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Article

13 Mar 2016

Author:
Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera documentary investigates slavery in Thai seafood industry & raises issue of accountability & justice for years of abuse

…In the last year, over 2,000 men have come forward who were enslaved on Thai fishing boats in Indonesian waters, working for as long as a decade without pay.

Thousands of migrants from Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos in search of higher-paying jobs were lured onto Thai fishing boats with empty promises about jobs "on the other side" and into, in some cases, years of ongoing seaborne labour.

Many of the enslaved fishermen were facing abuse, ranging from physical assault to lack of food and sleep…

"It's almost impossible to separate what effectively are slave-caught fish from fish that are caught through more legitimate means.... It is in fact part of the business model. One of the reasons why your shrimp cocktail at your local restaurant doesn't cost you an arm and a leg, is because the labour cost is so low," says Paul Dillion from the International Organization for Migration…