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labor, the International Labor Organization Convention No. 29 on Forced Labor, 1930,
stipulated eleven indicators in order to identify persons who may be in a forced labor situation
and need assistance, namely: (1) violations due to vulnerability of vulnerable workers (2)
deception (3) restriction on freedom of movement (4) social isolation (5) physical and sexual
violence (6) coercion and intimidation, (7) seizure of identity documents, (8) failure to pay
wages, (9) debt bondage, (10) deteriorating working and living conditions, and (11) long
overtime hours.
When considering the indicators with the national law, it was found that certain
characteristics, forms or methods according to the indicators were not considered a direct
offense of forced labor under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act B.E. 2551 (2008), but are an
offense under the Labor Protection Act, B.E. 2541 (1998), Labor Protection Act in Fisheries
B.E. 2562 (2019) or the Royal Ordinance on Fisheries B.E. 2558 (2015). For example, the issue
of non-payment of migrant workers working on fishing boats that has emerged from an
investigation by the National Human Rights Commission. The investigation revealed that an
employer who owns a fishing boat in Rayong owes wages to nine Cambodians for
approximately 16 months.
In such a case, it is an offense under the Labor Protection Act B.E. 2541 (1998); it does
not constitute an offense of forced labor. The Labor Inspector at the Rayong Labor Protection
and Welfare Office examined and ordered the employers to pay the accrued wages to civil
society organizations in the area to assist migrant workers. However, the employers still have
not paid the wages consequently filing a lawsuit with the Labor Court Region 2 (Rayong
Branch) which is currently being considered by the court. From these cases, it is visible that
when considering the facts of occurrence with the Forced Labor Indicator, there are still
instances of crimes that are considered forced labor in the Thai fishing industry.
2.2 Has the government, in particular, relevant government agencies, taken any
action to address the problem of child labor and forced labor in the Thai fishing industry?
If yes, how?
When considering child labor, forced labor and other forms of labor rights violations in
the Thai fishing industry, it is considered part of the problem of illegal, unreported and
unregulated fishing (IUU Fishing). Overall, the government has continuously solved such
problems since 2015, both in terms of policies and laws, such as the enactment of the
Emergency Decree Amending the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act B.E. 2551 and B.E. 2562 to