Irregular migrants still registered as fishery workers, says rights group
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The Migrant Worker Rights Network (MWRN) has sent an open letter to the government and business operators in the seafood industry, warning that a number of irregular migrants are registering with the government's fishery amnesty scheme which would only s
In the letter, activist Andy Hall said that MWRN has gathered convincing information that even women and children were registering with the amnesty scheme, which is meant only for fishery workers.
"We spoke with some Mahachai-based brokers and they confirmed this process and costs/procedures," he said.
"This abuse of process is allegedly inflating government statistics for fisherman registration success and workers are being cheated/extorted. Some were recently smuggled into Thailand as they don't understand they cannot legally work in factories with this registration process."
He added that corrupt government officials, brokers and law enforcement officials are allegedly involved and accepting registration, together with brokers.
He noted that if this continues, it may derail Thailand's attempt to comply with the European Union's rules against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
