Thai Seafood Industry Tackles Slavery with Improved Regulations

The European Union has recently lifted a yellow card warning to Thailand following four years of substantial progress in the nation’s seafood industry, fighting human trafficking, improving worker conditions, and tackling illegal and unregulated fishing.

The 6.6-billion-dollar industry has been introducing several changes to its laws and worker contracts to curb debt bondage – a common form of modern slavery which affects 610,000 people in Thailand.

Thai Union Group, the world’s biggest producer of tuna and a global seafood supplier, was one of the first to adopt an ethical recruitment policy to reduce worker debt, with help from the Migrant Worker Rights Network in 2016. Since then, other major companies in the country have been implementing similar measures.

“There’s an increasing dialogue taking place between industry and civil society,” says Darian McBain, global director of corporate affairs and sustainability at Thai Union, adding “Collaboration and engagement is key to solving the world’s big challenges like ending modern slavery.”