Greenpeace USA, Global Labor Justice - International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF), and allies in the Seafood Working Group (SWG) today announced their findings of labor rights violations, forced labor, and human trafficking of migrant workers in Thailand and Taiwan and called on the U.S. Department of State to downgrade both countries in its 2023 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report in order to hold the governments accountable for these abuses.
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Aung Aung was used to long voyages at sea. Not seeing his family for weeks on end was his usual routine. At age 13, Aung Aung moved from his native Myanmar (also known as Burma) to Ranong, Thailand, to work on fishing boats in the Andaman Sea. Now 28, a typical fishing trip means 25 straight days at sea with 34 other crew searching for mackerel, sardines, and red mullet for Thailand’s fish markets and fish sauce manufacturers. At the end of each voyage, he would usually return to Ranong for a brief two-day break with his wife and seven-year-old son.
Striking garment workers demonstrated outside the offices of the International Labor Organization in Yangon, Myanmar, earlier this week demanding that global apparel brands ensure workers are not punished for participating in pro-democracy protests. Photo: Andrew Tillett-Saks, Twitter.
Update: Late Friday evening, February 26 (local time), the Myanmar military declared most of the country s labor organizations illegal on public television, with the threat of arrests if their activities continue, adding to the urgency of international solidarity activities.
On February 1, the Myanmar military staged a coup and seized power from the elected civilian government under the pretext of alleged election fraud. The coup leaders detained top government leaders and activists, shut off the internet, and suspended flights. This marks a dark and uncertain turn in the country’s decade-long, fraught experiment with partial democratization.