press investigation published last week. Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd, flanked by several police and navy officials, held a news conference specifically to address issues raised by the AP report. Sansern said the Government was already aware of slavery in the industry before the AP report was released on December 14. “Authorities found it first,” he said.
Kornchai Klaiklung, the head of the anti-human trafficking wing of the police, said “a number of things including the report about debt-bound laborers interest us and we are looking into it and will prosecute them (the culprits). Thailand is one of the world’s biggest shrimp providers and its seafood export industry is estimated to bring in about $7 billion annually. The AP report revealed the widespread use of undocumented migrant laborers, many from neighboring Myanmar.
Many of these laborers end up being tricked or sold into shrimp-peeling sheds where they are forced to work 16-hour days with no time off and little or no pay for sometimes years at a time.