Jul 10, 2014
Migrant workers’ high vulnerability to human trafficking is one of three main factors involved in labor trafficking in Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia, said Neha Misra, Solidarity Center senior specialist for Migration and Human Trafficking in testimony on Capitol Hill July 7.
The other two elements involve a lack of investigations, prosecutions and convictions for forced labor (linked to corruption and government complicity) and a lack of economic pressure by governments and businesses to eliminate the scourge.
Misra was one of four experts testifying on human trafficking and forced labor before the Senate Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs. State Department Ambassador Scot Marciel, principal deputy assistant secretary for East Asian And Pacific Affairs at the State Department; Luis CdeBaca, Ambassador-at-Large for the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons; and Jesse Eaves, World Vision senior policy advisor for child protection, also spoke at the hearing, “Combating Forced Labor and Modern-Day Slavery in East Asia and the Pacific.”
The Asia-Pacific region has the greatest number of forced laborers in the world, accounting for more than 50 percent of all forced labor victims. Globally, forced labor generates $51 billion per year in illegal profits, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO).Thailand and Malaysia were among countries cited last month by the U.S. State Department as failing to comply with the minimum standards to address human trafficking over the past year. The two countries were downgraded from the department’s “Tier 2 Watch List” to “Tier 3.” Such a downgrade makes the countries liable to sanctions, which could include the withholding or withdrawal of U.S. non-humanitarian and non-trade-related assistance.
“It’s disturbing to see East Asia and the Pacific not make the kind of progress that’s expected in ending human trafficking,” said Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.), subcommittee chairman. He acknowledged that while sex trafficking is high profile, labor trafficking also is rampant.
According to Misra, unscrupulous labor recruiters charge migrant workers exorbitant fees for job placement, trapping workers in debt bondage, a situation further exacerbated when employers take workers’ visas and passports, leaving them with no means of escape.
“Labor recruitment fees lead to forced labor and should be eliminated,” Misra said.
Misra also said that multinational corporations have not done enough to prove to consumers that their supply chains are not tainted with forced labor. Multinational corporations need to exert their significant power as buyers to hold suppliers accountable to supply chains free of forced labor. Companies argue that it is too difficult or expensive to completely map their supply chains. If nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the media can do it, however, companies can too.“Two of the export sectors with the highest numbers of forced laborers in the region are the seafood and ready-made garment industries, she added.
Read Misra’s full testimony.
Jul 2, 2014
The U.S. State Department’s decision to downgrade Thailand, Malaysia and Venezuela in its 2014 Trafficking in Persons report “should compel (those governments) and other countries with serious human trafficking problems to step up their efforts to fight this horrific human rights crime,” says Melysa Sperber, director of the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST). The Solidarity Center is one of 11 ATEST member organizations.
The three countries were among seven on the department’s “Tier 2 Watch List,” a designation that indicates governments do not fully comply with the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards. The other four countries—Afghanistan, Barbados, Chad and Maldives—were upgraded to “Tier 2.” The Solidarity Center works with partners in Thailand and Malaysia to address forced labor and human trafficking.
By law, countries on the “Tier 2 Watch List” must be moved to another tier after two years. Human rights organizations and worker advocates had also called for Afghanistan, Barbados, Chad and Maldives to be downgraded to “Tier 3,” a designation that makes the countries liable to sanctions, which could include the withholding or withdrawal of U.S. non-humanitarian and non-trade-related assistance.
More than 20 million people are victims of human trafficking, which includes labor and sex trafficking, according to the Trafficking in Persons report. Forty-four countries are on the “Tier 2 Watch List,” including Bahrain, Cambodia, Haiti, Morocco, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Tunisia and Ukraine. Among the 23 countries on Tier 3, the lowest ranking, are Algeria, North Korea, Libya, Russia and Uzbekistan.
A coalition of anti-trafficking groups, including the Solidarity Center, applauded the State Department’s decision to maintain Uzbekistan on Tier 3. According to the report, Uzbekistan’s “government-compelled forced labor of men, women, and children remains endemic during the annual cotton harvest….There were reports that some children aged 15 to 17 faced expulsion from school for refusing to pick cotton.”
Illegal profits from forced labor account for $51 billion per year, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO). The Trafficking in Persons report highlights the high incidence of forced labor in the fishing and mining industries.
Fifty-one narratives in the report identify abuses in the fishing industry, including “men that are enslaved out on the boats out at sea” and in seafood packing, said Luis CdeBaca, Ambassador-at-Large, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.
“We’ve also seen forced labor in mining noted in the narratives of 46 countries and zero prosecutions or convictions around the world, including diamond mining in North Africa and gold mining in Peru, CdeBaca said at a briefing on the report’s release Friday.
The Trafficking in Persons report, which has been issued annually for 14 years, covers 188 countries and “is a critical tool in the global fight against modern slavery and puts necessary pressure on governments to take a hard look at their efforts to stop human trafficking,” said Polaris Project CEO Bradley Myles.
Jun 20, 2014
Thailand, Malaysia and Venezuela failed to comply with the minimum standards to address human trafficking over the past year, according to the State Department in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP) released today.
The three countries were downgraded from the department’s “Tier 2 Watch List” to “Tier 3.” Such a downgrade makes the countries liable to sanctions, which could include the withholding or withdrawal of U.S. non-humanitarian and non-trade-related assistance. The State Department is required by law to move countries off the Tier 2 Watch List after two years on the list (or four years with a waiver).
Migrant workers, primarily from Burma and Cambodia, work in slave-like conditions on Thai fishing boats, fueling the country’s $7 billion seafood export industry and making it the world’s third-largest exporter. Many migrant workers toil in forced labor and are held against their will on the boats where they are beaten and even killed. A recent Guardian series is the latest report on the horrors endured by migrant workers who often are tricked by labor recruiters and sold into bondage. Estimates of migrant workers in Thailand range from 200,000 to 500,000.
A survey by the International Labor Organization (ILO) last year of nearly 600 workers in the Thai fishing industry found that almost none had a signed contract, and about 40 percent had wages cut without explanation. Children were also found on board. A 2009 U.N. report found that about six out of 10 migrant workers on Thai fishing boats reported seeing a co-worker killed. In another report, migrant workers say they were trafficked and forced to work for up to 20 hours per day with little or no pay. Many migrant workers in Thailand are in debt bondage.
The Solidarity Center was one of the first organizations to publish a comprehensive report about labor exploitation in the Thai seafood industry back in 2007 entitled The True Cost of Shrimp.
The Solidarity Center works with several allied organizations in Thailand, including the Migrant Worker Rights Network (MWRN), to combat trafficking for forced labor. In April, the MWRN negotiated an unprecedented $1.67 million severance package for 1,200 laid-off Burmese migrant workers. The Solidarity Center provided the legal analysis and opinion that showed the workers’ employer was legally bound to pay severance to the migrant workers.
Also in April, the MWRN and the Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF), another key Solidarity Center partner, rescued a Burmese migrant worker who was sold and forced to work on a fishing boat. The MWRN and HRDF also contacted the police to rescue other trafficking victims from the fishing boat. The boat captain was arrested and the Solidarity Center is monitoring the police investigation to ensure all perpetrators are brought to justice.
Formed in 2009, the MWRN in recent years has focused on negotiating with employers for better wages and working conditions. In one instance, the MWRN negotiated commitments from employers to continue employing migrant workers with expired visas until they received new visas, rather than fire workers as employers had done.
The MWRN also secured commitments from the Thai government not to arrest migrant workers working on expired visas and to fine employers for firing such workers. The Solidarity Center provides support to the MWRN to educate migrant workers about their right to freedom of association. As a result, MWRN membership has grown from 700 to 3,000 in the past year.
The strong support for collective bargaining is also reflected in an ILO survey, which shows a majority of fishers interviewed—nearly 51 percent—say they are interested in union representation.
The Solidarity Center has for years promoted freedom of association as a key strategy for preventing human trafficking, forced labor and other forms of severe labor exploitation and the Trafficking in Persons report shows how much more needs to be done by the government to address labor trafficking.
Jun 13, 2014
June 16—Update: The Thai government has indicated it wants to reverse its decision.
June 13, 2014—Thailand’s State Enterprises Workers’ Relations Confederation (SERC) is expressing shock that the country’s new government was the only nation to vote against a new legally binding treaty requiring punishment of perpetrators of forced labor.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) on Wednesday approved a protocol that updates its Forced Labor Convention by requiring ratifying nations to identify and secure release of victims, ensure them access to compensation and punish perpetrators.
The action is [a] “most offensive action and damaging to Thailand’s reputation to the outside world,” SERC said in a statement. “SERC strongly opposes this inappropriate action from every related person who supported violations against worker’s rights and human rights.”
Thailand was the only country to oppose the protocol. Most Gulf countries abstained from voting.
An estimated 21 million workers toil in forced labor. A recent ILO report estimates that $150 billion in illegal profits are made in the private economy each year through modern forms of slavery.
This week in its “Modern-Day Slavery Series,” the Guardian profiled migrant workers trafficked to Thailand to labor on fishing trawlers. As the Guardian reported: “The Thai fishing industry is built on slavery, with men often beaten, tortured and sometimes killed—all to catch ‘trash fish’ to feed the cheap farmed prawns sold in the west.”
Apr 25, 2014
A trial opens today for 23 Cambodian trade union leaders and workers in Phnom Penh Municipal Court for participating in rallies in January calling on the government to increase the minimum wage for Cambodia’s ready-made garment workers. The majority of those arrested have been detained for months in a remote prison known as CC3.
IDH, a global network of human rights organizations, called for the Cambodian government to drop all charges. “Cambodia’s judiciary must end this baseless prosecution of garment workers and human rights defenders who have been severely beaten, arbitrarily arrested and detained for several months for peacefully demonstrating to demand an adequate minimum wage.”
Throughout their detention in what legal rights observers describe as exceptionally harsh conditions, the men have been refused medical care and denied release on bail, even in cases of medical necessity. Legal rights observers also say the 23 men have been denied due process and, until last week, were unsure whether they would even be allowed to attend their own trial. If convicted, they face up to up to five years’ imprisonment, as well as fines ranging between $1,000 and $2,500.
Since a violent crackdown by security forces in the streets of Phnom Penh in early January left five workers dead and more than 40 injured, trade union and worker rights have been under attack in Cambodia. Hundreds of garment workers have been dismissed, trade union leaders have faced lawsuits and garment industry representatives have called on the government to denounce the International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions that Cambodia has ratified.
Meanwhile, the government has failed to conduct an independent investigation into the violent crackdown, and the injured workers and the families of those killed have received no compensation. Negotiations about increasing the minimum wage remain stalled. Workers are demanding the government increase the monthly minimum wage for garment and footwear workers from $80 to $160.
“Free the 23” has become a rallying cry for international worker and human rights communities, which have repeatedly called for the release of all detainees.
The Solidarity Center is joining with representatives of international worker and human rights groups and foreign embassies in Cambodia in observing the trial to remind the Cambodian government of its duty to ensure due process and the rule of law.
