Monday, June 13, 2011 06:48 AM
The word “trafficking” normally brings to mind images of women and children trafficked for the sex trade but the truth is the fish or shrimp on your plate is more likely to have been pimped by traffickers buying and selling labor for the fishing industry...and this is especially true in Southeast Asia.
Obnoxious as the sex trade is, globally many more people are physically or mentally enslaved by those who trade in human lives to provide cheap and malleable labor to the fishing, seafood and shrimp processing, domestic maiding, garment and agricultural industries.
In a new report centered on Southeast Asia, we have not only found that the practice of bartering for labor within and between countries is widespread but has listed ten truths about trafficking that most people are ignorant. Many are not aware that laborers are being imprisoned in private homes, factories and on fishing boats.
In Thailand and Malaysia, the fishing business is a multi-billion dollar industry. Young men and boys are often recruited from poor villages in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar onto boats where they are literally imprisoned at sea. Escapees have reported being drugged to work harder, threatened at gun point, seeing colleagues killed, being beaten, starved, worked half to death and not being paid.
Kyaw is one such man. Born in Myeik, Myanmar, he wanted to support his family and ended up on a Thai fishing boat operating illegally in Indonesian waters. At first, he was pleased to join four other Myanmar workers as a fisherman. But he soon discovered conditions on the boat were worse than those on an 18th century slave ship.
“They allowed us to sleep only about an hour per day. There were Thais and Khmer people but they got better treatment than us,” said Kyaw.
Thailand has taken steps to improve the fishing industry by setting up a National Sub-Committee on Fishing Labor and it has upgraded legislation to criminalize men and boys trafficking. It is now in a position to charge some of the biggest players in the game. However, other countries, like Malaysia, also need to follow suit to end labor trafficking into various industries.
There are around three million foreign workers in Malaysia working in a variety of industries. It is accepted local practice for employers to keep employees’ legal documents, including passports, for “security purposes”. Confiscation opens the door for unscrupulous employers to abuse workers.
Although Malaysia promulgated A Trafficking in Persons (A-TIP) Act in 2008, misunderstandings about how it relates to foreign workers means trafficking is perpetuated. Under the law trafficking victims are individuals who have been subjected to exploitation, including forced labor and services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, and as such should not be prosecuted for illegal entry, unlawful residence or possession or procurement of fraudulent travel or identity documents.
However, if a migrant worker is found without documents, arrested and found guilty of illegal entry or overstay, the Immigration Act calls for sentences of “at least two months with compulsory whipping with a rattan cane not exceeding six strokes.” They must cover the costs of deportation, or wait in detention for six months or longer while the government processes their deportation application.
Malaysia is beginning to address the issue, working bilaterally with the Cambodian government, increasing investigations, expanding training of officials on the 2007 anti-trafficking law, opening three more shelters for victims, and launching a five-year national action plan on trafficking.
NGOs play an important role in helping governments bridge the gap between on-paper definition of what constitutes a trafficking victim and the reality. We see results; the number of victims identified, released and repatriated from Malaysia to Thailand and Cambodia is increasing.
But even this practice does not fully protect people from exploitation. Brokers exist to assist with “return procedures” in exchange for money, often paid by the family in the home country. These brokers visit Malaysian detention centers freely, with payment made to the detention centre authorities for their access.
Law enforcement is one of the best deterrent factors. However, there have been few investigations into the exploitative employment conditions on fishing boats and few penalties against boat owners or captains in Thailand and Malaysia.
The business community is another important player in the fight, and could play a bigger role by rejecting all forced labor forms. Companies must have corporate policies prohibiting the use of forced labor throughout their supply chains. They should be updating shareholders on their role in supporting non-exploitative practices. Governments need to enforce existing laws as the smuggling and labor trafficking is a major migration trend within the region.
Without further research it is tough to know exactly how widespread the problem is and who is involved. Better reporting, more consistent application of existing laws and increased convictions will help paint a truer picture of the exploitation involved in getting fish and seafood to our tables. It is time to stop those who pimp our shrimps and seafood by using slave labor.
The writer is World Vision’s anti-trafficking manager for the Mekong sub-region
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