U.S. demotes Thailand to lowest grade in TIP report

World Today

This man was forced to work for two years on a Thai fishing boat after being trafficked from Myanmar. He was given just three U.S. dollars for a 20 hour day, working seven days a week.

He says there were constant beatings and many people were killed in accidents. He’s asked for his identity to be concealed.

Thailand has a large fishing industry. It’s the world’s biggest exporter of shrimp. But it’s a trade partly built on trafficked workers and slave labor.

Thailand’s failure to combat human rights abuses in its fishing fleets is one of the reasons it’s been given the lowest status for human trafficking. It’s a criticism Thailand rejects.

The Tier 3 ranking awarded to Thailand along with Malaysia and Venezuela  puts them in the same category as Yemen, Syria and North Korea.

Thailand says Tier 3 ranking is for countries which are doing nothing to combat trafficking. It says its making concerted efforts citing 400 prosecutions and 200 convictions in the past year.

All this after almost 200,000 undocumented Cambodian workers fled Thailand, amid fears of a crackdown by the country’s new military government. Thailand now faces possible U.S. sanctions, but the damage to its reputation may be far worse.

CCTV’s Martin Lowe reports from Thailand.

U.S. demotes Thailand to lowest grade in TIP report

This man was forced to work for two years on a Thai fishing boat after being trafficked from Myanmar. He was given just three U.S. dollars for a 20 hour day, working seven days a week.