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2025
It is estimated that there are more than 4000 million victims of modern slavery worldwide, including human trafficking, low wages with little or no pay, and long hours of forced labor in poor conditions, and it has been pointed out that this also exists in the fishing industry.IUU (Illegal, Unreported, Unregulated) fishingThe existence of these practices is closely related to modern slavery and is regarded as an international issue.
"I worked with only three hours of sleep a day," he said. "The ship was hell." Three years ago,Tokyo Sustainable Seafood Symposium 2019The graphic footage of the fishermen shown shocked the audience.
The footage was provided by Thailand'sLabor Protection Network(※) (hereinafter referred to as LPN). LPN has been working to rescue victims of slave labor in the fishing industry and to improve the rights of workers, and has been lobbying the Thai government to enact necessary laws. A documentary film that closely follows the activities of LPN, "Ghost Fleet" (Japanese title)"Ghost Fleet: The Hidden Dark Side of the Seafood Industry"; hereafter, "Ghost Fleet") will be screened in Japan from May 2022, 5. Ahead of the screening, we spoke with Patima Thampuchayakul, founder and manager of LPN.
- How did you start working to rescue victims of slavery?
After graduating from university, I worked in a community group in Thailand, addressing issues related to children's education. When I met my current husband, Sompong Surakaew, we became interested in human rights violations against migrant workers and decided to start an organization together to address discriminatory treatment of migrant workers.
That's LPN. With financial support from the ILO (International Labor Organization), we were officially registered as an organization on December 2004, 12. Initially, we focused on issues in Samut Sakhon province in central Thailand, because that's the area where a lot of migrant workers come from. We started with a small team of two or three staff members, but by being recognized as an official organization, we were able to expand our efforts beyond Samut Sakhon province to the whole of Thailand, and provide more support, such as helping victims of human trafficking and monitoring the actual situation of human rights violations.
- As co-founders of LPN, how do you and your husband divide up responsibilities?
My husband is good at influencer work, such as human rights advocacy, so he negotiates with the government. I prefer field work, so I do almost everything, including raising funds and donations, and then when we get calls from migrant workers, we go to the field to rescue them.
-What was the reaction in Thailand to your activities for migrant workers?
When I first started LPN, people around me said, "Why are you helping migrant workers? You should focus more on issues facing Thai people." They also asked me, "Are you really Thai?"
8% of the migrant workers are from Myanmar, many of whom were brought here through human trafficking. In 2004, we rescued 400 migrant workers from a fish processing factory in Thailand. 50 of them were minors, some of whom were brought here at age 10 and had been forced to work in the factory for eight years, by the time they were 8.
Migrant children have little access to basic human rights such as education and proper protection, and migrant workers are among the most vulnerable to human rights violations in Thailand.
Patima (far right) speaks to children and young people in the morning at LPN's shelter. LPN provides support to victims of human rights violations, including migrant workers and their children. (Photo courtesy of LPN)
- When did you start taking part in rescue operations for fishermen?
Around 2008, we started receiving calls for help from fishermen who had been stranded at port or had returned from Indonesia. Many of them had fled from Thai fishing boats operating in the waters of the Maluku Islands, such as Ambon and Benjina. Some were Thai, while others were immigrants from Myanmar and Cambodia, and many had been taken from Thailand as part of human trafficking.
They are forced to work like slaves without pay, exploited in poor working conditions, and barely escape when the ship calls for supplies. However, without identification and fearing being sold back into slavery, they end up staying illegally as homeless people in the Maluku Islands. Some of them marry local women and stay there, but many of them long to return home and see their families.
I wanted to go and help them, but it was very difficult. The Indonesian islands are very far away from Thailand. It took years of trial and error, and Thailand didn't even have laws against human trafficking at the time.
Fishermen who were forced to work as slaves on fishing boats and could not return to their home countries are writing letters to the government for help, with the support of LPN. (Photo: LPN)
- When was your first time visiting a construction site in Indonesia?
It was August 2014. I absolutely had to see the situation on the ground with my own eyes, so I scraped together the funds to travel and took a flight from Bangkok to Jakarta, then from Jakarta to Ambon Island.
That was LPN's first field survey. The purpose was to gather information on Ambon Island. However, when we got there, six Thai people came to us asking for help. So, in cooperation with government agencies and NGOs, we built a temporary shelter and provided them with food and sleeping equipment.
We also found 19 Myanmar fishermen seeking help at the immigration office in Ambon. We tried to help them return home, but it was difficult, so we returned to Thailand and have since traveled back and forth between Thailand and Indonesia 16 times. We have continued rescue and support activities in cooperation with the immigration office in Ambon, the Thai embassy and consulate in Indonesia, the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NGOs, and local people.
They are trafficked into Thailand and forced to work as slaves on Thai fishing boats, unable to return to their homes and forced to remain on remote Indonesian islands. Between 2014 and 2019, we rescued over 3,000 victims of slavery.
-- 3,000 people!
Yes, it had a big impact. It was covered by the media and drew attention both at home and abroad. Otherwise, no one would have known about this issue.
--What was the reaction from companies in Thailand's seafood industry?
During the first rescue mission, they rejected the idea, saying, "That's not true." In 2015, the following year, they said, "There may be bad people like that, but most of these boats are good. Those stories are just exceptions."
--What difficulties have you faced in your work as an LPN? Have you ever been threatened by fishing companies?
"Always. The boat owners were angry. We received threats both in Thailand and Indonesia. The operators involved in IUU fishing and human trafficking are also corrupt. The owners of the big fishing boats usually have influence and connections with people in power. So the rescue missions were risky and we had to constantly monitor the situation."
Thailand, one of the world's leading fishing nations, is said to have tens of thousands of modern slaves working as slave laborers on fishing boats. (From the movie "Ghost Fleet") ©Vulcan Productions, Inc. and Seahorse Productions, LLC.
How did you overcome such difficulties?
I think the best way is through communication and negotiation.
We told them that it was the responsibility of their employers and ship owners to help the fishermen return home, that we were here to help these people who desperately wanted to go home, and that we were not their enemies.
We wrote letters to various governments to inform them of the reality of slavery. In 3, three years after we began our rescue efforts, the Thai government enacted a law to regulate IUU fishing. The government took the issue seriously and took responsible action to solve it.
Since 2014, we have been working on various initiatives in collaboration with governments and stakeholders in countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and Myanmar.
- Has the coronavirus pandemic affected your activities?
Not at all. It's an opportunity to provide more support to Thai people and migrant workers in the community. The COVID-19 pandemic is certainly a crisis, but we see it as an opportunity to do so in a positive way.
April 2022, at a youth camp organized by LPNs including Patima (third from the left). The goal is to develop life skills, self-esteem, and the ability to live in harmony with others. Even amid the COVID-4 pandemic, the LPNs have continued their activities energetically. (Photo courtesy of LPN)
There is still a lot of work to be done. Today I will be speaking with a Malaysian NGO to address cases of labor exploitation on Thai fishing boats operating in Malaysian waters.
The documentary film "Ghost Fleet" (Japanese title: "Ghost Fleet: The Unknown Dark Side of the Seafood Industry"). It will be released at Theater Image Forum and other theaters nationwide from Saturday, May 2022, 5. ©Vulcan Productions, Inc. and Seahorse Productions, LLC.
Patima Tungpuchayakul
After graduating from Mahasarakham University in Thailand in 1996, she became interested in human rights issues after noticing the abuse of migrant workers, especially women and children, by local factory owners in the north of Bangkok. In 2004, she co-founded the Labor Rights Promotion Network Foundation (now the Labor Protection Network; LPN) with Sompong Srakaew. She has been working for over 20 years to support and protect Thai people, raise awareness of chronic human rights violations, and work to improve the lives of migrant workers and reform employment laws. She continues to work to resolve the issue of slavery at sea and on land in areas surrounding Thailand.
Interviewed and written by: Chiho Iuchi
After working for the Japan Finance Corporation for Small and Medium Enterprises (now the Japan Finance Corporation) and the English newspaper The Japan Times, he became a freelancer in 2016. He was a lecturer in the English Newspaper Production Planning course at Hosei University from 2016 to 2019. He writes articles mainly about culture and technology in both English and Japanese.
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