Press Release

30 July 2020

London. UK. On World Day against Human Trafficking, the Seafood Working Group, of which Human Rights at Sea is a member, has put out a statement in response to Thailand’s ranking in the 2020 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report. The SWG is a coalition of over 60 labor rights, human rights, and environmental non-governmental organizations.

The SWG statement demonstrates that the Thai government did not make sufficient progress in the areas of prosecution, protection and prevention of human trafficking in 2019 to warrant the Tier 2 ranking. The evidence in the U.S. State Department’s TIP report is more in line with the criteria for Tier 2 Watch List. The U.S. therefore missed an opportunity to send a clear message to the Thai government that its efforts to combat trafficking need to be more robust.

The Seafood Working Group makes the following three recommendations:

  1. The TIP office should make public the Implementation Guidelines for the TVPA Minimum Standards, used by J/TIP analysts to evaluate governments’ efforts in Protection, Prosecution, and Prevention, including any revisions. In addition, it should continue working to increase transparency on how ranking determinations are made, including greater clarity on how distinctions are made between Tiers 1, 2, Tier 2 Watch List, and Tier 3. This would lead to more objective rankings and help organizations compile more appropriate and strategic data.
  2. In assessing whether a country is demonstrating “serious and sustained efforts” to eliminate trafficking, the TIP Report should ensure equal consideration is given to prevention, protection, and prosecution. It is important to not disproportionately focus on criminal justice responses, given the importance of preventing human trafficking from occurring and affording remedy to victims to prevent re-trafficking.
  3. The J/TIP office should strengthen direct communication with non-governmental and civil society organizations to ensure that independent research and documentation is utilized as effectively as possible to support the TIP report process each year.

Signatories

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)

Be Slavery Free

Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (CENTRAL)

Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI)

FishWise

The Freedom Fund

Freedom United

Global Labor Justice-International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF)

Green America

Greenpeace USA

Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF)

Human Rights at Sea

Human Rights Watch

Humanity United

Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada

MAP Foundation

Mark B. Taylor, Independent Human Trafficking Consultant and former J/TIP staff

Migrant Working Group (MWG)

Verité

Seafood Working Group responds to Trafficking in Persons Report 2020

Download the Seafood Working Group statement in response to Thailand’s ranking in the 2020 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report.

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By following the Blue Heart you can change your Facebook profile picture to a Blue Heart, stay connected through Twitter or watch videos on human trafficking on YouTube. Get involved and support the Blue Heart Campaign virtually.