"Kingdom’s fishermen protected as Thais ratify ILO convention", 1 February 2019

The Thai government has committed to ensuring acceptable living and working conditions for those in the fishing industry after it ratified the International Labour Organisation’s … Work in Fishing Convention,...

The Work in Fishing Convention sets out binding requirements relating to work on board fishing vessels, including occupational health and safety, medical care at sea and ashore, guaranteed rest periods, written work agreements and social security protection…

Thai Minister of Labour Adul Sangsingkeo said his government’s ratification of the convention reflected its commitment to ensuring working conditions in its domestic fishing industry met ILO standards…

Mom Sokcha, the programme director for rights group Legal Aid of Cambodia, told … that the ratification of the Work in Fishing Convention was just the beginning of the Thai government’s efforts to protect those working in the industry.

“Even after the EU gave a yellow card to Thailand [over workers’ rights], we see that fishing workers still face problems, such as salary cuts or withheld pay, exploitation Thailand should focus on remedying,” he said…

Sokcha said that according to informal data, around 20,000 to 30,000 Cambodians work in the Thai fishing industry.

Dy The Hoya, programme officer at labour rights group Central, said Thailand had faced pressure from the EU and so recently its government created an office to provide legal protection for fishing workers.

“The EU [warned Thailand] that imposing [trade] penalties would cost the loss of about 40 per cent of seafood exports, so Thailand [passed] its Law on Fishing Industry."…