Thailand

Thailand: And their employers get away with it, because Thailand the world's No. 3 seafood exporter after China and Norway either lacks comprehensive laws to protect poor migrants from exploitation or fails to enforce existing laws, such as those prohibiting the employment of children younger than 15 in fishing, according to Times Colonist. More than 90 per cent of the workers interviewed came from Myanmar or Cambodia, where poverty is widespread and jobs scarce. Many workers were smuggled into Thailand, arriving without valid work papers that might grant them legal protection. A small number of workers were younger than 15, separated from their parents and BANGKOK - Some workers are forced onto Thai fishing boats by their families, others by unscrupulous employment brokers. Nearly half the workers make less than $160 a month in exchange for back-breaking labour. Some might not see any money at all. Researchers from the International Labor Organization and the Asian Research Center on Migration at Chulalongkorn University questioned nearly 600 workers in four provinces along Thailand's coasts for a study, released Monday, on the state of the country's fishing industry. They found conditions on trawlers so bad that Thais, who have better opportunities elsewhere, are rarely found working on one. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.