Sold to the Sea: Human Trafficking in Thailand’s Fishing Industry

Human trafficking is a global problem. It is estimated that as many as 27 million men, women and children are currently victims of human trafficking around the world.

Thailand is the 32nd largest economy in the world, with a GDP of $377 billion and a growth rate of 5.5 per cent in 2012.2/3 It also has one of the lowest unemployment rates globally, at 0.5 per cent in December 2012.

Thailand’s economy is heavily reliant on labour-intensive industries. However, growing economic prosperity since the late 1980s has seen a decline in the available Thai workforce needed to meet the labour demand.5 In 2009, Thailand’s Ministry of Labour estimated that an additional 116,000 workers would be needed to address the labour-market imbalance […]